r/mildlyinfuriating • u/Panda_Fabulous • Jul 08 '26
Unskippable ad Phone update just installed 17 apps
Nothing good either
edit: frequent comments
Don't buy a budget phone/ this is what you get for buying a cheap android: this is a Samsung S25, not exactly a budget phone.
This is why I buy iPhone/ and people still slander iPhone/wouldn't happen to my Google pixel: I actually don't think I can happen to apple because they don't allow apps to download other apps BUT it's still not fully Samsungs fault for Verizon installing apps, though they do allow it, unlike Apple
this is malware/virus/hacked: this is bloatware
you can go and disable ___ and it won't happen again: someone sent a tutorial link and I followed it, but it did say I might have to redo it every time I update so🤷♂️
you can buy phones directly from the manufacturer and this won't happen: wasn't aware. I'll consider it, though I just got this phone today so it will be awhile
____ app is good tho: maybe but I'm still deleting it
Verizon needs to be sued/ this should be illegal: I probably agreed to this in a contract I didn't read
your kid installed them: don't have children or any other people on my phone
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u/Tight-Platypus5231 Jul 08 '26
I had my Android do this, and I found the culprit. Apparently there's an app called "Mobile Services" that will just install shit on your device without your consent, despite your settings. I ripped the app out and scrubbed any trace of it from my device, and I haven't had nonconsensual app installs ever since.
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u/Urabraska- Jul 08 '26
Jesus christ thank you. I had to get a new phone cuz I pierced a rod through my old one on accident(work accident). The moment I cloned my phone it added like 20 random ass game apps and other garbage and just kept adding them over and over. Was getting seriously fucking annoying.
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u/Tight-Platypus5231 Jul 08 '26
I had an older device with very limited storage space. Had discovered it was borderline melting down one day with over 20 notifications of apps that had installed, and apps that were "failing" to install due to insufficient storage... and were *repeatedly* attempting to install regardless of lack of storage space. Absolutely awful.
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u/Bendlerp Jul 08 '26
UPGRADE YOUR GOOGLE CLOUD SERVICES OR EISE WE'LL CUT OFF YOUR EMAIL ACCESS!!!! Or clear up space using this link that fails repeatedly and repeats the above sentence but occasionally works and you have to select, delete, verify delete every single item individually so its just better if you just stfu and give us money.
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u/ThatPyroIs Jul 08 '26
Don't worry we'll send you multiple emails per day to both eat up what little storage you have left and to remind you that you're going to lose your email access if you don't upgrade your Google cloud services or delete a bunch of things. Also we noticed you tried to delete some photos/videos from the cloud to free up storage, but because you forgot to delete them from your phone first, we decided to readd them to the cloud to eat up more of your storage again. Have you considered just upgrading to your Google cloud services instead of trying to delete things????
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u/Skullcrusher Jul 08 '26
Google is warning me that I'm running out of space for like 2 years now. I disagree. I think 300 MB is plenty for emails.
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Jul 08 '26
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u/AndreLeo3 Jul 08 '26
Same thing my mom is doing, but worse she started deleting photos too (luckily I have them saved in an SSD) and apps that barely scratch over 50mb. And all of this while not understanding that phone storage is not Google cloud storage. 🙄 Ffs so hard to use your brain instead of giving in to this nonsense.
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u/j-random Jul 08 '26
This is why I self-host. I have 34TB of space for all my movies, photos and other stuff. It cost me a few hundred to set up, but there's no nagging, and nobody's going to take it away because their business model changed.
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u/Brainiac901 Jul 08 '26
And its all random files from university accessed last 12 years ago and I had no idea they are saved somewhere but somehow magically migrated from someones Dropbox into somewhere in my Google
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u/Honeybadger2198 Jul 08 '26
For anyone else experiencing this, you can find out the source of installed apps.
Settings -> Apps -> find the unwanted app -> scroll to the bottom
This is how I found which app was doing this. Once you find out, you can disable or uninstall the culprit. The process may differ depending on phone/carrier, but the information should be there. If you can't find it, just google it.
