Android declutter

Use scripts/droid.py for all device work. Replace <skill-dir> with the directory that contains this file.

D="python3 <skill-dir>/scripts/droid.py"
P="<skill-dir>/profiles/coloros"

Rules the user set (keep them)

• Change only reversible settings without asking: ad, recommendation, and promotion switches, and promotional notification channels.
• Never block an app's notifications as a whole. Keep chat, mail, orders and delivery, payment, account security, calendar, weather alerts, system updates, AI replies, and task-done alerts. Keep unclear channels. Never turn on something the user turned off.
• Preinstalls: disable before uninstall. List names and impact, and get approval for both. Never judge an app unneeded only because it has no recent use. Never touch never_touch in preinstalls.json (launcher, updates, security, installer, account, backup, device links).
• Never clear app data. Never change proxy, VPN, or network settings.
• Privacy agreements (同意并使用) are the user's decision. Run with --allow-consent only for the configs they approved.
• Home screen moves: propose a concrete layout first, move only after approval.
• Report honestly: turning off ad tracking lowers targeting; it does not remove ads.

Workflow

1. adb devices -l. If no device, give the user the USB debugging steps and stop.
2. $D info for brand, OS, third-party and preload packages. Pick the profile by profile.json match. With no matching profile, see "New brand" below.
3. Snapshot: $D notif-snapshot before.json.
4. Check first: $D run $P --check. It changes nothing and lists WOULD CHANGE.
5. Apply: $D run $P (add --only <id> to run single configs). Configs with requires_consent are skipped until the user approves them.
6. Channels: $D channels $P --check, then $D channels $P.
7. $D notif-snapshot after.json && $D notif-diff before.json after.json; only the intended channels may change.
8. Preinstalls: $D preinstalls $P, ask the user which groups, then $D disable $P <group>... --restore <path>. Keep the restore script.
9. Home screen: read manual in profile.json, propose, then act.
10. Final report: changed, kept, could not handle (with reason), restore script path, and a reminder to turn off USB debugging.

Config format

profiles/<brand>/profile.json lists order, match, verified_on, and manual steps. Each apps/<id>.json is one entry point:

{
  "id": "browser",
  "package": "com.heytap.browser",
  "confirm": ["关闭"],
  "requires_consent": false,
  "steps": [
    { "do": "launch", "pkg": "com.heytap.browser" },
    { "do": "tap", "id": "menu_wrapper" },
    { "do": "tap", "text": "广告管理" },
    { "do": "off", "titles": ["开屏广告"], "maybe": ["摇一摇广告"] },
    { "do": "keep", "titles": ["默认通知"] }
  ]
}

Ops: home, back {n}, launch {pkg} (force-stop first, data kept), activity {component}, settings {path:[...]}, gesture {swipe:[x1,y1,x2,y2]} (screen fractions), tap {text|id, regex, optional}, off/on {titles, maybe}, keep {titles} (report only), all_off {id} (every row switch in a list), consent, note. confirm lists dialog buttons that confirm a switch-off. Use maybe for titles that exist only on some models. notifications.json maps package to channel names to turn off and to keep. preinstalls.json holds disable groups with impact text and the never_touch list.

To add an app: open it, use $D dump and $D scan --pane right|center to read titles, write apps/<id>.json, add the id to order, run --check, then apply.

New brand

Copy profiles/coloros to profiles/<brand>, set match from $D info props (MIUI ro.miui.ui.version.name, EMUI ro.build.version.emui, OriginOS ro.vivo.os.version), and rebuild each config from the real screens. Check that the brand has a system icon option before you touch icons. Do not install icon packs or another launcher.

Gotchas

• Use uiautomator dump --windows. A plain dump omits the left pane of split-screen Settings on tablets.
• On tablets, left-list and right-page rows share the id title. Match rows by column; row_switch already does.
• After HOME or a page swipe, wait about 2.5 s. A dump during the launcher animation returns the old page, and a tap lands on the wrong icon. This opened 阅读 and 电话本 by mistake once.
• adb shell input text cannot type Chinese, so Settings search is not usable. Navigate by menu titles.
• The notification channel page is single-instance. Press BACK and HOME before each APP_NOTIFICATION_SETTINGS intent or it reopens the last channel.
• 全局搜索 has no launcher activity: open it with a swipe down on the home screen. A swipe up inside it closes it.
• 软件商店 lists have 安装 buttons on every row. Tap only by text or id from a config.
• ElementTree elements with no children are falsy. Test is None.
• Apps create notification channels on first launch, so unopened apps cannot be configured in advance.
• Cross-page icon drags with input motionevent need about 2.5 s at the screen edge per page and the timing is not stable. Prefer moves within one page.
• If the image viewer shows a screenshot that does not match the device, it can be a stale synced file. Write new screenshots to new file names and trust the dump.

ColorOS 16 findings (2026-10-25)

• Ad tracking: 隐私 > 设备标识与广告 > 广告跟踪 > 更多选项 > 显示系统应用, then 全部关闭. The page says ad volume does not change.
• 增强服务 has 开机精选应用; phones may also have 商业服务 and 乐划锁屏.
• 桌面、锁屏与个性化 and its 图标 page each need a privacy agreement first. ART+ 图标 is on the 图标 page (art_switch), then 应用.
• 天气 and 日历 need a first-run agreement before their in-app settings open. Their promotion channels can still be turned off in system notification settings.
• The 小布建议 desktop stack contains the weather card. Turn off its 资讯服务 and 赛事服务 in 服务推荐设置. Do not uninstall it.
• The tablet browser has no switch for search box hot words.