Weird chinese "friDay" Apps on Fairphone 4

Even the Shizuku-enabled PackageManager doesn’t find the Friday apps.
I suppose (or rather hope) they are inactive as long as you don’t use the Taiwanese network…

Here’s a quick and dirty list (don’t look at it too closely, it’s too early to write proper regex :see_no_evil: ):

foo@bar:~$ adb shell 'pm list packages -a -s | grep -v -e google -e android -e qualcomm -e qti -e tct -e t2m -e fp -e fairphone -e ims'
package:com.omusic.gPhone
package:com.gohappy.mobileapp
package:de.telekom.tsc
package:com.orange.update
package:com.fetself
package:com.fet.fridaywallet
package:net.fetnet.fetvod

Thats another way, you can just change language to EN to follow what I described :wink:

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Um… I beg to differ. “They serve no purpose (for me), just take up disc space, and I can’t get rid of them” is actually my very definition of “bloatware”!.. :grin:

They might be useful apps for Taiwanese customers (although I doubt it, usually getting an app shoved down one’s throat is a sure sign nobody would had installed it otherwise), but, Fairphone being only sold in Europe they have absolutely no reason to be on our phones!

It’s either terribly sloppy work (just took some existing OS image and changed the logos), or a preinstallation scam (where somebody pays to have his apps installed as irremovable system apps with full system permissions). In both cases: :-1:

The Fairphone is being sold in Taiwan as well!

Well, all that stuff fits my description of bloatware as well, which is why I’m running a custom ROM.

All I’m saying is, I have absolutely no idea what those apps are for exactly and if a Taiwanese Fairphone owner might expect them to exist on their phone to access all the services they might be used to.

I have no insight into the Taiwanese market and I’m very careful with judging stuff I know nothing about, that’s all.

Besides, you realize that those apps …

… come preloaded on your phone as well, right?! I don’t see the difference between Taiwanese and western carriers doing that.

(In my opinion, if it’s bloat annoying either way, but there is nothing sinister going on here)

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Doesn´t seem to be on all FPs
On my FP3 with Stock Rom (A11) there are no such apps or even relicts of it.

At least for the germans discussing here:
I can remember that when I ordered my FP3 via mobilcom years ago I got it delivered with the box already opened (obviously by mobilcom because they installed bloatware on it).
Me stupid idiot wanted to save a few bucks and mobilcom offered the device ~ 20 € cheaper than any other reseller at that time.

But of course because that device and its box was already manipulated&opened I´ve directly sent it back and annulated the order, then ordered it from a serious reseller (for the regular price, with the box still sealed and the device not manipulated with bloat-/ad-/crap-ware)

Probably this could be one reason why some people got such apps preinstalled and others can´t find them on their devices?

Best
DonFnord

I ran that command on a FP4 bought directly through Fairphone.

Those apps are part of the system, I’ll check the factory images later, but I can already guarantee you they are in there.

Nobody is installing random malware on your FP4s, they are carrier apps, jesus.

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:open_mouth: Their website says “Europe only”. Oh well. Still an outlier.

“Expect” in the same sense as spam is “exiting opportunities” I guess?.. :roll_eyes:

Yes, I’m (painfully) aware of the Orange France app (which is actually a dropper, when it detects an Orange FR SIM it instantly downloads and installs half a dozen unwanted and unneeded Orange apps), and this is precisely my point: “Expect” and “used to” are just marketing euphemisms for “shoved down my throat and I can’t do anything about it”. :frowning_face:

There seem to be different events for bloatware, stuff integrated in the system and mobilcom debitel

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I guess shipping countries directly from Amsterdam is Europe only…

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Just because you don’t like it doesn’t mean others feel the same.
I don’t like Play Services, but I understand why Fairphones are sold with all the Google stuff included, because people are used to it.

I don’t like it, you don’t like it, but this isn’t a topic about whether or not we think this bloatware is a good thing.
As I said before, I don’t know how the Taiwanese market ticks and I’ll reserve judgement until a Taiwanese person can tell me what to make of these apps.

So back to topic, people are freaked out because there are Taiwanese apps on their phones, now would be a good time for the (non existent) community manager to clear up the situation.

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Sure, and I agree this discussion shouldn’t degenerate into a mass panic of “OMG my phone has been hacked by the Chinese government!” or some such… :grin:

Bloatware is not a virus, it isn’t even harmful (usually), it’s just annoying. -shrug-

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If the app has system permissions, for example to install apps like the Orange one, it can be harmful as well.

Those Taiwanese ones aren’t enabled by default though (and neither are the Orange and Telekom apps), and they can’t magically enable themselves (unless you put a SIM of one of those providers in your phone).

But, if people are worried about that, custom ROMs are a great solution :smirk:

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But how to remove them?

Thank you all for the investigations. The conclusion seems to be, that these apps are NOT malicious. In the worst case they could be seen as bloatware, but basically they can be ignored.

I still do not have any response from the support team yet, but I think they will confirm. I will let you know as soon as they answered though.

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Alright, I just got response from the support team. As guessed there is no need to worry about these apps. They indeed are only meant for the Taiwanese market. Here`s the whole response:

Thank you for your patience.

I have checked this further with my team and have been notified that these apps are in general only supposed to be enabled for customers who are based in or visited Taiwan. Have you by any chance been to Taiwan recently with your device?

If not please do not worry we will notify our Software team. Please be assured these apps are of no harm and won’t cause any issues with your device.

I hope this provides further clarification, please let me know if you have any additional questions.

Edit: I`ve not been to Taiwan by the way :smiley:

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But the phone has :slight_smile:

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