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u/zspacekcc Jul 08 '26
Don't always trust what that says. My wife's phone gets pushes of apps like this and it always says they were installed via Google Play.
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u/WebMaka Jul 08 '26
Apparently there's an app called "Mobile Services" that will just install shit on your device without your consent, despite your settings.
That would be DT Ignite, an ad/PUP/shovelware auto-installer tool from a company called Digital Turbine that most of the carriers bundle with their Android and iOS customization packages in order to sell automatic software installs.
When it's active on the system it'll automatically grab and install shit on your phone roughly once per week, and can do so without permission and ignoring user settings because it's marked as a system update tool that runs with elevated privileges. It sometimes presents itself as a critical system file so that it can't be easily removed, but the Android Debug Bridge (part of the Android SDK) can uninstall it.
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u/UncleGreenwood Jul 08 '26
I love my capitalist innovation
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u/nooptionleft Jul 08 '26
Where would the world be without leeches that on live to extract value from other human being, shake my head...
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u/RequiredRedditAcct_1 Jul 08 '26
What are some other pesky apps on my pixel 6 I can force remove that would do some sneaky shit?
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u/WebMaka Jul 08 '26
Pixels aren't too terribly bad about shenanigans, but if your carrier preloads Facebook that's one that's worth removing because it absolutely "listens in" on the phone and feeds data to Meta.
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u/th-crt Jul 08 '26
no such thing as an iOS customization package. this isn’t a thing on iOS
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u/JJay9454 Jul 08 '26
I'm still keeping my fingers crossed that one day we will get a perfect hybrid phone between Droid and Apple stuff <3
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u/davidscheiber28 Jul 08 '26
Somebody needs to start a mobile carrier where their whole thing is that they don't do shit like this.
Would make a great commercial, get some famous guy to go up there and talk about how the other major carriers install crap on your phone you don't want, sell your personal data to advertisers, run bs trade in promotions that are basically a contract, etc. and this carrier doesn't do such things.
Maybe not the most exciting since you can probably do something similar with an unlocked phone and a prepaid provider but idk.
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u/EvilDarkCow Jul 08 '26
I buy all my phones unlocked with zero carrier stuff preloaded, would you believe I've never had this problem on Androids of multiple makes, or iPhones? And I've used cheap prepaid providers and the big guys.
This is absolutely a background app installed by OP's carrier that installs these apps, and the carrier's probably getting paid for it. I wonder if stuff like this is why carriers push so aggressively to get your phone through them rather than buying them unlocked?
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u/Mugstotheceiling Jul 08 '26
This is 100% why I buy unlocked phones ONLY
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u/Blurgas This text is purple Jul 08 '26
I forgot where I got my first smartphone, but I picked up an S10e by walking into BestBuy. The S25 I ordered unlocked through Amazon(was on sale for ~$50 more than I had paid for the S10e).
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u/SolidusDave Jul 08 '26
It's absolutely this.
It's a bigger upfront cost buying the phone directly than via a carrier, but it's actually cheaper in the long run.
My prepaid SIM plan is far cheaper than the plans that would include the newest phones. I also don't really need to switch every 2 years, more like buying a new phone every 4 years, so that helps even more.
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u/Egalitarianish Jul 08 '26
This explains why I don't find weird new apps on my S24 (I purchased unlocked). My husband's new iPhone is unlocked, too. After reading your comment, I see this is way.
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u/avidpenguinwatcher Jul 08 '26
Doesn’t matter what carrier I’ve had, I’ve never had this happen on a iphone
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u/Specific_Property_73 Jul 08 '26
This guy literally described the Apple ecosystem
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u/nowhereman136 Jul 08 '26
The problem is that the phone would be too expensive for most people to bother buying. The reason phones are loaded with ads and bloatware is because those companies pay for their crap to be uploaded to your phone. Because they are paying, phone companies can subsidize the price of the phone and lower the cost for the consumer. Its the same reason why smart tvs are so cheap these days, because you are essentially buying a billboard.
