Android Software
Android Bloatware: We Know What’s Best for You™
Android is often described as open, flexible, and user-centric.It is also remarkably confident about deciding what should live on your phone forever.
Introduction
Android is sold as open and user-centric, yet routinely behaves like a locked-down appliance when it suits the vendors.
Current Android mobile devices come with a slew of applications pre-installed for the convenience of the owner. However, many of these applications cannot be uninstalled and continue to consume both memory and CPU cycles.
On this page, I will highlight some of these applications from Google (we know what’s best for you™), Samsung and Xiaomi.
- Android Auto
- Chrome
- Cross-device Services
- Google Lens
- Google Meet
- Google One
- Google Photos
- Google TV
- Google Wallet
- Health Connect
- YouTube
- YouTube Music
Some of the Google applications are genuinely useful. That does not make their permanence any less questionable.
Samsung
Samsung is the absolute master at duplicating Google applications. They even allow you to delete some of the Google apps mentioned above, but not their own.
- Contacts
- Galaxy Shop (?), which I have never opened and do not intend to, lest it wake up
- Messages
- Music
- Notes
- Phone
- Samsung Internet
- Samsung Members
- Samsung Wallet (appears to be removable)
- Store
In most cases, these exist alongside perfectly functional Google equivalents.
I have to concede that Smart Switch is one of their applications that I have found to be extremely useful. However, Samsung Members is a very aggressive application. I discovered this behaviour when trying to read about One UI 8.0 issues: it does not allow you to access any Samsung-hosted forum through any browser, instead requiring the use of the application. Even though I had disabled Samsung Members, I was still blocked and presented with a warning requiring me to upgrade the application in order to read the forum. On a non-Samsung device, browser access is possible.
Xiaomi
Xiaomi is a very strange kettle of fish. They make some pretty decent cheap phones, but like Samsung they also duplicate many Google applications. For me, the worst aspect of their software is the advertising embedded directly into their apps - ads that, in some cases, make those apps effectively unusable.
- App Mall
- App Vault
- Cleaner
- Compass
- FM Radio
- Game Centre
- Mi Browser
- Mi Remote (only works after rebooting the device)
- Mi Video
- Music
- Notes
- Security (this includes a host of sub-apps, including Cleaner)
- Services and Feedback (they do actually sometimes respond!)
- Themes (my pet hate)
Trying to turn off some of the "features" in Xiaomi applications is often a nightmare, as they have a habit of re-enabling themselves after a reboot.
I don't think I will be buying another Xiaomi device...
(27 January 2026)
Concluding remarks
By this point a pattern begins to emerge.
- Google’s pre-installed applications are primarily about ecosystem lock-in.
- Samsung’s are about brand dominance, often through duplication.
- Xiaomi’s are about ongoing monetisation, frequently through advertising.
None of this feels accidental.
(28 January 2026)
