OnePlus 12, OnePlus Open Spotted Offering Bloatware During Setup, Company Responds: Report

OnePlus 12 and OnePlus Open are the best phones from the Chinese smartphone maker. Now, users of these smartphones are claiming that their smartphones offered to install “bloatware” apps. A user has taken to X (formerly Twitter) to claim that OnePlus is installing up to four additional third-party apps on the OnePlus 12 in India during the device’s setup process. These unwanted apps appear under the “From OnePlus” header in the “View additional apps” screen during setup. The issue has since been addressed by the company.

X user Gauraang Arora noticed a new ‘View Additional Apps’ screen presented during the setup process on his OnePlus 12. This screen shows four Google Play apps pre-selected by default – LinkedIn, Policybazaar, Block Blast and Candy Crush Saga. These apps were located under a header that read “From OnePlus”.

Android Authority recently tested the setup process in three regions and found that four apps were pre-selected during setup on the Indian variants of the OnePlus 12 running the latest Oxygen OS 14.0.0.610. The US reportedly offers one third-party app, while the EU has no pre-selected apps. Users can opt out of installing the listed apps that are selected by default. However, there are chances that they may skip the setup process by running the bloatware on their phones.

Additionally, the publication found three more pre-installed Meta apps — Meta App Installer, Meta App Manager, and OnePlus Open’s Meta Services. All these Meta apps were reportedly spotted on the OnePlus 8 series earlier and the brand was criticized for this inclusion as they cannot be easily uninstalled from the phones.

OnePlus has reportedly looked into the issue, saying it was a bug. “Soft preloads on the OnePlus 12 are a bug made during testing and have been fixed since May 6. The OnePlus 12 doesn’t come pre-loaded with any of these apps and will continue to be light, fast and smooth,” said OnePlus Android Authority.

The company added that it supports OxygenOS free bloatware, but the company admitted that there were two pre-installed apps (Instagram and Agoda) on the OnePlus Nord CE 4. It also said that the apps are so easy to remove or uninstall and the company is working on working closely with app developers to deliver better performance on OnePlus devices.

Famous advisor 1NormalUsername on X assumes that more bloatware is headed to the OnePlus 12 in the latest OxygenOS build. Third-party apps like Fitbit, Bubble Pop, Facebook, Amazon, Amazon Music, Amazon Prime Video, Zomato, Agoda and Swiggy can either be pre-installed or appear as APK shortcuts.