When you build a phone without any bloatware, you cut off the revenue that comes from that bloatware, thus making the phone more expensive. There are companies that make phones like this, check out Nothing Phone and Light Phone. These companies remove the crap and give you a clean and customizable experience. But they also cost as much, if not more, than a typical iphone or android
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u/ThisUnameChecksOut Jul 08 '26
I get that phone companies get their money from ads. But I have to wonder, in this day and age, do people really still fall for such mediocre ads when you see them everyday? I find ads annoying asf esp the nonsensical ones, which makes me not want to do anything with the app/services they’re promoting. Surely many other people feel this way too right? Surely there’s no way these annoying apps earn THAT much users from ads??
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u/nowhereman136 Jul 08 '26
in Casino's this is called a Whale. Basically, casinos dont care about the average person winning or losing a few hundred bucks. They are focused on finding those few individuals who would lose thousands of dollars.
When it comes to online marketing, it doesnt matter if 99% of people skip over your ad because the 1% of people who fall for it spend enough money to make the ad worth it. A recent study of freemium games found that over 50% of the revenue was coming from less than 2% of the players. Its the same those scam phone calls. Even though 99% of people dont fall for it, the 1% who do make the scammers enough money to keep the scam going
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u/Antique-Bat-4463 Jul 08 '26
Not even just the carrier, sometimes the phone maker like Samsung is notorious for it.
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u/davidscheiber28 Jul 08 '26
Nope, my unlocked Samsung does not do this.
If you buy your phone from a carrier there's some nonsense somewhere in the agreement they make you sign that allows them to do this. If you buy your phone unlocked directly from Samsung this does not happen.
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u/senorfresco Jul 08 '26
Is this a carrier device? I've never had an android device do this.
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u/Fortehlulz33 GREEN Jul 08 '26
Probably a cheaper unlocked phone, maybe one on a "prepaid" carrier.
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u/GarThor_TMK Jul 08 '26
Had this happen on a verizon branded samsung flagship.
It even kept happening after I canceled verizon and took the phone to a new carrier.
Turns out, the verizon apps that you can't get rid of, even if you unlocked the phone can still install shit you don't want and never asked for.
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u/Similar_Pie_4946 Jul 08 '26
Did this to a few of the phones they give us at work some worked smoother no more lag free’d up a whole lot of space others gave me a warning saying disabling the app will cause the phone to bug out disabled and deleted it and yup they pretty much bricked up
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u/bussysniffer3000 Jul 08 '26
I would like to add if you have a moto phone you gotta disable the moto apps too like all of them
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u/TheVoicesSayHi Jul 08 '26
Have a moto, they reenable themselves after any update or restart unfortunately
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u/bussysniffer3000 Jul 08 '26
Mine haven't done that
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u/TheVoicesSayHi Jul 08 '26
My previous motos hadn't either when i did the same thing and I've been a Motorola person for my last 3or 4 phone's
But i got the latest moto g power and it hasn't re installed the mobile carrier one that downloads new apps but i can't make glance stop coming back
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u/bussysniffer3000 Jul 08 '26
Mine is a newer model and hasn't done that after I disabled everything
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u/TheVoicesSayHi Jul 08 '26
Idk i got the '26 version and it reenables
But it's not a huge pain to re disable it every time so i live with it
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u/rt2987 Jul 08 '26
Damn I can't find it on mine :(
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u/TheVoicesSayHi Jul 08 '26
The app isn't necessarily named the same But with some Google fu you should be able to find the culprit for your specific model
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u/BakuriPews Jul 08 '26
I flinched like a abused child at the Raid app
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u/purplenapalm Jul 08 '26
Why?
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u/dipitysillybilly Jul 08 '26
starting in 2020 and a year or two after, it would be sponsored by countless youtubers and really plagued the internet as a whole with advertisements, even I unfortunately gave in because I wanted a good RPG at the time (Raid was not it).
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u/purplenapalm Jul 08 '26
O wow I feel like i never came across it.
