OnePlus Open Confirmed to Arrive With Facebook, Other Third-Party Apps Out-of-the-Box: Here's Why

OnePlus Open — the company's first foldable phone that is set to debut on October 19 — will ship with some third-party applications out-of-the-box. The Chinese smartphone maker has confirmed that its upcoming handset will feature a few non-OnePlus applications that will be pre-installed by the firm. Third-party apps installed by manufacturers are informally known as bloatware and are usually found on Android smartphones. OnePlus is yet to provide a list of third-party applications that will be installed on the OnePlus Open.

In a prepared statement mailed to Gadgets 360 on Tuesday, a OnePlus spokesperson confirmed that the OnePlus Open would ship with third-party apps out-of-the-box. "OnePlus prioritizes delivering a swift, smooth, and untroubled customer experience above all else. For the introduction of OnePlus Open, we've worked closely with a variety of mainstream app developers to ensure their apps are compatible with our new foldable design, enhancing the user experience," the spokesperson said.

OnePlus says that Facebook — a widely-used mobile app in its targeted markets — is one of the apps that will be installed by the company on the upcoming OnePlus Open. Back in 2020, OnePlus stated that its smartphones would no longer ship with Facebook apps out-of-the-box, starting with the OnePlus 8T, following user backlash.

The smartphone maker says that in order to provide the best user experience, the OnePlus Open will ship with "a small number" of preinstalled applications. However, OnePlus hasn't provided a list of third-party apps that have been optimised for the OnePlus Open smartphone, aside from the Facebook app.

It is currently unclear whether the Facebook app or the other third-party apps that will be pre-installed by OnePlus on the upcoming OnePlus Open can be disabled or uninstalled by users. The company has not revealed whether these specially optimised applications will receive the same updates as other smartphones that have installed the same apps via the Google Play store.

Applications from third-party developers that are pre-installed can also pose a risk to the security of your device, according to McAfee. They can also inconvenience users in the form of unwanted notifications and alerts from these applications. The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 — which will compete with the OnePlus Open — also ships with apps like Netflix, Spotify, and Facebook out-of-the-box.

"We believe this approach strikes the right balance between delivering a novel and seamless user experience while preserving the stability and security of our products,” the company spokesperson said in the statement.