Nothing OS 4.0 AppServices Bloatware Installer

PhantomPolygon · 2025-12-30T13:27:31+00:00

I just installed Nothing OS 4.0 a few hours ago on my CMF Phone 2 Pro. While I was happy with the UI-changes and features compared to Nothing OS 3.0, I noticed that there was this system app called "AppServices". I only noticed it because of a notification that suddenly appeared while I was using my phone. [upl-image-preview uuid=cc4c0b89-0736-449c-b256-fc17c71caafc url=https://cdn.nothing.community/2025-12-30/1767100871-462774-screenshot-20251230-204808.png alt={TEXT?}] So, out of curiosity, I checked the notification and found that it wants to install some "crappy" games and apps. [upl-image-preview uuid=122e8d89-c6ee-462a-9ea0-ff7e0ba076bd url=https://cdn.nothing.community/2025-12-30/1767100919-852553-screenshot-20251230-205002.png alt={TEXT?}] [upl-image-preview uuid=ced0a8aa-e5ae-4c69-be48-f5593db11301 url=https://cdn.nothing.community/2025-12-30/1767100932-424837-screenshot-20251230-205015.png alt={TEXT?}] Fortunately, despite the "AppServices" being a system app, its notifications can be disabled easily. [upl-image-preview uuid=d378e2bb-0fd7-41e3-b93b-b4d39f4e4a3d url=https://cdn.nothing.community/2025-12-30/1767101053-986602-screenshot-20251230-210219.png alt={TEXT?}] [upl-image-preview uuid=2244b018-adf1-44a6-a743-06b59d7fb34b url=https://cdn.nothing.community/2025-12-30/1767101062-79764-screenshot-20251230-210226.png alt={TEXT?}] Now, here's a question: why didn't Nothing tell us about this "AppServices" being included with Nothing OS 4.0? While I appreicate the fact that the controversial "Lock Glimpse" feature is disabled by default, I'm disappointed that the inclusion of this new app wasn't even disclosed in the update's changelog.

JijiTheCat

Hello everyone. Just FYI, there are no negative consequences to completely uninstalling these apps via ADB. You don’t even need a computer, if you have WiFi you can use wireless debugging to your phone, from your phone. There is a free and open source app called App Manager, it’s on F-Droid, which has this functionality built in. I think us CMF Phone users may have continued use for it going forward. For now, I have completely uninstalled AppServices and Lock Glimpse. And no, it doesn’t break contactless payment or bank apps. Would recommend you glance at the debloating section on that app as well.

PrimeAyan

JijiTheCat hello , so we need to root the device for the app to work?

And you are sure there will be no consequences specially in banking apps or any day to day life things in the phone?

stephanstephanschmidt

JijiTheCat why do it the hard way?

adb disable is the same as using the settings.

Settings –> Apps –> show system apps –> App Services –> Force Stop –> Disable

There’s no reason for ADB to be honest if this is your only goal.

Same with Lock Glimpse.

You can uninstall with adb and not the systems menu but I couldn’t care less and the way I posted above takes three seconds.

I see no battery hit on my CMF1 (and get around 10-13h SoT usually.)

JijiTheCat

PrimeAyan no root needed, this is wireless debugging.

stephanstephanschmidt

This isn’t disabling, this is uninstalling. You can completely remove these apps with ADB/App Manager over wireless debug. If you prefer to disable, that’s fine, however I and I’m sure many others prefer as little unfamiliar code present on their personal devices as possible.

stephanstephanschmidt

JijiTheCat I understand and can do that with Shizuku and other software.

It’s just not worth the hassle for 100MB as the code cannot be activated/executed when disabled, so why uninstall, is that memory so important?

JijiTheCat

stephanstephanschmidt

The point is simply that I want to have control of all software present on my device. I also uninstall many other services I don’t use, factory settings/testing menus, first setup programs, unused android features. There is marginally less trust involved with code simply not being present, and there is no reason to have marginally more trust that, say, some other service won’t re-enable these apps, when I can choose not to.