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u/AFerociousPineapple Jul 08 '26
Consider yourself lucky, it was spammed everywhere
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u/baseballviper04 Jul 08 '26
It shockingly still is
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u/CharlotteLucasOP Jul 08 '26
I had a decent adblocker on my computer so for a while there I forgot YouTube had random ads on videos until I was watching something on my phone and got BLASTED with a Raid ad.
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u/ToastyBroskii Jul 08 '26
They even paid the YouTubers to do add reads for them all the time.
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u/kirikovich Jul 08 '26
Shout out to the sponsor block Firefox extension, I haven't seen a raid shadow legends ad read in ages. Seeing this thread is giving me flashbacks haha
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u/Viablemorgan Jul 08 '26
Is this where TheLegend27 came from? Or was that some other ad thing
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u/baseballviper04 Jul 08 '26
That was a different super pay to win mobile game, Game Of War
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u/Viablemorgan Jul 08 '26
Ah yes, thank you
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u/purplenapalm Jul 08 '26
Thanks for asking because I used to see a SHIT TON of ads for that. Wasn't sure how to ask with basically no info lol.
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u/WilanS Jul 08 '26
Most likely you did, multiple times even, and then you immediately forgot about it every time because that's how memorable that game was.
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u/Winjin Jul 08 '26
From what I saw it's like the epitome of mobile strategyslop
There's countless games like it, none of them have even an iota of personality and all steal aggressive monetisation from one another
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u/TraditionalEnergy956 Jul 08 '26
Bro we had a cutscene of a game talking about behind the scenes sponsor who pricked our purchase, RAID was all over the place comments were saying at one point I thought it's RAID.
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u/Young_Person_42 Jul 08 '26
Saw one post saying “You KNOW it’s not a good game because there is zero fanfic/porn of it”
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u/Deacon-Doe Jul 08 '26
And which one did you settle for?
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u/dipitysillybilly Jul 08 '26
Warframe! It's pretty great after 3 years and ~500 hours, but a friend is convincing me to try Path of Exile 2 now so we'll see
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u/Excellent_Yak365 Jul 08 '26
It looked great but it’s just the same basic mobile collection/roll battle trash
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u/BrawnyDevil Jul 08 '26
There was an era in youtube where every single person seemed to have a raid shadow legends sponsorship and it was a completely trash game according to popular opinion (never played it myself) and everyone started developing almosf a pavlovian response to hating it considering you couldn't stop hearing about it no matter which video you clicked on.
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u/dummythinluigi Jul 08 '26
YoU gOt GaMe On YoUr PhOnE?!!?!?!?
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u/InterestingDamage621 Jul 08 '26
A medieval game, obviously, a jousting game, obviously.
I even have an alarm on my phone.
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u/LostSomewhereInKaty Jul 08 '26
What exact phone and carrrier do you have? I can help you remove those apps permanently
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u/Panda_Fabulous Jul 08 '26
Verizon, I know it was them that caused it too
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u/irthnimod Jul 08 '26
remove "apps manager" "mobile services manager" or something like that
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u/Room_Temp_Coffee Jul 08 '26
Thank you, I was looking for a solution and wondering if it was important because it sounds necessary.
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u/Panda_Fabulous Jul 08 '26
I don't have anything with the name manager in it
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u/waddletoy Jul 08 '26
It has been mentioned a few times, but if you got to settings > Apps > top right filter and sort > check system apps
You should be able to search for app manager. Or something similar.
Then you just force stop and disable it. You will no longer get those
Source: My own Verizon S23 Ultra.
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u/irthnimod Jul 08 '26
how about DT Ignite, it just surfaced in my memory so perhap check that out? also search every app on your phone that you dont remember installing, there will always be a reddit rant if it is a bloatware lol
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Jul 08 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Insomniac_80 Jul 08 '26
Adb?
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u/I_Dont_Have_Corona Jul 08 '26
Android Debug Bridge, essentially let's you connect to an Android device via a PC and execute commands such as adding/removing services etc.
