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Lock Screen Ads Are Coming to Some Smartphones
(lifehacker.com)
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this post was submitted on 30 Oct 2025
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Android
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Have already been since at least two years or so, although maybe on a slightly more limited scale.
The lower mid-range Motorola phone of my gf had a hard-to-disable active wallpaper app that displayed nice pictures, but had a prominent field leading directly to online ads when accidentally pressed (which happened a lot).
Also reactivated itself after each OS update.
Enshitification in progress...
Xiaomi pushes their wallpaper "carousel" quite hard, I never activate it because it wants way to intrusive permissions. I wonder if it's in the same boat...
Might well be.
I had a Xiaomi ~5 years ago, whose preinstalled file manager suddenly started displaying ads after a year or so.
We switched to Motorola because of this, as they then still were known for crap- and bloatware-free system.
Has apparently changed recently.
One of the reasons it was easy to convince my gf to get a Fairphone now.
Forgot about that, I installed FX (a super good free file manager, bought the pro version for like 10€ IIRC, or less, mostly to support it). Said to myself no more Xiaomi, but my last is still a xiaomi because it's, IMO, still so much better and cheaper.
Phone manufacturers know where you touch your screen the most often and put their shittiest apps in that spot so you accidentally engage. It's the only reason I open up Google's AI, because I did it by accident.
Except Apple as it seems. They tend to routinely put essential interactive elements in the top left corner or so, farthest away from my right thumb.
On the other hand, Iphones don't have sneaky ads hidden in the system, so there's that...
Unless it's in the top right for no good reason.
And don't get me started on the inconsistent ways to go back. Sometimes it's a button at the top left or right, sometimes swipe from the left, sometimes swipe down, sometimes up. I'll stick with my android and a dedicated button, thank you.
Moto is good for custom roms
That is true. I just installed Lineage OS on my old G84, hope that it will last me a while.
Has probably been the last decent phones to still feature a headphone jack...
Not an option for my gf though, when her G54 broke.
She now rocks a Fairphone 5 and is quite happy with it. And the next broken screen (that will definitely happen...) we can just replace easily now.
I'd be curious to know which phone model. I've only been using low end Motorola phones for years but I've never seen such a thing. I think mine have all been the Moto G series.
l think it has been the G54.
App was preinstalled, not removable and obtrusive like hell.
Lol, I underestimated how many "Moto G" phones there are. I have the "Moto G 5g" at the moment, but had the "Moto G power" historically. But there are like 5 phones a year with "Moto G54" or similar branding.
I found what looks like active wallpapers on my phone, but I didn't see any ads. For me it was hidden away in the settings and I only recall seeing it when first setting up my phone since my launcher handles the wallpaper now.
I do remember a bunch of apps like TikTok and some random Solitaire game being installed "for my convenience" when the phone was first setup, but I could remove them completely.
I wonder if very specific versions install different crap.
It's a bummer if so because it's what I recommend to friends if they ask.