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Verizon PLEASE stop pushing bloatware on us!

Verizon did it again. Today they pushed an update to Bionic. However, along with it came more bloatware. Now it is welded to my phone and I can uninstall it without rooting. I guess we will all just have to root to clean this off our phones. It is getting ridiculous. The new apps they installed:

SlingBox: $9.99/month video service

Mog: Another $9.99/mo music service.

This in addition to all the other bloatware already there:

CityID, Backup assistant (the worst of all), Vcast stuff, video surf, NFL mobile, etc...

If I wanted these I would have downloaded them. Forcing them on me makes me irate! I will NEVER use these EVER now. I will never do business with the companies that make these bloatware apps. Are you getting the message Verizon? Please stop the bloatware. If you want to preinstall apps, fine. Just don't lock them so we cant uninstall. That is all I ask. You don't have to put them in the system/app directory and lock them down. Just leave them in the regular app directory where we can uninstall them if we choose. Forcing them on us drives serous customer dissatisfaction and is entirely ineffective. Those who want to uninstall them will never use them anyway. Now they are hogging resources and space for no reason. Every time I open my apps I have to sort through all this junk. Just look at the rating of apps you forced as bloatware.

Comments

budone

What is the big deal???? All the bloatware on my device I do not even notice, They are not in an area of memory you would use, they are not using ANY CPU resources. I never have figured it out.

FYI CityID and NFL can be deleted.

davegr

Ehhh, I don't really mind it other than it add programs I have to dig though when I'm looking for one. That's annoying. Yes, I agree, let us be able to take them off without rooting.

jroal

This bloatware uses up resources. Some of it even chews into your data plan. It diverts app calls too, meaning that when you click an address for instance, it forces you to a list of apps that support it. Of course you can select a default but it is still annoying. They hide most the resources it actually uses so you can't see most of it in task managers. They all get rolled into "Android OS". The ram they use up makes the whole phone slow down. The less resources you have, the more you notice it. Bionic has 1GB so it is far less of an issue. I rooted and debloated my Droid 3 and nearly doubled the battery life. I think it was backup assistant chewing up most of it. Just after I got the phone my battery would not make it from breakfast to lunch. I thought I had a pocket warmer app because the device was noticeably warm all the time. I went through 8GB of data that month (I usually use around 1GB). I reset to factory defaults but a couple months later it did it again. After the debloat my battery often makes it 16 hours while staying above 70%. I am using the stock ROM too. All I did was remove the bloatware. Nothing else.

jroal

Just check on the Bionics. CityID and NFL cannot be uninstalled. Only the updates can be uninstalled.

budone

Sorry, but I disagree. I have every bit of bloatware on my phone that came with it and what has been added in updates. My data did not increase, my phone is not a pocket warmer and my CPU speed is what it always has been, and my battery life is the same.

You my friend have added an app(s) that is/are compromising the device. Whether it is a bad app or an app conflict.

Place the device in safe mode for a couple days and see how the device reacts.

jroal

My device has been fixed by resetting to factory defaults. I am not saying that all devices will act this way because of the bloatware. In my case I believe it was Backup assistant. It did not happen all the time and it has not happened on the Bionics or Droid 2 but it did happen on Droid 3. It did it when I first got it so I did the factory reset. It was fine for a month or 2 then started doing it again. Reset again and then the battery life was reasonable. After 1/2 day I would be at about 50% or so with moderate use on the Motorola extended battery. Was like that for a couple months. Not too bad really but not great either.

Then I rooted and removed backup assistant and other bloatware. Kept the stock ROM and all my apps though. Now the device is more responsive, has more available RAM more often, and the battery will last over 16 hours with moderate use. It is often above 60% after 16 hours of use now. I could never get that before.

Of course your data "will not increase" since you had the bloatware from day 1. It was always higher than needed but the bloatware alone if working properly will not generally be a huge data hog. However, it can use data depending on how it is configured. In my case there was a problem with backup assistant. When I first got the phone I unfortunately enabled it by setting a PIN. That is when the problems began. First is messed up my contacts, duplicating many of them and changing the format of others. After the first factory reset I fixed that by not enabling backup assistant. After the 2nd reset I now use task manager to auto-kill all the bloatware and that really helped. After that it was not too bad. However, after the root and debloat my battery life almost doubled. I did not remove any apps except the bloatware.

commonsense101

The good thing about bloatware is that it doesnt really do anything. It takes up minor space, on a phone with plenty of it, and doesn't actually slow your phone down in anyway

You would be surprised how many people bought Lets Golf2 after they got addicted

All in all, take a chill and relax. It is just a phone after all and no harm no foul

jroal

Then how do you explain my battery life nearly doubling after I rooted and removed it? Also, it takes up RAM, of which there is not plenty of. Use an app like Android System Info and you can see it. I was often down to 5% before debloating, now I often have over 20%. It depends on the app. Some have background services, others don't. Backup Assistant has background processes that run all the time and chew up RAM. On my Droid 3 there is only 512MB of RAM and most of it is used all the time.

