Carrier Bloatware: The Android Plague

It's time to talk about carrier bloatware on smartphones. Actually, it's long past time. You know what I'm talking about: It's all those apps thatcome pre-loaded on your new phone when you buy it, most of which are trial versions or apps for subscription services offered through the carrier. Ihad read a little about this problem prior to getting my Motorola Droid Razr Maxx recently, and now I've had the displeasure of a firsthand experience.

I understand the phone manufacturers' and carriers' desire to include these apps on new phones. It's a simple way of advertising additional servicesthey offer (in the case of their own apps) or of collecting a fee from another app publisher for that placement. It's the same thing that's been doneon Microsoft and Apple desktop OSs for years. The problem here is that many of these smartphone apps are now being preinstalled in such a way that you,the end user and owner of the smartphone, can't uninstall the app if you don't want it.

This problem primarily affects Android phones currently. Apple has the iPhone ecosystem locked down pretty nicely -- for now -- so that only the basicapps for usability come preinstalled on those phones. With Windows Phones, you'll likely see preinstalled carrier apps; however, I haven't heard of anycases where users weren't able to uninstall those apps if they choose to. And to me, that's the crux of the problem growing in the Android ecosystem:taking away that choice from end users. I might want to use those apps, but if I don't, I want them gone, and gone for good.

So, what's the problem with having these apps on your phone? The first thing people will often complain about is that they're taking up storage memory,and while that's true, I'd say that's a minor problem. Most of these apps are fairly small, with sizes measured in kilobytes or low megabyes. Unlessyou're taking tons of pictures or video with your phone, or downloading apps like crazy, the gigabytes of storage that come on your phone is probablysufficient. Of bigger concern to me is the background processes these apps can be running, using processing power, battery life, and potentially data.

For instance, on my Razr Maxx, I get a notification every day from the market -- oops, I mean the Play Store (what?!) -- that there are updatesavailable for apps I've never used and have hidden (since I can't delete them). Nonetheless, they're going out and checking for updates, and I have todismiss this notification every day. I could turn on automatic updating for these apps to avoid the notification, but then they'd be using my data todownload an update that I don't want or need. Meanwhile, the market is using my battery life and my processing power to tell me about these apps Idon't care about, and I have no way to make it stop. (If anyone has figured out a way to make it do so, please let me know.)

Additionally, it was reported in a study out of North Carolina State University that the preinstalled apps on Android phones can lead to specific securityvulnerabilities. Apps require specific permissions to access features or capabilities of the phone. What this research showed was that certain appcombinations could "leak" permissions to other apps, which could then be exploited by malicious agents to compromise phone data and user privacy.Essentially, the researchers say this security model is good, but it's flawed in its implementation with some of these apps.

When you think of the use of Android smartphones in business, with phones being supported by corporate IT departments, this problem of unauthorizedapps takes on another dimension. Android phones have already gotten somewhat of a black eye for business use. It seems like Google along with thehandset makers and the carriers would want to make it as easy as possible for businesses to adopt these phones for their end users. Instead, theinability to control what apps are present on the phone is another point against Android in the enterprise.

As a user, what can you do about the carrier bloatware problem? You do have options, although nothing all that great at the moment. Here are a fewthings to consider:

Of course, you can find more information about these options around the Internet, including YouTube videos.

There's a feature to look forward to in Android 4.0, the Ice Cream Sandwich release. Called a "kill switch" for apps, this feature lets you disable any app, regardless of where it's installed or who installed it. It's notquite the same as removing unwanted apps entirely, but it's a step in the right direction. Of course, my cynical side wonders if it's taking carriersso long to release ICS to current generation phones because they're trying to find a way around this OS-level control first.

When I started thinking about this bloatware problem, I wondered if the carriers might be on the road to class-action law suits. Because they'recharging us for their data, and then forcing apps on us that eat into that data, it seems like a perfect case for serious legal action. But then I sawa CNET report yesterday that says the US Supreme Court seems to have decided consumers don't have the right to file class-actionssuits against carriers because the carrier contracts say we can't. Score one for big business. You can take your carrier to small claims court or go toarbitration instead.

My previous smartphone, the original Droid by Motorola, didn't come with unremovable bloatware when I got it just over two years ago, which tells methis is a recent and growing problem. I know iPhone owners will be laughing at this Android issue they haven't had to deal with -- although it couldstill come to iPhones one day. Actually, it's a strength of the Android platform that you typically get many useful apps preinstalled (in addition tothe junk). But if I don't want to sign up for Netflix, I should be able to delete the Netflix app and be done with it. (Netflix is the largest of thepreinstalled apps, by the way, coming in at over 22MB.)

So you've got some really useful apps from the start. You've got a system that's highly customizable (unlike some other mobile OSs I could name). Butthe carriers are mucking it up with junky bloatware and taking away much of what has made Android so successful. Do they care? No, I'm sure they don't-- as long as their profits keep rolling in. Do you care? Let me know in the comments section below.

Follow B. K. Winstead on Twitter at @bkwins
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