Bloatware

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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. 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.

Bloat, in any of its forms, raises privacy and security concerns. As a rule of thumb, every added branch of code can make a program exponentially harder to prove for correctness, 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 source-code of the app is not 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 (UX):

• Increased latency, "slowness", when using programs and applications
• High memory use prevents or impedes multitasking
• High power usage increases energy bills and reduces battery lifespan
• Over reliance on network connections (e.g., internet) preventing data from being cached locally, which can both impede access as well as increase cellular-data billing
• Instability issues due to difficulty in testing and verifying big code-bases

If non-sustainable energy sources are 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). Hardware bloat can increase e-waste.

There's ethical concerns, as well. Bloated software can be prohibitively expensive to use on developing countries, which marginalizes poor people. Bloated software and hardware can have such a low performance (or have high instability) that it can't effectively help the user achieve the task that the product was designed for, such as scheduling a session with a therapist.

Tools to deal with bloat

This is a list of tools that can be used (or are primarily used) to reduce bloat:

• uBlock Origin (uBO). A general-purpose content blocker for web-browsers. It's worth noting that its "Cosmetic Filtering" (element hiding) can, in rare cases (such as animated elements), improve performance.
• NoScript. Much more specialized than uBO, as it only deals with JavaScript.
• LibRedirect. On-browser (client-side) redirector of popular websites to privacy-respecting alternatives (alts). Most of those alts are lightweight, so it can be used to avoid bloat rather than remove bloat.
• privacy.sexy. A tool for improving security and privacy on popular operating-systems, it also serves as a "debloater".
• Android debloaters:
  • Universal Android Debloater Next Generation (UAD-NG). A desktop app that uses ADB to disable (or "freeze") and pseudo-uninstall almost (OEMs block some) any app (including system packages) without root-access.
  • Canta. An Android app that uses UAD-NG's bloat-lists as its knowledge-base (KB), and Shizuku as ADB replacement.
  • AppManager. An "all-in-one"/general-purpose package manager that runs on Android. It uses a derivative of UAD's lists as its KB. It can show a lot of hidden info about apps, which can sometimes be used for reverse-engineering.
  • Droidrunco, superseded by Zilch
• NetGuard. An app that uses the local Android VPN API to filter internet traffic (like a firewall). It can be used as an on-device Pi-hole to block ads using hosts-files as rules.
• Rethink, DNS + Firewall + VPN for Android. Can use local and remote DNS.
• youtube-dl & YT-DLP. Audio/Video downloaders or "rippers". Similarly to LibRedirect, it can be used to avoid bloat, by simply downloading the main content of a page. There's also --get-url/--print urls options that can be used to open the URL of the media in a browser, effectively streaming it, without a customized player

External links

• "The 49MB Web Page"; a study on popular news/journalism sites. They also talk about cognitive-load and silent automated bidding, criticizing the degraded UX and privacy violations.
• "Web Obesity Crisis"
• HTTP Archive: Page Weight
• 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