If the bloatware does not bother you, why are you reading this thread.

bigtitan

Without violating the TOS for this forum, I will say that my device is mostly bloat free and I agree that they can hurt performace, and should NOT be locked :smileyhappy:. I am also 100 percent in agreement that Manufacturers can install whatever they want on a phone BUT consumers should have the flexibilty to remove those things that they do not want.

VZW subsidizes the costs of these phones by locking customers into a contract in which VZW will recoup the cost of the phone. If I buy "Phone X" on a 2 year contract and 2 days later decide I want to go out and buy "Phone Y" at retail price VZW isn't going to come knocking on my door to get back "Phone X" are they? No. As long as I meet my contractual obligations and don't violate the Customer Agreement they dont much care. So why should they care if I keep the bloatware on my phone as long as its removal does not impact the phone's ability to be used on their network? As part of the agreement, customers acknowledge that VZW can and will do various changes to device software with or without notice, and that data contained on the 4g sim card is the intelectual property of VZW. The agreement also states "Your wireless device must comply with Federal Communications Commission regulations, be certified for use on our network, and be compatible with your Service." Again, as long as me removing useless junk doesn't interfere with any of the above why should VZW or the manufacturer care?

jroal

Very well put. Thanks. I guess I am not communicating clearly and your explanation will hopefully help.

bigtitan

please.make.it.stop.

Ryan_Q

Please forgive the long, Necro-post.

I just wanted to say that I completely agree. I've personally called VZ's customer service department on this one to confirm there is no way to legally remove the bloat. I've emailed their customer service department, and get this long response about why the updates are pushed, but nothing about the bloat.

Now VZW should make the bloatware removable. Competitors such as Sprint offer Unlimited Everything at $99.99 a month... Which is actually better price wise since the plan includes talk, data, and text. VZW's Unlimited talk is about $69.99 a month, and another $30 if you are lucky enough to be grandfathered in to VZW's data. There's no text included in the VZW plan. Now, on the other hand, VZW has a better network and more mobile to mobile users. We know about the better network and mobile to mobile, otherwise we probably all would have bought Sprint phones to begin with.

Now this complaint is not the first of it's kind. If you Google "Verizon Bloatware", you can find pages upon pages on the subject. You can see that many users feel violated, and they have every right to be. In a sense, the Verizon Network is acting as a "malware". Now for those of you who don't know what that is:

Malware "is a general term used to describe any kind of software or code specifically designed to exploit a computer, or the data it contains, without consent." ~Wikipedia

So people complain to VZW, and I find it really strange that the company will not give a response aside from:

"In regards to applications getting updates. These all come from the developers who either update their Apps for better performance, to fix security gaps, or to make changes for easier use. Any number of reasons could exists for the update but they all are intended to enhance customer's experiences as well." ~VZW Customer Service Email.

Well, as soon as you tell me how having Blockbuster Video will improve my performance, Amazon MP3 will fix security gaps, and how Slingbox will make changes for easier use... I may find that answer relevant.

What does all this tell me? VZW isn't listening and does not care. There's still some guy signing the papers to allow this, and he's getting paid. He cares more about his "tee time" this weekend, than about who he's getting upset. Maybe at some point, he or she will care enough to release a comment about it.

Oh, and back to why I was talking about Sprint. It seems that they listened! Check it out!

It just so happens, that I live right outside New York City. Pretty much all mobile phone companies work well here, so unless VZ decides to open it's eyes, guess where I'll be going when my contract expires?

Tidbits

You already consented when you purchased the phone... It is KNOWN and you can see that the device has the software. It is a very weak argument... If you never consented you would have never bought the device with it on there.

Tidbits

Also Sprint didn't listen go back a few pages... I already showed how you can't actually uninstall it. CityID for example.

TheRobotCow

I agree with this issue. I hate bloatware, its just a waste of our phones resources. At least give us the option to remove it.

droidsw

It's not worth $20 bucks, $40 bucks, or more to remove it, or leave it off, because I don't care about bloat. I don't notice it and if it subsidizes the price of my phone, great.

However, if bloat is in any way related the bugginess of my phone, THEN that's another story.

And if that can be proved, perhaps that's the impetus needed to get something done about removing it.

The "principle of the thing" and "it's my phone" arguments fall on deaf ears. Phone performance is another.

Ryan_Q

In that case, they got their users with the fine print. To do it that way, guess what? THEY GOT ME!!!

Fool me once, shame on you... Fool me twice, shame on me.

Verizon has lost my trust now.