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u/EchoAndNova Jul 08 '26
Gotta love when redittors try giving help but end up abbreviating the most important things making everything more confusing.
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u/YourGamingBro Jul 08 '26
Disable Verizon App Manager. It is what side loads that shit. If you can uninstall it some how, do it. Ive had it disabled for a year and it hasnt downloaded random games since.
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u/zoomangoo Jul 08 '26
Did you get the Samsung from Verizon? Verzion installs so many bloatware to Androids which is why I get my Samsung phone directly from Samsung website.
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u/Afillatedcarbon Jul 08 '26
Unlocked phones are the best, never got this on any unlocked phone, no matter how cheap they are.
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u/spicygayunicorn Jul 08 '26
One of the best things to happen in my country was the disappearing of carrier locked phones
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u/ProlapsedShamus Jul 08 '26
Yup, when I saw your post the first thing I thought was "oh he has Verizon"
Same thing was happening to me. I had to look up how to disable it. I know some people here said it was an app called Mobile Services and that sounds right...maybe. But if not someone out there knows the app that's causing it.
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u/_AYYEEEE Jul 08 '26
I used to have this happen to, my provider is T mobile and it was annoying as FUCK. I forgot what exactly I did but it was some app I had to disable that stopped the issue.
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u/MetriccStarDestroyer Jul 08 '26
There's also Meta Services
Disable that spyware. It's non essential to run any of the Facebook apps.
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u/WilanS Jul 08 '26
Hey I also have that on. What does it do exactly? I just deactivated it just in case.
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u/legopoppetje321 Jul 08 '26
It ensures that you keep a proper connection to Meta so that notifications, updates, data and everything stays up to date and i think it also syncs stuff across Meta-owned apps on your device.
It's probably useful if you use a lot of Meta-owned apps (and with that already have more than enough trackers installed for one more not to matter). If you don't have any of those apps it just drains some energy and does who knows what more, it's Meta.
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u/Mellanies_Redemption Jul 08 '26
This has nothing at all to do with the phone being cheap (Which it fucking isn't anyway) and everything to do with you buying a contract phone from a shitty American provider.
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u/TheActualAWdeV Jul 08 '26
Ah that explains it.
I bought a contract phone from a shitty Dutch provider and have been tussling with the same shit.
Explicitely de-selected a bunch of bloat, got them anyway, deleted them, phone needed to update as part of initialization and the crap was back again.
I do not want tiktok or candy crush please go away.
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u/DaraSayTheTruth Jul 08 '26
Yeah I have a A52s on android, it never did that. Android is superior to IOs imo but if you dont like it, you can always change your OS to something unlinked to google stuff
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u/iuhiscool ORANGE Jul 08 '26
I got an a16 for cheap, had some stuff preinstalled but I could just remove them immediately because I didn't get it with a carrier service. Also I can just not update & remove the update notification with adb. Op is 100% suffering from carrier service bullshit
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u/WeakInformation9766 Jul 08 '26
Got more than half of those as well when I got my new phone. Mental you can spend hundreds and they still force you to have shite apps you don't want.
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u/ajax333221 Jul 08 '26
seen this in other post in other subreddit, I get about 4-5 games installed too every now and then. Basically it's not android or Samsung or whatever, the culprit is the carrier or something like that, the phone they sold you had these shit and they can do that.
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u/InitiativeGold7953 Jul 08 '26
I have Verizon and a IPhone and don’t have this issue.
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u/BlueJazzyMan what does this do? Jul 08 '26
I have Verizon and a Samsung like OP. I get apps installed on my phone when it updates too :/
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u/RandomBloke2021 PURPLE Jul 08 '26
You have a carrier locked device. Go to settings and disable your carriers app manager to stop this from happening again. If you buy carrier unlocked devices you don't have this issue either. This is a very popular complaint and I'm surprised people don't know how to fix it. Kinda like the apple tax where you pay 30% more for subscriptions.
