Removing an active application from a remote device

1. A method for managing applications on a mobile computing device, the method being performed by one or more processors and comprising:

receiving a first command message from a server to disable a target application;

performing a verification that the first command message originated from the server, the verification comprising checking a digital signature of the first command message;

disabling the target application in response to verifying that the first command message originated from the server;

receiving a second command message from the server, the second command message specifying the target application to be re-enabled or removed;

determining whether the second command message is a command to re-enable the target application or a command to remove the target application; and

performing an operation corresponding to the determination.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the target application has been identified as a problematic application by the server.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the operation corresponding to the second command message comprises removing one or more files of the target application from a memory of the computing device, and further comprising:

in response to removing the one or more files of the target application, sending a result message to the server indicating that the removal of the one or more files was successful.

4. The method of claim 3 , further comprising:

updating a configuration setting of the mobile computing device to indicate that the one or more files of the target application have been removed.

5. A non-transitory computer readable medium that stores instructions for managing applications on a computing device, including instructions that when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:

receiving a first command message from a server to disable a target application;

performing a verification that the first command message originated from the server, the verification comprising checking a digital signature of the first command message;

disabling the target application in response to verifying that the first command message originated from the server;

receiving a second command message from the server, the second command message specifying the target application to be re-enabled or removed;

determining whether the second command message is a command to re-enable the target application or a command to remove the target application; and

based on the determination, performing one of (i) re-enabling the target application, or (ii) removing one or more files of the target application from a memory of the computing device.

6. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 5 , further comprising instructions that cause the processor to perform:

in response to removing the one or more files of the target application, sending a result message to the server indicating that the removing of the one or more files was successful.

7. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 5 , further comprising instructions that cause the processor to perform:

updating a configuration setting of the computing device to indicate that one or more files of the target application have been removed.

8. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 5 , wherein the target application has been identified as a problematic application by the server.

9. A system for managing applications on a computing device, comprising:

a server; and

a computing device comprising one or more processors for executing instructions stored on a memory of the computing device, the instructions that when executed by the one or more processors cause the one or more processors to:

receive a first command message from a server to disable a target application;

perform a verification that the first command message originated from the server, the verification comprising checking a digital signature of the first command message;

disable the target application in response to verifying that the first command message originated from the server;

receive a second command message from the server, the second command message specifying the target application to be re-enabled or removed;

determine whether the second command message is a command to re-enable the target application or a command to remove the target application; and

perform an operation corresponding to the determination.

10. The system of claim 9 , wherein the operation corresponding to the second command message comprises removing one or more files of the target application from a memory of the computing device, and further comprising instructions that when executed by the one or more processors cause the one or more processors to:

in response to removing the one or more files of the target application, send a result message to the server indicating that the removing of the one or more files was successful.

11. The system of claim 9 , further comprising instructions that when executed by the one or more processors cause the one or more processors to:

update a configuration setting of the computing device to indicate that one or more files of the target application have been removed.

12. The system of claim 9 , wherein the target application has been identified as a problematic application by the server.

13. A method to manage applications on a computing device, the method being performed by a server and comprising:

determining a target application stored on the computing device;

transmitting a first command message to the computing device, the first command message indicating a disable command to cause the computing device to disable the target application;

determining whether the target application should be re-enabled; and

in response to verifying that the first command message originated from the server, transmitting a second command message to the computing device, the second command message causing the computing device to remove the target application.