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Nothing is bringing pre-loaded apps to its mid-range phones but the company is now making some changes after hearing people react.
Nothing is making the change so that you can uninstall these apps
Nothing Phone 3a Lite was introduced recently but the bigger news was about its plans to have pre-installed apps on mid-range devices, also known as bloatware from now on. Many people were not happy with this decision, even though the brand said it needed to make this change to support its future business model.
Now, it seems the company has decided to tone down its decision to some extent and allow users to uninstall the apps pre-installed if they don’t want it. Nothing has always maintained its stance of keeping the Android version clean but with a growing brand and product portfolio it needs other money sources to keep the business going.
Nothing Changes Stance On Bloatware For Phone Models: What Happens Now
The update was shared by the brand itself via a community post which shares the new stance which highlights the news about the Nothing OS 4.0 beta version that is rolling out for Phone 3 and Phone 3a series devices.
The news was shared earlier this month over in this post, where Nothing confirms that all the critical views and feedback has made them revert to usual ways and give users more control over the pre-loaded apps. Here’s what the company chief has said:
Hi everyone,
Following your feedback and suggestions, we’ve been working on making pre-installed services more flexible and within your control. Starting later this month, you’ll be able to completely remove Meta App Installer, Meta App Manager, and Meta Services from your device.
Previously, these could only be disabled. While we recommended keeping them active for better stability of pre-installed apps like Instagram or Facebook, we understand that some users prefer full control over what stays on their device.
We’re aiming to roll this out by the end of the month and will confirm once it’s live. Thank you for your continued feedback. It helps us keep improving while staying true to our promise of openness and user choice.
Akis
This means people with the Phone 3a Lite and other mid-range Nothing phones can remove/uninstall all these pre-loaded apps and also the related installer services from the device. The company also notes that keeping them enabled will deliver stable performance for the pre-loaded apps (if you intend to keep them). The new change will be available via a new update by the end of November.
While the decision did not go down well, it is good to see that Nothing understands the sentiments and decides to give users their choice. The company, under the reins of Carl Pei has often touted itself as a different brand that wants to make smartphones fun. and some of those claims have been met so far, with its clean Android UI experience available across all the devices, including the CMF Phone series.
The company has talked about concerns like managing the bill of materials (BOM) cost of making phones, which it claims is higher than older brands. And it needs the pre-loaded apps from partners to increase its revenue streams and then says, even established brands like Samsung have followed this model for many years.
S Aadeetya, Special Correspondent at News18 Tech, accidentally got into journalism 10 years ago, and since then, has been part of established media houses covering the latest trends in technology and helping fr…Read More
S Aadeetya, Special Correspondent at News18 Tech, accidentally got into journalism 10 years ago, and since then, has been part of established media houses covering the latest trends in technology and helping fr… Read More
Delhi, India, India
November 11, 2025, 12:21 IST
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