Removing CityID adware on the Droid Incredible

[gergles]

I recently switched to Verizon and picked up a Droid Incredible. It's a great phone except for one tiny little issue: it comes with  pre-installed unremovable adware.

I'm talking about the "CityID" app that Verizon so graciously included in the ROM on the phone. I'm fine with including "value-add" things like this - if someone is silly enough to pay $2 a month for this, then they're welcome to. What I take issue with are these things:

• There's no way to remove or disable the app if you don't want the "feature"
• A monthly subscription? Really? Every Sprint phone does this, for free, and has for almost 10 years.
• The adware nag screens are incredibly cheesy (see what I did there?) and vastly cheapen the Verizon brand. I'd expect this kind of garbage from Sprint; I wouldn't expect it from VZ, given that I'm now paying the most expensive wireless prices of any carrier.

Adware on a phone that I have paid for and that wasn't given away to me for free is completely and utterly unconscionable. I cannot fathom the mind that said "Sure,this is a good idea, let's put adware in a device that will sell to our most tech-savvy and highest-revenue customers. I'm sure it won't upset them in any way."

Adware? Yes, adware. About every 5-10 calls, instead of being put back in the app you were in, at the end of the call, you'll get a nag screen from CityID that says:

"City ID displays the City & State of an incoming  call. You are receiving a free 15-day trial of this Enhanced Caller ID feature.  Would you like City ID for $1.99 per month?"

No, I would not. What I would like is to go back to what I was doing and not to have my phone attempting to extort $2 a month from me if I push the wrong button. What I would like is for this application to be taken off of my phone. What I would like is for this to have never been loaded on in the first place; if I really needed to know what phone number an area code corresponded to, I'm quite certain I could download this app from the Verizon module of the Android Market.

I want this app off my phone, or at an absolute minimum, to completely disable it and to no longer be deluged with popup boxes. If it does this while I'm still in my 'free trial', I can only imagine how annoying it's going to be when I choose not to 'subscribe' at the end!

(Edited post title and censored word)

[kenyu73]

I know you get the option to stop being nagged after the trial =/

[gergles]

I know you do on every other phone; I hope the Incredible is the same way.

[jramz]

It wouldn't be as big of an annoying program if it let you use the trial and simply went away with the option of not subscribing.  The problem I have with it is that, every time I have a call or send/receive a message, the CityID program launches and I find it running in the background, even though I haven't ever launched it.  If it had the option to prevent it from starting itself and running in the background, I wouldn't mind so much having it sit unused on my phone.

[tomk]

i have been considering getting the Incredible, but this is a deal breaker. hey Verizon, i'm not going to buy a phone that spams me. please tell me you realize how disrespectful this is to your customers and will stop it....tom

[MrSpontaneous]

I agree with the OP.  Is there any way I can uninstall this? I'd like to remove the application to free up space, cpu cycles and nagging banner ads.

The normal uninstallation avenues are blocked.

[Developer]

It will go away after the two week trial is over.  At one point, it will ask you if you want to buy it half way through the two weeks and then at two weeks, give or take, it will ask if you want to buy or unistall.  Annoying, yes, but tolerable.  It's one of those services that they're pushing on all of their phones now so if that is a deal breaker, looks like it's another carrier, unfortunately.

[Zeta88]

Settings --> Applications --> Manage Applications --> City ID -->  FORCE STOP

Solved ... all except being able to uninstall it...

[gergles]

It will just start running again the next time you make or receive a call. I have a feeling that the 'service' will continue to run forever, as nobody has had the phone for 2 weeks yet to know what happens after the 'trial' expires.

[infinitempg]

Force stop is fine for it running at that particular moment, but I did this and as soon as I got a message or anything it was showing up as running again.  Until they find a way to root or disable this, we need an app that will detect that CityID is running and automatically kill it.

HEY CITY-I.D. PEOPLE, BECAUSE OF THIS CR@P EVEN IF IT WAS THE ABSOLUTE GREATEST APP IN THE WORLD, I WOULD ***NEVER*** BUY IT OR INSTALL IT.  And when i get done with this message I'm going to look up the authors and i\f they write any other apps I'm going to boycott them, too.