How to Uninstall and Remove MotoNav Trial from Motorola Milestone Android Phone

Android-powered Motorola Milestone smartphone is installed with a trial version of Motorola MOTONAV service app, which is a re-branded iGO My Way 2009 GPS turn-by-turn voice guided navigation software with outstanding 3D graphics for PNA (personal navigation assistant) and PDA (personal digital assistant), developed by Nav N Go.

Intended to serve as the alternative GPS navigation app in area outside of US where Google Maps turn-by-turn navigation is not supported yet (however, there is hack to install Google Maps with turn-by-turn directional navigation support on Android), MotoNav comes with preloaded maps of the regions where the phone is sold.

However, MotoNav only lasts for free 60 days trial period. After which, users who want to continue using MotoNav must purchase MotoNav premium activation in order to get a lifetime license (which only lasts 2 years) and an activation unlock code to activate MotoNav Mobile navigation software. The main problem is that the price is expensive, and worse still, users are only entitled to one map update to allow the user to get the latest maps available for the region, which must be refreshed within 3 months of activation, after which the free map update will not longer be available and a charge for map upgrades will be assessed.

So, understandably, not many will purchase the license to continue using MotoNav Mobile after trial expires. And after trial period ends, MotoNav demo is effectively useless, as it does not provide even the basic navigation feature without activation.

In Motorola Milestone, MotoNav is pre-installed as system app. Thus, you can’t remove or uninstall MotoNav from Settings -> Applications -> Manage applications. Firstly, MOTONAV entry is not listed and not shown by default, and will only appear after user changes the filter option to all apps. Secondly, inside application info of MOTONAV, there is no uninstall button at all, since Android considers it as system app by way of which it’s pre-installed.

Thus, to properly uninstall and remove MotoNav from Motorola Milestone Android smartphone device, follow the trick below. The guide can also be used to completely remove MotoNav demo in order to install a cracked full version of MotoNav with pre-activated license for entire world.

1. Root the Motorola Milestone if it’s not yet rooted.
2. In Android Market, download and install Terminal Emulator.
3. Run Terminal Emulator.
4. In Terminal Emulator, type the following commands and hit Enter:

   su

   When prompted, answer Yes or Always to grant the app superuser access to run privileged commands.

5. Enter the following commands and then hit Enter, one line by one line:

   mount -o rw,remount -t yaffs2 /dev/block/mtdblock6 /system
cd /system/app
cp Motonav.apk /sdcard/backup
rm Motonav.apk
mount -o ro,remount /dev/block/mtdblock6 /system
reboot

6. The smartphone will restart.
7. Go to Settings -> Applications -> Manage applications.
8. Hit the Menu key and select Filter, and then select All.
9. Tap on com.navngo.igo.Javaclient.
10. Tap Uninstall button.
11. Reboot the phone.

The trial demo of MotoNav app is not removed.

Note that the iGO8 R3 or R4 compatible content for MotoNav app, including maps, buildings, POIs, landmarks, elevation demographics, languages, voices, car icons, speed cameras, is stored on SD card, in /sdcard/Motonav/content directory, and is not removed on uninstallation of MotoNav app. User who no longer uses MotoNav can delete the /sdcard/MotoNav directory manually, otherwise just leave the MotoNav content on SD card as the maps and other data can be used on re-installing of pre-activated or cracked MotoNav.