How to remove snapd from Ubuntu

Snap is a package management system created by Canonical for distributing software on Ubuntu and other Linux distributions. It simplifies the installation and updating of applications in a secure and isolated manner. However, some users find Snap packages to be slower and larger compared to traditional DEB packages, prompting them to seek methods to remove Snap from their systems.

Removing Snap from Ubuntu involves uninstalling the snapd package, which is the backend service managing Snap applications. This process requires uninstalling any Snap applications installed on your system to ensure a complete and clean removal. The steps include using terminal commands to manage the removal of packages and cleaning up residual directories.

Before proceeding, consider that Snap is increasingly popular for distributing applications on Ubuntu. Verify if the applications you need are available through alternative methods. If they are not, you may need to reinstall snapd to access those applications again. The following steps will guide you through the complete removal of snapd from your Ubuntu system.

1. Launch terminal.
2. List installed snap packages.

   $ snap list
   Name               Version                     Rev   Tracking         Publisher   Notes
   chromium           85.0.4183.102               1298  latest/stable    canonical✓  -
   core18             20200724                    1885  latest/stable    canonical✓  base
   gnome-3-28-1804    3.28.0-17-gde3d74c.de3d74c  128   latest/stable    canonical✓  -
   gnome-3-34-1804    0+git.3009fc7               36    latest/stable/…  canonical✓  -
   gtk-common-themes  0.1-36-gc75f853             1506  latest/stable/…  canonical✓  -
   snap-store         3.36.0-80-g208fd61          467   latest/stable/…  canonical✓  -
   snapd              2.45.3.1                    8790  latest/stable    canonical✓  snapd

3. Remove installed snap packages (optional).

   $ sudo snap remove chromium snap-store 
   [sudo] password for user: 
   2020-09-11T17:31:08+08:00 INFO Waiting for conflicting change in progress...
   chromium removed
   snap-store removed

4. Stop snapd service.

   $ sudo systemctl stop snapd
   Warning: Stopping snapd.service, but it can still be activated by:
     snapd.socket

5. Uninstall snapd using apt.

   $ sudo apt remove --purge --assume-yes snapd gnome-software-plugin-snap
   Reading package lists... Done
   Building dependency tree       
   Reading state information... Done
   Package 'gnome-software-plugin-snap' is not installed, so not removed
   The following packages will be REMOVED:
     snapd*
   0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 1 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
   After this operation, 120 MB disk space will be freed.
   (Reading database ... 185414 files and directories currently installed.)
   Removing snapd (2.45.1+20.04.2)

6. Remove user snap directory.

   $ rm -rf ~/snap/

7. Remove cache directory for snapd.

   $ sudo rm -rf /var/cache/snapd/