OnePlus has pledged to stop pre-installing Facebook apps on its phones.
Starting with the newly launched 8T phone, OnePlus will no longer bundle the Facebook bloatware, a company spokesperson told Input Mag. The smartphone vendor has been under fire for the practice since August, partly because it was done quietly on the OnePlus 8 and 8 Pro, but also because the bloatware cannot be completely removed. While you can uninstall the Facebook apps from the phones, other Facebook services remain functional in the background.
The only recourse for phone owners is to disable Facebook services, or delete them by using debugging software.
OnePlus hasn't fully explained why it decided to bundle the apps on its products, which also include the OnePlus Nord. But for years now, Facebook has been striking deals with smartphone vendors to add the social network’s apps on their devices.
Inevitably, some OnePlus users were annoyed, citing Facebook’s reputation for collecting personal data. “I for one would not upgrade to another OnePlus device, unless they can supply without any Facebook content at all,” one angry customer wrote to us in September.
This outcry from consumers and journalists was bad enough that OnePlus decided to abandon the practice, at least for now. According to Input Mag, the company hasn’t committed to stopping the practice forever, so it’s possible the Facebook preinstalls could return in the future. The vendor also isn’t providing an official way to remove the Facebook bloatware from the OnePlus 8, 8 Pro, and Nord phones either.
As for the OnePlus 8T, the product will get one pre-installed app, Netflix, which the company says is designed to enhance HDR video playback.
We've reached out to OnePlus for comment, and we'll update the story if we hear back.