Nothing launches its first phone with bloatware apps, some can't be uninstalled

Oh Nothing, what have you done? When you released your first devices, you refreshingly opted for a non-bloatware approach. This meant, that your customers could be sure that they would not get devices with pre-installed apps that they did not want or, in most cases, care about. I did even buy one of your devices for my mother.

This strict non-bloatware approach changed on Monday when Nothing released a statement after testers noticed a problematic new feature, Look Glimpse, in test builds of an upcoming release. Look Glimpse was a new wallpaper feature that would display wallpapers on the lockscreen. At least some of these were advertisement.

Nothing back then assured users that the feature would not be activated by default and that it had plans to expand the feature, so that users could display their own images eventually. Additionally, it mentioned the need to pre-install some apps on some devices because business was tough.

Three pre-installed apps with the Nothing Phone (3a) Lite

Today, 9to5Google is reporting that the company's latest phone, the Nothing Phone (3a) Lite, ships with a handful of pre-installed apps from third-parties. The applications Facebook and Instagram were installed on the test device. The news outlet reveals that a third application may also be installed on user devices as part of this initial list of pre-installed apps. The third app in question is TikTok.

Arguably, the three applications are very popular and often installed by users on their devices. However, that is then the decision of the individual user.

While the tester could uninstall the three applications, further inspection revealed that three additional applications were installed on the device. These, namely Meta App Installer, Meta App Manager, and Meta Services, could not be removed using conventional application uninstallation options on the device. However, the tester could disable the applications on the device.

Closing Words

It is not uncommon for budget phone makers to earn much of the revenue not from device sales but from advertisement agreements with third-parties. Pre-installed apps are common on phones, even on high-end ones, and manufacturers make a good penny with these agreements.

Nothing adding these apps to a first device, no matter whether it is a budget device or not, could alienate part of the user base that it has accumulated with its previous device releases. Will the next Nothing phone also include these applications? It is unclear at this point, but it might change the mind of some customers from instant-buy to a more cautious approach.

Three apps may not be a big deal, and that may be the case. I'd argue that the three apps that you can't uninstall on the device are the main problem, especially from the view-point of a customer who picked Nothing because of its previous stance on bloatware on their devices.

Now You: what is your take on this? Do you have a Nothing phone or planned to purchase one in the future? Do you consider buying a Nothing phone in the future?

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