One of the oft-discused downsides of choosing an Android device is the phenomenon of pre-loaded “bloatware.” . Broadly speaking, these are apps and services pre-loaded on smartphones and tablets by phone vendors, mobile carriers, and their partners along with the basic suite of Google apps and Android itself. Not all of this software is necessarily useless, and some vendors load less than others, but often it can’t be uninstalled, leaving users stuck with space-consuming software they might never use. The link for this article located at NakedSecurity is no longer available. . Bloatware refers to unwanted pre-installed apps on Android devices that disrupt functionality and user experience, causing storage issues and performance drops. Android Devices, Bloatware Effects, Smartphone Management, Pre-loaded Software. . LinuxSecurity.com Team
An academic study that analyzed 82,501 apps that were pre-installed on 1,742 Android smartphones sold by 214 vendors concluded that users are woefully unaware of the huge security and privacy-related threats that come from pre-installed applications. . Researchers found that many of these pre-installed apps have access to very intrusive permissions out of the box, collect and send data about users to advertisers, and have security flaws that often remain unmatched. On top of this, many pre-installed apps (also referred to as bloatware) can't be removed, and also use third-party libraries that secretly collect user data from within benign-looking and innocently-named applications. The link for this article located at ZDNet is no longer available. . Recent studies uncover significant security concerns associated with factory-loaded applications on Android devices, pointing to a lack of user knowledge.. Android Privacy Risks, Pre-installed App Security, Data Collector Apps, Bloatware Issues. . LinuxSecurity.com Team
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