It’s not restricted to Sony Ericsson handsets, either. HTC’s often held up as the paragon of Android quality — alongside Samsung — but my own Desire HD is riddled with stuff that I simply don’t want: 3Mobile-TV, 3Musik and Planet3 were all installed alongside third-party apps such as Amazon MP3, Bebo, Bejeweled Deluxe and a demo of EA’s Sims 3.
Who’s responsible? Networks, largely, which receive clean handsets and then load them up with rubbish after signing deals with numerous partners. And it’s not like you can just get rid of this software, either — most of it’s there to stay, with hard-coded blocks in place to ensure you don’t uninstall any of the tat you don’t want.
Mike Jennings goes on for a while, but finishes with:
… after all, this sort of thing doesn’t happen on iOS.
Yep.
Openey!
There are, however, a number of first party apps that I would like to delete so I don’t have to worry about any more. Compass, calculator, notes, stocks and weather would never be missed on my phone.
Apple runs elements of their mobile devices as if a good percentage of users are not smart enough to protect themselves from threats they don’t understand. Why does Apple do this? Because it’s true.
i love the comments on the original article papering over this crap. Just root it and delete them! Install cyanogen! pfft.
at least you can stick ’em in a folder and get them out of the way.
I would love to see a new feature in iOS, something in settings, that simply lets you hide/show the various built in apps. Putting them in a folder is a workaround, but then you’re stuck with a folder of useless / undeletable icons. If I could just swipe a toggle to hide them, that would be great.
I use a jailbreak app to accomplish this now and it is marvelous. You can still find & use the apps with search, on the rare occasions where I might use them, but the other 99% of the time they aren’t cluttering up my screen.
Cheers!
They do that because most users of any computer or smartphone (Apple or otherwise) AREN’T smart enough to protect themselves from threats.
I think some people could greatly benefit from uninstalling their tats.
Despite Peter’s advice, I’d have to say that iOS does have “crapware”…if you define that term to mean programs or applications that come pre-installed on your device that you did not explicitly put there. That it’s called “crapware” is injecting value judgement into it; you may not consider the stocks app on iOS to be crappy, but still it’s pre-installed and you didn’t put it there (perhaps we just need a less loaded term).
You can even make the definition more strict: software pre-installed on your device that you didn’t put there that you aren’t allowed to delete and that isn’t necessary for the operation of the device. iOS still fails on that.
Perhaps there is an argument that these are core functions (some are) or that they are not branded (some aren’t)…but I agree that there are some that I don’t use, and having no alternative to remove them or even just to hide them from the springboard makes them “crapware” to me.
I’m not aware of any universal definition of “crapware,” but I think in terms of general usage, your description is overly broad. Conventionally, and more specifically in this PC Pro article “crapware” implies third-party software that either the manufacturer or, in this case, the carrier has been paid to install. That stuff is certainly absent from iOS devices.
I think we’re both being somewhat arbitrary in our definition. I can appreciate making a differentiation between stuff installed by a first party or by a third party…the reality is that when I go to purchase an iPhone, whether I go to the AT&T store to do it or to the Apple Store to do it, I’m getting a consistent product, so comparing iPhone to Android phones is relevant…whether an app is first party or third party doesn’t matter (to me). All I care about as a user is:
–Was it on the phone when I got it?
–If it was, was it necessary to the operation of the phone?
–If it was there and not necessary, could I delete it?
There is definitely software on the iPhone that fails that test. That Apple doesn’t let AT&T or Verizon pile on even more stuff is a very good thing; that every single iPhone (so far) comes loaded with exactly the same stuff and you know exactly what that’s going to be is a very good thing. The stuff that *is* on there isn’t anything that makes me not want to own the phone…but it does occasionally annoy me that it’s there and not removable (either from the phone or just from the UI), and thus it does detract from my enjoyment of the phone. That these apps come from Apple itself and not from some third party seems beside the point to me.
Can we all agree on this:
At least Apple’s “crapware” LOOKS GOOD!
Yeah, an unobtrusive utility that works as advertised, never invokes itself, takes up practically no space and can be moved out of the way hardly becomes “crapware” because you can’t delete it.