The OnePlus 12 and Open are the Chinese tech giant’s latest premium flagship smartphones. Both smartphones offer an excellent software experience with the company’s in-house Android-based OxygenOS custom skin. However, when the OnePlus Open launched, it arrived with a few pre-loaded apps aka bloatware. Many users were disappointed with the OnePlus flagships like the Open came preloaded with bloatware.
It has been quite a few months since the launch of the latest OnePlus premium flagship smartphones. However, the brand hasn’t yet taken any action. Apart from the Open, the OnePlus 12 also comes pre-loaded with bloatware, suggests a new report.
OnePlus premium phones have multiple pre-selected bloatware apps during installation
The OnePlus 12 and OnePlus Open have multiple pre-selected apps during the installation process. These third-party applications appear under the “From OnePlus” header in the “Review additional apps” screen. Content creator Gauraang Arora spotted as many as four third-party apps on his OnePlus 12 smartphone during the installation process. These applications include LinkedIn, Policybazaar, Block Blast!, and Candy Crush Saga.
A report by Android Authority is inline with the source above. The folks over the publication have also found these apps during the first-time setup process on the OnePlus 12. The device was running the latest OxygenOS version in India. Furthermore, the source suggests that pre-selected apps or bloatware will vary from region to region, and may not appear at all. In the US, the setup process only presents LinkedIn, while there are no pre-selected in the EU.
It’s worth mentioning that these pre-selected apps are hidden under the “Review additional apps” section on the setup screen. It is easy to unselect the listed apps. However, most users may not go through this section and simply continue to proceed through the setup process. Since these third-party apps are already pre-consented, they will be installed on your OnePlus 12 or OnePlus Open.
The OnePlus Open continues to offer as many as three Meta-related pre-loaded apps, which can’t be easily uninstalled. The source has mentioned that they’ve found evidence of more bloatware heading to the OnePlus 12 in the latest OxygenOS version. These apps will either be pre-installed or will be shown as APK shortcuts on the phone, only time will tell.
