Is there a mobile OS that comes without all the stock apps?

5    31 Jul 2021 03:18 by u/Madje

I don’t really need my mobile OS to come with email, “news,” calendar, weather, notes, clock, music, etc… apps. All I need is the camera, gallery, phone, and messaging app. Is there something that will just come effectively blank and let me add my own “services?”

2 comments

3 u/LuckyRuqqie 31 Jul 2021 06:01
[LineageOS](https://lineageos.org/) and its relatives come more barebones than commercial Android versions. Plus better privacy, with all Google spying removed. LineageOS comes preloaded with a web browser, gallery, camera, calendar, clock, SMS, email, music, voice and screen recorder, calculator and file manager. They are pretty minimal apps. I have been using it for about a year and I like it a lot. (I switched when Google announced that they would be baking contact tracing into their version of the Android OS.) Some things to keep in mind are that you'll need a [compatible phone](https://wiki.lineageos.org/devices/) to install it, and whether you choose to install the optional Google apps support will impact your privacy and what apps you can install.
2 u/owlie 31 Jul 2021 03:44
not exactly what you're looking for but this came up when searching "stock android with no apps": https://gadgetstouse.com/blog/2020/07/10/how-to-uninstall-stock-apps-from-android-without-rooting/