Bloatware: Difference between revisions
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*High power usage increases energy bills and reduces battery lifespan | *High power usage increases energy bills and reduces battery lifespan | ||
*Over reliance on network connections (e.g., internet) preventing data from being cached locally<ref>{{Cite web |year=2019 |title=Local-first software: You own your data, in spite of the cloud |url=https://www.inkandswitch.com/essay/local-first |url-status=live |website=Ink & Switch |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20260130001648/https://www.inkandswitch.com/essay/local-first/ |archive-date=30 Jan 2026}}</ref>, which can both impede access as well as increase cellular-data billing | *Over reliance on network connections (e.g., internet) preventing data from being cached locally<ref>{{Cite web |year=2019 |title=Local-first software: You own your data, in spite of the cloud |url=https://www.inkandswitch.com/essay/local-first |url-status=live |website=Ink & Switch |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20260130001648/https://www.inkandswitch.com/essay/local-first/ |archive-date=30 Jan 2026}}</ref>, which can both impede access as well as increase cellular-data billing | ||
*Instability issues due to difficulty in testing and verifying big | *Instability issues due to difficulty in testing and verifying big code-bases<ref>{{Cite web |last=Muratori |first=Casey |date=2018-05-12 |title=The Thirty Million Line Problem |url=https://youtu.be/kZRE7HIO3vk |url-status=live |access-date=2026-03-15 |website=Molly Rocket |via=YouTube}}</ref> | ||
If sustainable energy sources are not used to power these devices with bloatware, bloat can contribute to [[wikipedia:Climate_change|climate change]]. This is true for any excessive processing (CPU, GPU, etc.) and network abuse (such as [[Artificial_intelligence/training|AI training]]). | If sustainable energy sources are not used to power these devices with bloatware, bloat can contribute to [[wikipedia:Climate_change|climate change]]. This is true for any excessive processing (CPU, GPU, etc.) and network abuse (such as [[Artificial_intelligence/training|AI training]]). | ||
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==External links== | ==External links== | ||
*[https://idlewords.com/talks/website_obesity.htm "Web Obesity Crisis"] | *[https://idlewords.com/talks/website_obesity.htm "Web Obesity Crisis"] | ||
*[https://danluu.com/web-bloat/ How web bloat impacts users with slow connections] | *[https://danluu.com/web-bloat/ How web bloat impacts users with slow connections] | ||
Revision as of 05:40, 15 March 2026
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There are multiple definitions of bloatware within the context of software. They include:
- Pre-installed software that is not required for a system functionality
- Redundant or duplicate features included on a device (physical or digital)
- Undesirable programs that were not requested by the user
- Software that has become bloated over time
While the term "bloatware" is commonly ascribed to software, hardware bloat also exists.[1] See IoT devices for examples.
Bloat can be a symptom of a decline in quality of devices and services, colloquially referred to as enshittification.
Why it is a problem
Bloatware often arises as pre-installed software and applications because the device manufacturer (OEM) has a contract or partnership with another corporation. The terms and processes leading to these partnerships, however, lack transparency. One study determined that personal data collection and user tracking was prevalent in pre-installed apps, with the data collection including personally identifying info (PII) and geo-location data, personal email and phone call metadata, contacts, behavioral and usage statistics as well as isolated malware samples.[2]
Bloat, in any of its forms, raises privacy and security concerns[3]. As a rule of thumb, every added branch of code can make a program exponentially harder to prove for correctness[4], making it impractical or impossible to verify that a program is not malicious (such as spyware) or has an exploitable vulnerability. The problem is exacerbated if the app is not open-source or source-available, since reverse engineering is difficult and (in some cases) illegal. This means that user is unable to control or ensure the safety of their devices.
Bloat is known for causing sub-par user experience:
- Increased latency, "slowness", when using programs and applications[5]
- High memory use prevents or impedes multitasking[6]
- High power usage increases energy bills and reduces battery lifespan
- Over reliance on network connections (e.g., internet) preventing data from being cached locally[7], which can both impede access as well as increase cellular-data billing
- Instability issues due to difficulty in testing and verifying big code-bases[8]
If sustainable energy sources are not used to power these devices with bloatware, bloat can contribute to climate change. This is true for any excessive processing (CPU, GPU, etc.) and network abuse (such as AI training).
See also
External links
- "Web Obesity Crisis"
- How web bloat impacts users with slow connections
- The Growth of Web Page Size
- Javascript bloat in 2024
- "Software disenchantment"
- uBlock-wiki counterpoint to "Who cares about efficiency, I have 8 GB RAM and|or a quad core CPU"
- Why Modern Software is Slow–Windows Voice Recorder
References
- ↑ Ionescu, Bogdan (2025-09-13). "Hosting a WebSite on a Disposable Vape". BogdanTheGeek's Blog. Archived from the original on 9 Feb 2026. Retrieved 2026-01-15.
- ↑ J. Gamba, M. Rashed, A. Razaghpanah, J. Tapiador and N. Vallina-Rodriguez, "An Analysis of Pre-installed Android Software," 2020 IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy (SP), San Francisco, CA, USA, 2020, pp. 1039-1055, doi: 10.1109/SP40000.2020.00013. https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9152633 Accessed 26 Feb 2026. (Archived)
- ↑ Hubert, Bert (2024-02-08). "Why Bloat Is Still Software's Biggest Vulnerability". IEEE Spectrum. Archived from the original on 31 Jan 2026. Retrieved 2025-11-21.
- ↑ Howard, Gavin (2024-03-26). "What Computers Cannot Do: The Consequences of Turing-Completeness". Gavin D. Howard. Archived from the original on 2025-12-14. Retrieved 2026-01-06.
- ↑ https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/Performance (Archived)
- ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thrashing_(computer_science) (Archived)
- ↑ "Local-first software: You own your data, in spite of the cloud". Ink & Switch. 2019. Archived from the original on 30 Jan 2026.
- ↑ Muratori, Casey (2018-05-12). "The Thirty Million Line Problem". Molly Rocket. Retrieved 2026-03-15 – via YouTube.
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