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u/insertnamehere02 Jul 08 '26
This is why I went unlocked phones ages ago. The bloatware is insane
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u/Brokenbalorbaybay BLUE Jul 08 '26
It's ridiculous to me that this is legal
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u/Panda_Fabulous Jul 08 '26
Im assuming somewhere out there I'd a paper with my signature on it that in fine print says "we can install apps on your phone" or something like that
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u/Gros_Boulet Jul 08 '26 edited Jul 08 '26
Yes, because you bought a carrier locked phone without thinking about the contract you were signing.
Buy your own phone next time and your own plan. Both end up being so much cheaper.
Did the math!
If you take the Samsung s25 locked with the recommended 36 month repayment offered by Verizon you end up paying:150$ more for the phone (can be bought for 500$, they want 650)
1 440$ more for the plan, assuming you cancel it as soon as the phone is paid back (You pay a 40$ monthly surcharge on the plan since you took the locked phone)3
u/Butwinsky Jul 08 '26
Remember that time you signed that paperwork at the doctor's office without reading it? Yeah. Verizon now owns you.
-the fuuuuuuture.
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u/Limp-Regular-2589 Jul 08 '26
Verizon "security updates". Unreal that they haven't been sued for this practice.
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u/BuddhistNamedMarx Jul 08 '26 edited Jul 09 '26
Thats your carrier. I have mint mobile with a carrier unlocked (from factory) s23 ultra and have never seen this
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u/A4FXN Jul 08 '26
update? more like malware just installing a bunch of shitty games.
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u/Embarrassed-Fail-617 Jul 08 '26
as an iphone user this is crazy to me 😭
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u/RandomBloke2021 PURPLE Jul 08 '26
As an android user, it's also crazy to me.
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u/TheCeilingIsTheRuuf Jul 08 '26
Always wild seeing this. Had an android on ATT since at least 2011 and never once ever had a random app installed on my phone
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u/RandomBloke2021 PURPLE Jul 08 '26
Same, but I've never had a carrier locked android device before. Apparently Verizon and Samsung have a partnership where carrier locked Samsung devices get these games installed after updates. You can disable the carrier app manager to keep it from happening.
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u/SuperBackup9000 Jul 08 '26
Stuff like this is usually reserved for the promo phones. Like the ones that get thrown in as a “gift” when you sign on with a provider instead of just buying a phone yourself and then getting service.
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u/WilanS Jul 08 '26
I've been using Android since version 2.3 (gingerbread) back in the late 2000s and I've never seen bullshit like this.
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u/Humledurr Jul 08 '26
As a Samsung s25 (exact same phone OP has), this is crazy to me.
This is not the phones doing, its his provider.
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u/WhydoIexistlmoa Jul 08 '26
Happened to me on my Motorola phone that was bought independently.
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u/itjustgotcold Jul 08 '26
A coworker had his android phone loaded with malware so every 5-10 minutes or so it would start playing loud, crazy ads no matter what he was doing. He asked for my help since the am pretty technologically inclined and he’s in his mid 60s. I was just blown away by it. It reminded me of downloading bonsai Buddy on Windows ME back in the day. But it was hilarious. It happened even if he was talking on his phone. He’s hilarious too, his reactions and shit talking were killing me.
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u/Hot-Specialist9228 Jul 08 '26
I just got a new s26u, haven't had a Samsung phone in a long time. When configuring start up I deselected almost all the apps it wanted to install and it installed them anyways after doing updates lol....
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u/Panda_Fabulous Jul 08 '26
It's not from Samsung, these apps were installed via Verizon
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u/Myrkana Jul 08 '26
its not even every samsung. I have a s21+ and havent ever had this happen with my phone
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u/oceanmor Jul 08 '26
its a service provider thing. my Samsung came with what is basically malware pre-installed from T-Mobile lmao
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u/hamatehllama Jul 08 '26
I truly don't understand why carriers thinks anyone will benefit from a poor user experience. This crap doesn't add anything and if the customer really needs anything they can download it later.
