Google Makes It Difficult to Add Bloatware, But Is It Enough?

The issue of bloatware has bloated up to beyond tolerance with users recognizing the futility of having it on their devices and taking a toll on its performance. However, the nexus of smartphone manufacturers and app developers are far from getting rid of the virtual junk food they collectively cook up to serve to Android owner. And Google has been having a tough time trying to stop them.

Absolute bloatware protection still not a guarantee

Currently, it appears that you would be unable to remove any bloatware and can only disable it. That is only part of the battle won as the damn thing still would occupy precious memory space. Rumors that floated recently of users being able to remove bloat ware totally have been only that – rumors. Indeed, it is strange and ironical that despite the efforts of every manufacturer to piggyback on the Google Android platform by inserting bloat ware, users seem to reject them. Very few of the bloat ware can claim to have the attention of users over the ones already provided by Google. Many have even installed stuff like the Nova Launcher Prime to hide such bloat ware.

Google apps more than sufficient for users

Google has been coming out and will continue to come out with apps on the Play Store that can satisfy the needs of users. The users therefore just have no motivation or incentive to use any bloat ware for perceived benefits. However, that is a message, device manufacturers are not getting and they are continuing to fill up their devices with such bloat ware that is only irritating and frustrating to users. Truly, even when some users have tried out some of the bloatware, they have found them to be not as effective or smooth as a Google app. That is because the bloatware of Google is well and nicely compatible with the platform, being a part of it. You just cannot do away with Gmail for instance as it is very much an intrinsic element of the Android OS. Finding something similar has proven to be an exercise in futility.

So what is Google doing to at least make it difficult for manufacturers to keep adding bloatware?

Google instead of preventing the OEMs and carriers from putting their bloat ware, have come out with an alternate strategy in the Marshmallow release. They have empowered the end user through permission systems to decide the extent of access any app can have and that is a good development. As of now, it is not clear how OEMs or carriers would be able to get around this hurdle. They would surely not be able to grant permissions to their bloat ware on behalf of the user and moreover have to make available an option for the users to be able to decide if that bloatware should get the required permissions or not. This scenario certainly puts the user in focus and in command and will go a long way of controlling the loading of bloatware in future devices.