TikTok Is Reportedly An 'Essential' App For Some Samsung Installs
It’s 2022, and yet, Samsung phone users still find themselves dealing with the menace of bloatware, with an irritating example being the user interface treating TikTok as an essential app. Now, the tactic is not unheard of. Chinese smartphone makers such as Xiaomi, Oppo, and Vivo have garnered some valid criticism in the past over the amount of bloatware that comes pre-installed on their devices. Samsung, and its One UI skin, are not too far behind. However, the situation gets even worse on carrier-locked devices.
Take, for example, the T-Mobile version of Samsung’s pricey new flagship, the Galaxy S22 Ultra 5G. The carrier’s official database shows that the phone comes pre-installed with 49 apps. But that’s not the end of it. On the entry-level Galaxy A03s, the number climbs to 59 apps, with the likes of Spotify and McAfee Security being the extra additions. The number rises to 77 pre-installed apps on the Samsung Galaxy A32 5G. And what is genuinely mind-bending is the fact that the Galaxy A52 5G, which was positioned as an Android alternative to the iPhone SE, has 90 pre-installed apps.
Related: Galaxy S22 Ultra Owners Are Already Reporting Display Problems
TikTok is absent on any of the lists mentioned above, but it appears that other carriers or unlocked units have a fondness for bundling the popular app as a pre-installed gift on Samsung phones. It’s not a new trend, but the fact that it is still troubling users in 2022 is disheartening. Reuben Binns, an associate professor at the University of Oxford, tweeted the photo of a Samsung phone’s setup screen, which labels TikTok as an essential app. The phone looks like a budget Galaxy device is an unlocked unit. Now, about the app’s status. An essential app is
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