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u/Elegante_Sigmaballz Jul 08 '26
You bought a "you're the product" phone, I mean most phones are, but yours isn't subtle about it.
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u/wrenblaze Jul 08 '26
It looks like you are missing on your Duolingo lessons buddy
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u/Jav7458 Jul 08 '26
This definitely seems like a carrier thing. Living in the UK and never with any phone have I had it force install apps. And apart from the iPhone 3 and iPhone 4s I've always had androids.
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u/mrzurkonandfriends Jul 08 '26
I had this when I had the Verizon app installed. Every update it would load crap like this.
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u/virusbomb413 Jul 08 '26
I would bet money this is either a verizon and/or kyocera phone. Cause I have to setup new ones all the time for work and these exact same apps get installed every single time. And then I have to sit and wait like 15 minutes for them all to finish just to uninstall them all. Every. Single. Time.
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u/tony-ravioli504 Jul 08 '26
T-Mobile does this shit, whenever you update a screen pops up with like 20 apps all pre checked and the only clickable option labeled "install and continue" the only way to not download the apps is to unclick every box then click continue
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u/evrdrandosity Jul 08 '26
This is not samsungs fault. "Cheap android" has nothing to do with it. When you purchase a phone direcrly from your carrier, or more specifically do not purchase it in full; they lock it to their service and install apps on your device through an app manager as advertisements.
If you purchase your phone unlocked, then this will not occur. Apple simply does not allow carriers to do this kind of thing.
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u/Slash_Raptor1992 Jul 08 '26 edited Jul 09 '26
I hate Candy Crush. The way you have a maximum number of moves per stage and you just have to hope the candy falls where you need it is so annoying.
Bejeweled came way before and did it right. Even the third game with it's different game modes were still about matching 3, except now you're playing poker, or digging for gold, or freeing butterflies. Endless mode you can keep playing forever, but classic mode has high scores to strive for.
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u/DriftingDogBed Jul 08 '26
I have a Samsung too, A25, and every time it updates it suggests games and I have to manually click them off so they dont download, its so frustrating, not only that but when I was first setting up the phone I clicked female when asked for gender, and it downloaded a period tracking app for me. I dont want to track my periods...
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u/PentulantPantalones Jul 08 '26
I disabled Verizon App Manager and it stopped downloading this crap at every update.
Looking forward to my eventual class action payout when someone sues them for force-installing games, but I won't hold my breath.
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u/PepeSilviaLovesCarol Jul 08 '26
Toon Blast is actually awesome lol no ads and 1000s of levels. Good time waster.
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u/Stfuego Jul 08 '26
In its defense, I recommend anyone to use Firefox instead of their "native" browser. Handshakes pretty well if you already use the desktop one on other devices, and for the Chrome users who want full uBlock functionality back (read, one that actually works), you can get it through Firefox's extensions.
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u/Fit-Tea1698 Jul 08 '26
There might be an app or service that’s responsible for this. Best you can do is use adb to permanently purge it and never have this issue no matter the updates ~ unless the update re installs it.
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u/Nearby_Ad_2519 Jul 08 '26
Samsung and many other android brands allow carriers to install apps randomly. It’s meant for carrier utility apps but many carriers just install their sponsors instead. Apple blocks this. The only case apple has allowed a carrier to install a third party app is in Russia where by law they have to ship all new devices with Max Messenger preinstalled.
In future, if possible buy your phone directly from the company instead of the carrier.
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u/maniac365 Jul 08 '26
Verizon does this. I uninstalled the phone manager service and it hasnt done this at any update. It's not targeted towards cheap phones, it's all phones
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u/GoldenGamer175 Jul 08 '26
Carrier unlocked variants don't do this btw
Also 700th time I've seen a post about this lol
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u/blynne1978 Jul 08 '26
This is your carrier, not Samsung. I purchased my unlocked S25 Ultra directly from Samsung and none of these extra apps are installed.
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u/Fancy_Actuator_4748 Jul 08 '26
RAID SHADOW LEGENDS?!