Google has recently announced that the popular traffic app Waze can be built into the Android list of default apps soon. This is a pretty big move, although it is not clear when these changes will come into effect. It’s also a pretty controversial move for the tech company because many people consider it bloatware. Basically, once this decision comes into effect, OEMs and carriers will receive the ability to pre-install the application on their devices, adding up to the default apps listing. Waze is a pretty popular app which provides information about the traffic as well as a navigation system. All this is done thanks to the community which shares real-time data. It’s a very important app which can save you gas money and more importantly time, so it may be a good thing that it’s going to be included in Android by default. Obviously though, this app doesn’t lack controversy, and most of it comes from user abuse.
Waze was initially launched in 2013 and has had a huge success ever since. Many users might welcome this app being a default one, but a lot of other people consider it bloatware, and for good reason. Most Android users can simply download this app off the Play Store if they need it. It’s up to the carriers and the OEMs if they will feature this app by default on their devices, so it’s unknown how this news will come into effect.
The main course of action is probably getting users to utilize Waze and contribute to its huge traffic info database. This app becomes better and better if more people use it, so this decision should heavily improve accuracy, information, blocked roads, and more. This results in safer traffic and less cost for maintenance and gas, so it could be overall a good thing. It’s unknown at this point if Google has any plans to make other apps part of the default list, but it’s possible. What do you think of Waze? Do you think it’s a good thing that Google wants to make this app a default one, or should it be kept in the Play Store where user’s can just install it as their needs dictate?