Draft EU law would let you remove preinstalled phone apps
- According to a draft law of the European Union, companies must remove pre-installed apps on phones and computers.
- Under this law on digital services, big tech would also have to share data with competitors.
- The finished law is expected by the end of 2020.
Do you despise having non-removable bloatware on your phone or computer? In Europe at least, you may not have to put up with that much longer. The Financial Times reports (via Reddit) that a draft EU law, the Digital Services Act, allows you to uninstall preinstalled apps on “large platforms”.
There aren’t many details, but the potential law could also prohibit companies from preinstalling their own apps, and forcing others to “exclusively” preinstall that software.
It is not clear which apps would be subject to the bill, although they are primarily aimed at “big tech” companies that are closing deals to include their apps like Facebook and Google. The EU fined Google for allegedly pushing phone manufacturers to bundle their apps on Android phones. Google said companies are not forced to include their apps. However, this was recently called into question after Epic Games accused it of blocking LG and OnePlus deals that offered Fortnite and other software outside of the Play Store.
Connected: Android users uninstall apps twice as often as iOS users
If this is successful, the law allows you to theoretically uninstall apps from your carrier, not to mention preinstalled utilities that aren’t strictly necessary to use your device.
The digital services law would also require large corporations to share customer data with competitors involved in “the same commercial activities”. You would also need to limit the scope of data collection – for example, ad data could not be used for other services.
The proposed law should be ready by the end of 2020. It could easily meet resistance from Google and other technology firms who have only advocated minor updates to the regulations and oppose labeling certain companies as “gatekeepers”. If successful, this could be good news not only for users who want more control over their own devices, but also for alternative app developers who might otherwise be overlooked.
