Smartphone carriers who have been testing the removal of ‘bloatware’ are set to give users the option of removing apps that have been loaded by smartphone manufacturers for other vendors.
One of the first phones in the world to be targeted by carriers is the new LG G3 which goes on sale in Australia in August.
Verizon in the USA has already come out and said that they are testing out an option to remove pre-installed applications from smartphones. Telstra, Virgin and Vodafone have not said whether they are set to take the same approach.
Often carriers in Australia insist on installing their own apps on smartphones with one of the biggest offenders being Optus who often load up smartphones with their own apps in an effort to get consumers to use their services over third party app developers.
Verizon has said that they will start with the LG G3, with the carrier installing option to remove “bloatware” apps which are either already installed beforehand or added to the smartphone as part of the initial activation process, a feature which could help users free up storage capacity.
The carrier told Droid-Life in the US that the pre-loaded applications will continue to appear on the device as normal, but can be removed via the activation of a removal tool.
“The applications can be completely and entirely uninstalled by the customer via the standard uninstall process,” writes Verizon, continuing “Customers will not incur any data usage or charges for the download and installation of these apps.
While the removal sound promising, it appears it will not work with all apps, as the report claims Verizon’s app suite is protected from deletion. It is unknown when Verizon will make the option to uninstall pre-installed items available on more devices, but it appears it will hinge upon the trial’s reception before being rolled out.
At the start of this year, the South Korean government ruled that the country’s carriers must apply a similar rule to their own devices, and apparently with similar restrictions. “Essential” apps for connectivity, the carrier’s app store, and customer care functions are excluded from deletion, but everything else is up for potential removal by users.
