Pro tip: Quickly uninstall applications from the Samsung Galaxy S4 app drawer

Jack Wallen shows you one of the fastest ways to remove unwanted apps on your Samsung Galaxy S4.

You probably already know how to uninstall applications on your Samsung Galaxy S4:

1. Tap Settings | More | Application Manager | All
2. Locate the application to be uninstalled
3. Tap the application entry
4. Tap Uninstall

It works every time, but that's a lot of steps to get to the end result. What if I told you there was a much faster, more efficient way of uninstalling those apps from your Samsung Galaxy S4? Let me walk you through the process of quickly uninstalling apps on this device.

1. Open the app drawer on your Samsung Galaxy S4
2. Tap the menu button
3. Select Uninstall

After you tap Uninstall, the icons in the app drawer will change (Figure A).

Figure A

A Verizon-branded Samsung Galaxy S4 showing apps ready to uninstall.

Any application that can be uninstalled will now have a small red minus sign [-] in the upper right corner. Locate the application you want to uninstall, and then tap the red minus sign. When prompted, tap OK, and the app will be uninstalled. Continue going through the app drawer until you've uninstalled everything that you've wanted or needed removed. When you've completed the process, tap the left-pointing arrow (in the upper left corner), and you're done.

Note: For some strange reason, Samsung has included a long-press action from within the app drawer. When you perform the long-press, you'll see a “Remove” option appear (Figure B). This doesn't actually do anything unless you're on the home screen. From within the app drawer, the remove action will simply take you back to your home screen.

Figure B

The "Remove" option.

This is probably the fastest means of uninstalling applications from your Samsung Galaxy S4. Unless you're in need of major batch uninstalling, you probably won't find a more efficient path to getting rid of unwanted apps on your phone. If you have additional tips about removing apps, please share them in the discussion thread below.