Space on your Android phone is for sale, if you’re a Verizon customer, and according to ad agency executives who have worked on such deals. Verizon activates an estimated 20 million new Android phones every year, so even a small amount per installation could add up for the mobile company, assuming that customers would tolerate it. Would they? [More]
bloatware
Apple Might Finally Let iPhone Users Delete Some Of Those “Junk Drawer” Apps
By 9.15.15
If you own an iPhone, you probably have a folder somewhere on your device that says “Crap I Don’t Use” or “Why Can’t I Delete This, Darn It?” that holds all of the native apps that come preloaded onto Apple phones, but that can’t be deleted. That junk drawer might be a bit less full sometime in the future, as Apple’s CEO Tim Cook says the company may allow iPhone users to remove certain apps. [More]
Apple Music Is Worse Because You Can’t Delete It From Your iDevice
By 7.24.15
My friend Gretchen has a folder on her iPhone’s home screen called “Crapple.” It’s where she sticks all of the apps that Apple adds to her device that she doesn’t use. As Apple has forced apps for their smart watch, HealthKit, bookstore, a separate podcasts app, their own maps app, and now their streaming music store on users, all of these come with apps that you can’t get rid of. [More]
South Korea Has Outlawed Bloatware On Smartphones
By 1.28.14
While Apple has long prevented wireless companies from force-placing cruddy, memory- and battery-sucking apps on its iPhones, most Android users have phones loaded with apps from their wireless providers and phone manufacturers that will probably never be used but which can’t be removed. Realizing that this is a mammoth annoyance to consumers, regulators in South Korea have banned the practice. [More]
If Bloatware Keeps You From Downloading Phone Apps You Actually Want, Should Carriers Offer An Upgrade?
By 8.7.12
We’ve written before about the annoyances of bloatware — those apps you are never ever going to use but come with your smartphone and cannot be deleted no matter how much you swear at your phone. Consumerist reader Ryan’s got his own bone to pick with zombie apps that can’t be killed on his Sprint phone, because they’re interfering with his ability to use it in the way he intended when he bought it. In short: he can’t download apps he actually wants because the bloatware takes up too much space, even with a new SD card. [More]
Microsoft Stores To Sell Bloatware-Free PCs
By 10.30.09
If you hate buying a new PC that’s riddled with bloatware, you may want to pay a Microsoft Store a visit on your next computer shopping trip. They plan on selling PCs free of any third-party trial applications, reports OhGizmo.
By 7.24.08
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Want to get rid of all that crapware junking up your new PC? Try PC Decrapifier or Revo Uninstaller. Both are free. [New York Times]
Toshiba: "Don't Delete Bloatware If You Know What's Good For You"
By 12.11.07
A reader writes in to report that when he bought a new laptop direct from Toshiba in November, he triggered a blue screen of death as he was uninstalling the always-useful bloatware that came pre-loaded. He called a Service Rep, got the usual “reinstall everything” run-around, and then finally got escalated to a level-two tech, which is when things got ridiculous.
Dell To Offer Crapware, Bloatware Free PCs
By 7.11.07
Attention those who hate bloatware and crapware: Dell is offering PCs that are free of everything except Google Toolbar.
