Like its predecessor Windows 8, Windows 10 also ships with a bunch of universal or modern apps. Weather, OneNote, People, Windows Store, Your Phone, Groove Music, Camera, Get Office, Get Skype, Calendar and Mail, Calculator, Alarms & Clock, Movies & TV, and Voice Recorder are some of the apps preinstalled in Windows 10.
Some of the preinstalled apps like Calculator, Weather, and Mail are super useful for most users, while some of them are not so useful. Apps like People, Sports, Photos, and 3D Builder might not be useful for a large percentage of PC users as there are better alternatives available to them. For instance, the classic Windows Photo Viewer is way better than the new Photos app.
Uninstall preinstalled apps in Windows 10
You may have observed by now that these pre-installed apps can’t be removed via Control Panel or Settings app in Windows 10. One needs to either use the native PowerShell or third-party utilities to uninstall apps that ship with Windows 10.
If you don’t like one or more preinstalled apps in Windows 10, you can get rid of them by following our use PowerShell to uninstall built-in apps in Windows 10 guide. While using the PowerShell to remove native apps is the easiest and best method around, not all users are familiar with PowerShell and prefer using an easy-to-use tool to uninstall preinstalled apps in Windows 10.
Windows 10 App Remover
Windows 10 App Remover is a free utility designed to uninstall or remove preinstalled apps in Windows 10. With Windows 10 App Remover, you can uninstall the following apps:
# 3D Builder
# Alarms & Clock
# Calculator
# Calendar and Mail
# Camera
# Get Office
# Get Skype
# Get Started
# Groove Music
# Maps
# Solitaire
# Money
# Movies & TV
# News
# OneNote
# People
# Phone Companion
# Photos
# Windows Store
# Sports
# Voice Recorder
# Weather
# Xbox
To uninstall an app, download Windows 10 App Remover (link available at the end of this article), run it, and then click on the app name to uninstall it. As simple as that. Note that you don’t need to run this application as an administrator. In fact, the tool fails to work when you run with admin rights!
As you can see, the app doesn’t support uninstalling Edge browser and Cortana, as these features are crucial for the smooth operation of Windows 10. However, these apps can be removed by taking ownership of the folder where these apps are installed in the system drive. We will come up with a guide for that soon.
UPDATE: CCleaner (free) also supports uninstalling preinstalled apps in Windows 10.
admin says
Nathan
If the link is not working, please download CCleaner free version. It also allows you to remove preinstalled apps. If you need more apps, refer to this link:
intowindows.com/3-programs-to-uninstall-windows-10-apps/
Nathan says
The link is broken…
Darryl Duncan says
i want to uninstall groove . your uninstall app does not list groove in titles it uninstalls . groove took my 845 purchased songs , sent their album covers tp PHOTOS and then labelled my songs ” local use only ” . i want this app removed from my windows 10 . simply complaining to microsoft does no good and they put a price on everything too . i think microsoft is the worst piece of shit computers in the world . i only use chrome and google and most everything is free with them .
admin says
Jorge, you can also use CCleaner free version to remove built-in apps. Check the below link for more information:
intowindows.com/use-ccleaner-to-uninstall-pre-installed-windows-10-apps/
Jorge says
why the hell dos the link to download the file take me to a page about unsopported browsers?????? what the hell is this?????
Ashley says
How can I reinstall apps that have been deleted through powershell some how my App Store got deleted but now it won’t even let me on the Internet I’ve tried to reinstall through powershell but it’s not working
Lenny Schafer says
Fails to permanently remove “Solitaire” app. It gets reinstalled upon restarts. Any ideas on how to permanently remove this “virus”?
SharonLT says
Is the app you recommend run thru Google Drive? I don’t want that on my computer. Is there another way to download it…Power Shell isn’t easy for someone who did programming in the 80’s for heavens sake.
Nicholas RL Hawkins says
My PC is stressing me out but this site makes it less stressful. Deleting apps seemed impossible until I used this tool. Its incredible, quick and simple to use. This site is a life saver.
Wilson Phillips says
Thank you very much. I do some vbscript, but have not done any powershell, so this was very handy. It worked quite well. It was painless and quick.
I uninstalled every item. I do use some of these same apps on my phone, but I refuse to use these half baked apps on my desktop. I want full featured desktop applications and I will not settle for less. I am not alone in this thinking and I wish Microsoft would wake up to this fact. Take the Mail app for instance. What is this, a pre-Alpha app? It’s a nice looking framework, but where are the features? This could have been a killer app. Let me rephrase that. It should have been a killer app.