When you pick up a brand new smartphone from a carrier, in most cases it’s going to come with some form of carrier specific applications that your network feels you may want to use. That’s been the nature of things for nearly as long as apps on smartphones have been a thing, and although unfortunately it doesn’t seem to be disappearing entirely, the manufacturers at least seem to be starting to give users a little more choice in the matter of what “bloatware” comes with their shiny new device, like in Samsung’s case with new Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge, which are said to have less manufacturer-based Samsung apps pre-installed, yet still give you access to them should you want them.
Carriers on the other hand are not affording this same luxury to consumers, as many of the latest smartphones that can be purchased at carriers have a decent amount of carrier-based applications that many actually don’t care for. Such is the case with the new Samsung Galaxy S6 on the Verizon Wireless network, which comes pre-installed with a nice little collection of applications including Verizon Caller Name ID, Verizon Cloud, Message +, My Verizon Mobile, Mobile Hotspot, NFL Mobile, Voicemail, and more, as pictured in this image below shown by a user on Twitter who seemingly purchased a brand new Galaxy S6 on the Verizon network only to be met with a bunch of pre-installed apps he will never use.
As noted by the user, the apps can’t be uninstalled, however they can be “disabled” which removes them from the app drawer if you don’t want to see them. This doesn’t remove them from the phone of course, and they still sit in memory, dormant, and waiting to be reactivated one day. Whether or not you use these types of apps when you buy a new phone is up to you, but it seems obvious that many people aren’t a fan of being forced to accept them on the device and have them taking up space. This is in part why some consumers choose an unlocked device or choose to go with a Nexus. Seeing this makes you wonder whether or not carrier bloatware will ever truly disappear, but you also can’t take this as much of a surprise, as every single carrier loads apps onto their devices, and it’s likely to be that way for a while.