(Image credit: Future)

Nothing has performed something of a U-turn, responding to community feedback on pre-installed apps and confirming that it will allow their complete removal – just days after first introducing them with the launch of the Nothing Phone (3a) Lite.

The company has gone from zero to hero over the past few years. Carl Pei, formerly the co-founder of OnePlus, launched the London-based Nothing Tech brand in 2020 and launched its first smartphone in 2022. Since then, it has seen impressive growth, with a range of affordable phones and accessories to date. Some of its devices have even made it onto best Android phone lists.

But in a post on the community pages, Akis Evangelidis, Nothing co-founder, shared details about the latest developments, which included confirmation of pre-installed apps. This included TikTok, Facebook and Instagram, as well as a number of supporting apps from Meta.

The reason these apps are pre-installed is financial. Akis explained that the aim of including them is to reduce the bill of materials, which has a knock-on effect of keeping the price down for customers.

However, the community response has been negative, and while the user-facing apps (TikTok, Facebook, Instagram) can be uninstalled, the supporting apps (Meta App Installer, Meta App Manager, Meta Service) cannot – those elements can only be disabled.

That, it seems, is going to be changed, so buyers of Nothing phones will be free to completely remove the preinstalled apps and all those supporting elements.

Beyond that, the Nothing beta also introduced something called Lock Glimpse, an app that puts content on your lock screen. However, this content seems to be been sourced from a clickbait farm, and rather than enhancing the user experience, appears to be a thinly-veiled revenue-driving ad pushing experience.

Lock Glimpse can be disabled, but can't be removed.

A slippery bloat slope, or a win for customers?

Nothing's decision to include pre-installed app seems to have caught the community by surprise. While Nothing is known for its customised OS, the issue of pre-installed apps – or bloatware as it's commonly known – is a contentious issue.

Having been through three generations of devices, the appearance of bloatware hasn't been popular, but it seems that this will be part of Nothing's strategy moving forward. Although the firm says that these apps will be carefully selected.

Nothing isn't alone here: indeed, Akis goes as far as saying that even giants like Samsung do this, with installs of similar apps and more. Other budget-focused phones often have a lot more bloatware, usually including games, all of which help raise revenue for the manufacturer and keep the prices down.

Nothing seems to have responded in the right way and clearly knows that keeping its community onside is important, but the inclusion of the Lock Glimpse feature doesn't look good for the fledgling company.

The reality is that many users will want Facebook and Instagram, and will install these apps early in using their devices. For those who don't though, you'll have the freedom to uninstall. I don't think anyone wants lock screen ads.