How to Remove Carrier IQ from the LG G3

One of the first things us Android enthusiasts do when we gain root access to our new smartphone is remove traces of Carrier IQ. Today we’re going to go through the step by step process on how to stop this 3rd party company from logging and selling the diagnostic information of your LG G3(D850).

With so much emphasis on privacy and ‘big data’ in the technology world today, people are required to take extra precautions in order to secure their data. One of the ways this has snuck into Android market is from unscrupulous application permissions(don’t use a flashlight application that requires your GPS location). Another way this has happened is from the introduction of Carrier IQ.

The majority of the smartphone owners in 2014 have no idea what Carrier IQ is. Let’s start from the beginning and look at exactly what is going on in our smartphones(and some tablets).

What is Carrier IQ?

Going by the current Wikipedia entry, Carrier IQ is a “privately owned mobile software company [that was] founded in 2005”. They currently have software called IQ Agent installed in over 150 million devices across the world and they provide diagnostic information about our smartphones to the wireless industry. This means that any interested party who is willing to pay for this data is able to obtain it. IQ Agent logs all sorts of various pieces of information like application and website performance, firmware version, battery levels, signal quality, etc.

IQ Agent is scheduled to send back all of this information(and more) back to a server hosted by Carrier IQ. Now, this isn’t all bad news. They also install a service called IQ Care which is a tool used by customer and technical support that enables them to view data for your specific device. This can be incredibly helpful when they are trying to troubleshoot some technical issues that you may be experiencing. The issue with Carrier IQ is that customers expect a certain level of privacy when they purchase a smartphone or tablet. This is the type of service that should be required to request your permission before they can start logging and selling your data.

The other issue with Carrier IQ is battery usage. When smartphone OEMs are starting to put Power Saving modes into their devices, it’s obvious that battery life is a big priority with customers in today’s market. There are millions of smartphone customers out there right now that use battery life stats alone to determine which smartphone they’re going to use. There are also millions of smartphone customers that use performance stats to determine which smartphone they will purchase too. When we see a flagship smartphone like the Galaxy S5 and the LG G3 dropping frames, we know that too many services are being crammed into our devices.

This is also a product of feature creep but that’s a story for another day. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not trying to say that Carrier IQ is responsible for Android ‘jank’ or low performance and dropped frames. However, it has to be adding to the issue. Bloated OEM skins like TouchWiz is a story for another day too, so again, let’s not get off track. We’re going to go through a step by step tutorial on how to remove Carrier IQ from your LG G3 smartphone. This process is going to be very similar on other smartphones too. There might be a different filename or the files might be in a different location. So if you need help removing Carrier IQ from a different smartphone, please don’t hesitate to ask for help.

LG G3 Carrier IQ Removal

  1. Download Android Tuner from the Google Play Store
  2. Open Android Tuner and Tap on Application Manager
  3. Swipe Over to the Apps Tab
  4. Tap on the Bottom Button that Says User
  5. Long Press on Android System
  6. Tap on Open
  7. Tap on Details
  8. Swipe to the Activities Tab
  9. Uncheck Everything that has Carrier IQ in the Name
  10. Swipe to Providers Tab
  11. Uncheck Everything that has Carrier IQ in the Name
  12. Swipe to Receivers Tab
  13. Uncheck Everything that has Carrier IQ in the Name
  14. Swipe to Services Tab
  15. Uncheck Everything that has Carrier IQ in the Name
  16. Download ES File Explorer from the Google Play Store
  17. Cut/Move LADDM.apk File From /system and(or) /user
  18. Cut/Move libiq_client.so and libiq_service.so from /system/lib/

We recommend you cut/move these three files and store them somewhere safe(SD card, online backup, email, etc). They could be useful to you if you need to revert back to stock in order to receive an OTA update. To make sure you have done everything correctly you can download Voodoo IQ Detector from the Google Play Store and it will tell you if your device is free of Carrier IQ files and services.

Remember, this step by step guide might be different for other devices like the Galaxy S5 and Galaxy Note 3(and even a different variant of the LG G3). I will cover the Carrier IQ removal process for those at a later time. The more requests I receive for a particular device, the more inclined I will be to publish that tutorial first.

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  1. on my att z831, which i use for wifi only, no cell service. my root is does not survive restart nor is it write mountable. never the less, i was able to get all the way to step 15 and i can report success. THANKS

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