Realme released a press statement regarding the concerns about data privacy and the banned apps that ship with its smartphones. In the statement shared by the company’s CEO, Madhav Sheth, on Twitter, the manufacturer assures its users that it has never shared user data with any entity. However, the company will be following the directives of the Indian Government.
According to the company, users have the option to remove a pre-installed application. Moreover, a future OTA update will come for all existing models by August to remove the “Clean up Storage” feature. Users that require the feature will have to make with a third-party application from the Play Store. You can read the company’s statement below:
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“Dear Fans and Media Friends,
We hope you and your families are doing well and everything is safe at your end.
Recently we have been receiving queries regarding certain pre-installed Apps on Realme smartphones. As a responsible brand, we take all your feedback very seriously, and with the “Dare to Leap” spirit, we always act with actual, specific & immediate action.
Your data privacy is extremely important for Realme and we have never shared user data with any entity, Realme always complies with the rules and regulations of the jurisdictions where it operates in and will be following the directives given by the Government going forward as well. For all existing models. In case any user wishes to remove a pre-installed App, the Realme smartphone gives them an option to remove it. For the concerned system feature “Clean up Storage”. We will also release OTA updates on all existing models to remove this feature by early August. If users require such features, they can choose a 3rd party App from PlayStore.
We also want to highlight that your upcoming Realme 6i & other upcoming smartphones will have not have any pre-installed App from the banned App list, and request you to update your software via OTA if you are facing any issue.
We thank you for reaching out to us and allowing us to share our views and hope to receive the support you have always shown.”
According to the company, the upcoming Realme 6i (European Realme 6s) and other upcoming phones will not ship with any of the banned applications. The Realme 6i will be released tomorrow in India.
A month ago, the Government of India banned 59 Chinese mobile apps including TikTok. However, some of the apps present in this list were pre-installed by several smartphone makers. This has led to queries from users. Realme’s announcement come a few weeks after Poco published its own reply to data privacy concerns. Xiaomi’s subsidiary also removed all banned apps from its devices.
