Nothing Phone ads to disappear following harsh criticism, at least partially

The Nothing Phone (3a) Lite was originally shipped with sponsored "app recommendations", lock screen advertisements in the form of so-called "Lock Glimpse" and bloatware. Following harsh criticism from customers, Nothing has allowed users to delete some of this bloatware from their phones, though the advertisements stayed.

Now, the smartphone manufacturer has apparently concluded that this ad revenue is not worth upsetting customers and potentially impacting hardware sales. In a blog post, Nothing announced a series of changes to its advertising policy, which will soon be applied to all compatible smartphones via software updates. Most notably, the Meta App Installer, Meta App Manager and Meta Service can now be completely deleted from these smartphones instead of only being disabled. However, anyone who resets the phone to factory settings must delete the apps manually again.

The sponsored app recommendations displayed on the Nothing Phone (a) series and CMF smartphones can be deactivated in the system settings in the future. After setup, advertising banners for apps for which Nothing gets paid will still be visible. The lock screen ads, which Nothing refers to as "Lock Glimpse," will be completely removed, at least from all smartphones except for the Nothing Phone (3a) Lite. Nothing further points out that these advertisements may return once the feature has been sufficiently "improved".

The Nothing Phone 3 currently retails for $639 on Amazon