How to disable the default application. How to change the default program on Android

Do you know how to change the default app in Android? Without thinking, you installed the wrong program as your main program and don’t know how to fix it? Everything is very simple, read on.

Why do you need to change anything at all? Well, let’s say you mistakenly chose Notebook to open a doc file. Or mp3 files are opened not by your favorite player, but by the one preinstalled by the device manufacturer. As you experiment with different apps, you may see a pop-up asking you to set it as default. This is where you can accidentally select the wrong thing.

Now let's move on to the few actions that need to be taken in order to change all this. Let's take matters into our own hands and change the defaults in our Android!

— Open the “Settings” menu, select “Applications” here.

— Find the program that is currently used by default and click on it.

— Click the “Clear default values” button.

That's it, now the next time you see a proposal to select one of several programs and make it the default, just check the box in the pop-up window.

Judging by the letters coming to our site, many novice Android users often encounter such an unpleasant situation when, for example, they would like to view the contents of a zip file or unzip it, but instead it opens in the Cool Reader book reading application.

Or when photos open not in the gallery, but in Facebook Messenger. This state of affairs confuses many inexperienced users, despite the fact that it is actually very simple to correct the situation. Today I will tell you how to change default app in android in just a few clicks.

In general, the ability to select an application with which to open one or another type of file by default is one of the advantages of the Android operating system. Moreover, if the need arises, you can reset the defaults - make sure that every time you have the opportunity to select an application when opening a file (screenshot above) or set a new application that will open the file by default.

To do this, we first need to reset the defaults. To do this, go to the settings menu of your tablet or phone, to the “Applications” section, select a program from the list that opens files of the type we need automatically, and click on it.

After this, a window with the properties of this application “About the application” will open:

Scroll down the contents of the window until you see the "STARTUP AS DEFAULT" option. To reset the defaults, click on the " Remove default settings».

That's it, now after clicking on the zip archive from the example at the beginning of the article, you will see the treasured dialog for selecting a program with which you can open this file. Now you can either set a new default program or select the appropriate application from the list each time.

Tip: When you see a similar dialog, in order to quickly select the desired application without then clicking the “Only now” button, double-click on its icon:

The appearance of pop-up menus and application settings menus may look different depending on the device and version of Android, but the general idea of ​​​​changing the default program remains the same - at any time you can clear the defaults in the application settings menu, and then set them again.

Well, now you know how you can cancel or set the default program in Android. Is it really not difficult at all?

The Android operating system provides such a useful feature as setting a default application for opening certain files or links. But what if you need to change/delete the default application?

Google, in early versions, provided such a feature in the Android mobile operating system as a “Default Application”. This feature will allow you to use a specific application to open certain links, for example, you can assign a browser that will open when you click on a link in any application, or you can assign a specific application to open office documents, all thanks to “Default Applications”.

But what if you need to change the defaults and do a reassignment? For details on how to designate a default application and how to change/delete it later, read this article!

Set default application

Option 1

If you have several similar applications installed that do the same job, or if you have a service installed that runs at a specific address (twiiter is installed and you received a link to a twitter post), then the Android OS will display a dialogue about what to open or what to set as the main one. All you have to do is make your choice and click use " Always «.

Option 2

If you are in the file manager, then tap on the file and you will be asked to open it through certain applications, and at the bottom is the “Set as default” item, by clicking on which, this dialog will no longer be shown and the program from the list that you select will be assigned.

How to change/delete the default application in Android?

Everything is very simple! You need to do the following:

1. Go to Android settings menu

2. Applications section

3. Select an application that opens something by default and you need to delete or reassign

4. Select the option " Open by default»

Having become the owner of Windows 10, many users noticed that despite the presence in the system of third-party applications for viewing various types of files (multimedia, graphics, text documents), they are opened using standard tools for this operating system. Let's look at how to change default programs in Windows 10, using the VideoLAN player as an example.

A significant number of editors and so-called file viewers offer to compare all the documents they support with themselves during installation. Although some of them do this automatically and without asking the user's permission. So, for example, after installing the VideoLAN player, all video files will be opened using the classic Cinema and TV utility, if you refuse the offer to associate certain multimedia files with this player. Have you found yourself in a similar situation? This article will help you quickly get out of it.

The simplest way to associate an application with opening certain documents by double-clicking is to follow these steps.

1. Call the file’s context menu.

2. Select the “Open with” menu item.

3. If the required utility is in the list, go to its icon; otherwise, go to the next step.


5. Click on the program icon and check the box next to “Always use this application to open *** files.”

The extension of the selected document will be hidden under the asterisks.

6. Click “OK”.


If the software product was not found in this list (for example, you need to select a portable utility), then click “More applications”, and from there select the one you need.

Can't you find it again? Click “Find another application on PC” and indicate the path to it.


Replacing a program using the Control Panel

The second way to change the utility for opening any files is the Control Panel applet called “Default Programs”.

1. To call it, open the Control Panel in any way and find this object or enter the name of the applet in the search bar and call it.



3. In the list of extensions, find the file type, to open which you need to specify another utility, and click on it.


4. In the top right corner, click on the “Change program...” icon.

5. In the pop-up window, click on the name of the desired utility or on the words “Find another application...” and select it.

6. Click “OK”.


Replacing a program in the Options menu

Another option to associate any software with a given file type is to use the corresponding function of the “Options” menu.

1. Open it, for example, using the combination Win → I.

2. Go to the “System” section.


3. Activate the “Default Applications” tab.

4. Click on the inscription “Select classic applications for file types.”


5. Find the required file type and click on it.

6. To the right, we determine the utility with which you need to open documents with the selected extension.


Association of the utility with all types of documents that it supports

Windows 10 gives you the ability to quickly associate a specific program with all the extensions it supports, eliminating the routine process of selecting readable formats.

1. Open “Settings” and go to the “System” section.

2. On the familiar “Default Programs” tab, click on the bottom link “Set default value...”.


3. In the left frame with the list of applications detected on the PC, click on the required one (in our case, this is VLC).

4. Click on the icon with one of the inscriptions:

  • “Use default program” - in order to associate the selected utility with all supported document types;
  • “Select default values…” - to be able to select extensions for association with the specified software.


The last way to repeat the steps described below is to configure some programs, especially players and text editors. In them you can easily select extensions, files with which will be opened by this software by default.

We often have several applications installed on our smartphone that can open the same content, for example video or audio files. In this case, when you open a file, Android will ask you which program you need to use and offer a list of all possible ones. In this article I will tell you how to reset associations with programs if you made a mistake and chose the wrong thing for the default program.

For example, you have two programs for watching videos - MX Player and QuickPic. The next time you were asked how to open a video file, you mistakenly clicked “Always QuickPic”. However, QuickPic does not support all video formats and the application opens with the error:

To fix this, you need to go to “Settings” -> “Applications” and in the list that opens, find and open the erroneous application that you accidentally selected, in this case QuickPic.

In the application settings, you need to select "Open as default" and click the "Remove default settings" button. After that, the next time you open the file, Android will ask you which program to use.

If you are tired of each time specifying the program with which to open certain files, simply select the desired program and click the “Always” button:

There will be no more such requests.

How to View All Default Programs on Android

There are apps in the Google Play store that can show all the default apps. For example, you can use:

If you have any questions, our experts are always ready to give a prompt and comprehensive answer!

mob_info