As for the whole thing you have against Sprint, I searched every page on this thread. My post is the first one where the name "Sprint" actually comes up. The article I linked was posted in July of 2011. When did you get your Sprint phone with city ID? I've also been doing numerous searches for "Sprint bloatware". You don't get nearly as many hits as you do when compared to "Verizon Blaotware". Regardless, you don't have to prove to me that Sprint has bloat on it. Xda-developers.com and Rootzwiki.com have had numerous threads about people wanting to root Sprint phones because of bloatware, and I know those threads are more recent than July of 2011. If Sprint's bloat is as much less as it seems, that seems like a step in the right direction to me.

Tidbits

as I said... remove all that stuff and then do a factory reset. It was NEVER gone in the first place. If they were in fact removable then even if you NEVER removed the apps a factory reset should remove them. So it defeats the purpose if you want to save "resources". Welcome to smoke and mirrors...

Dunerider

I agree I don't want MOG or NFL mobile or Slacker. why can't i uninstall these. so what if you lay themas a default... let me uninstall them. I have a task killer app that shows these things run even when I will never launch them. I want them gone.

If you like the Verizon apps then by app means enjoy them. If they want to preinstall them fine. I just want to be able to uninstall those I will not be using. That is all.

Tidbits

Task Killer = Bad

I won't explain how everything works and it goes over peoples heads most of the time...

bigtitan

In the android os task killers are pretty useless....at least that's what I understand...

Wildman

I get that the apps are revenue for the company but the amount of apps are getting a bit overwhelming because its starting to show a 50 / 50 percentage of useable and useless apps and this is starting to make no sense because when a new update is pushed it usually adds even more.

Its time they consider the option for more devices to disable the apps at startup if the company wont allow them to be uninstalled..

djay

If I'm never going to use an app, then I should be able to remove it. I have no intention of ever using the premium Verizon apps. Can Verizon explain why they must remain on my device?

jroal

I just found this:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45527229/ns/technology_and_science-wireless/t/pre-loaded-android-apps-leave-phones-open-attack/#.T2SUmPWAbgE

Pre-loaded Android apps leave phones open to attack

Some contain serious glitch that attacker could exploit, researchers say

One more reason to let us uninstall them.

jroal

Looks like Sprint is working on a way to allow users to uninstall preloaded apps: http://news.cnet.com/8301-27080_3-20066266-245.html

Tidbits

like i said before... They are NEVER uninstalled. They just hide the icon... Gotta love marketing.

rsgile

Except no one is talking about defaulting on payments. If I default on payments, then yes, VZ owns the phone. As long as I am making on time payments, it shouldnt be VZ that gets to decide what I do with my phone. And after the two years is up, I should own the device outright. Go try and get the codes to unlock the SIM card even after your contract is up. You have to jump through hoops to even get someone who knows what your talking about.

The "commercial agreement" is just an agreement that Google developed wallet with Sprint as a partner. No where that I have seen is an agreement that gives Sprint exclusivity to wallet. If you can provide a link, by all means do so. Its a part of ICS and should come on the phones that have ICS or will be updated to ICS. VZ has a history of blocking things that compete with their own services. Look at what happened with the app pdanet. Again, if they can provide a competing product or service, let them build it, market it and let the consumers decide which is better. Most people use VZ because they have the best network, which I totally agree with. But they should never be anything more than "dumb pipes"

Tidbits

Again even with a car you dont own it. Period doing something to you car or removing some thing from the car you will be charged for.

Tidbits

No its more than a commercial agreement... If it was something less other devices with NFC would have it officially. Only the Nexus S has it officially.

rsgile

I dont own a car after I have paid off the loan? Really? Who owns it then?

Also, based on your posting history I see that a lot of it basically comes down to defending VZ or blaming others (Google, the manufacturers) no matter what. As in another thread where you stated "throttling is ok as long as you are not being overcharged for it", amongst others. Therefore there is no need to debate any longer, cause I learned a long time ago to never feed trolls, or shills for that matter. Have a good night.

Tidbits

Look you don't read do you? I agree if the agreement has been fulfilled or paid outright. If you take the subsidization and within the agreement then you don't own the device. The supreme court ruling 5 out of 5 times prior to 1998 and all lawsuits there after don't even make it to the court room floor.

Tidbits

you are the one trolling. Do you even know what it means? You want a specific emotional response which you are not getting from me and you single me out for it.

As I have said MULTIPLE times and if you actually spend the time to read them... I have no vested interest in any shape or form to carriers and I say the same thing in other forums. Manufacturers get a free pass everytime people like you blame the carrier. There are MULTIPLE examples if you go after the manufacturers a lot of things change. HTC bootloader policy for example...

Wildman

Tidbit you should know by now that these topics never go anywhere, except far south from original topic...

B33

The Mods are going to get Fed Up with it Soon Wildman an are going to Lock it if keeps on going.. South that is..Lol

bigtitan

Redundant finger pointing wirh no resolution.... This thread should run for political office....

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