I only wished to inform that it’s possible and doesn’t break anything, not to debate the merits of disabling vs uninstalling.

stephanstephanschmidt

JijiTheCat do you de-install all Google apps?

There is no difference between disabled and de-installing, except the regaining of space.

But hey, you do you.

I find the Community’s response to these activities hilarious to say the least.

RapidZapper

JijiTheCat Disabling will result in the same as uninstalling through ADB and won’t result in the removal of the code, the app will continue to be present and simply registered as not being installed to your active user, it’s far easier to just disable the apps which will effectively prevent further activity from these apps

JijiTheCat

stephanstephanschmidt

Well, since you made claims I disagree with, I think I should address them.

You may not have thought of this:

Trust in unknown numbers of parties and unknown numbers of applications is not equivalent to trust in a limited number of applications from a single party, even if that party is clearly untrustworthy, like Google. I have removed Google apps in the past, but even if not, it makes sense from a least harm, functional and pragmatic approach to smartphone privacy to minimize exposure even with Google apps present, and from a security perspective to minimise attack surface. Who knows how secure these myriad privileged apps from who-knows-who are?
Disabled apps may be functionally identical, but that code is still locally present. The single line of code that reenables a disabled app is much simpler, and more likely to be executed without a user noticing than the line of code that re-downloads all of it, not to say that’s impossible or even unlikely.

If our interest is least harm, even marginally reducing the probability of an undesired outcome is sensible. This is my personal approach and motivation.

stephanstephanschmidt

JijiTheCat you’re correct. Perhaps the quality of discourse is finally improving around here 😃

JP

JijiTheCat adb uninstall doesn’t remove app from phone…it just uninstall for a specific user…i did that and apps still show in settings>apps

stephanstephanschmidt

JP technically the code still exists and remains inaccessible to the user. The data used by the app is removed though. Unless the reponsdent roots the phone.

These options are all misunderstood by the public and the disable option I provided is more than enough for anyone. (The code in /system still remains when one follows the alternative to my solution provided.)

JP

stephanstephanschmidt yup… no difference in both methods… it’s just to state that information provided is incorrect…

people shouldn’t make efforts of using adb just because they have info that it will completely remove that bloat…

And the power button /screen wake still trigger run command for lock glimpse…even if you disable it… the 3 sec continuous start is fixed in latest nos4 (for cmf phones)… but trigger is still present..which you have to remove through adb or by resetting app preference…

PrimeAyan

JP hey just wanted to know

I have disabled all things from system and never turned on lock glimpse.

So that would stop these services to consume battery and cpu usages right?

I don’t need to do adb or anything via debugging right?

Jozf Benestin🇮🇳

PrimeAyan yah bro it will not consume battery anymore

JP

PrimeAyan nope… cmf phones got a fix in latest nos4👍🏻

stephanstephanschmidt

JP yeah, it works great with the simple disable in system settings 😃

Yuki_SVpi7mxjnO

I specifically migrated to Nothing from Samsung to get away from exactly this kind of dark patterns. I have plenty of stress already and I have autism and adhd. I cannot be reliant on a device that I find myself in conflict with. My phone should do what I want it to and NOTHING MORE. This needs to be fixed and we need assurance that this kind of thing will not happen again. This is a serious violation of trust.

utonevvezeteknev

I migrated from Poco x5 pro to avoid this kind of stuff. It was otherwise great, personally I think it worked much better than CMF Phone 2 Pro, at least in terms of GPS. This is completely unacceptable. Goodbye Nothing, time for Pixel.

Yuki_SVpi7mxjnO

utonevvezeteknev yes, I read that you can replace the operating system of a pixel, so no company can put anything on it, it’s entirely under your control. I wouldn’t have discovered this if Nothing had kept their promises, and my next phone will be exactly that, a pixel with grapheneOS.

« Previous Page Next Page »