Verizon To Begin Installing A New Piece Of Search Based Bloatware On Android Phones

According to TechCrunch (which is owned by Verizon), Big Red has partnered with Android app maker Evie to bring a new search-based launcher to the carrier’s versions of Android phones. ke the highly rated Evie uncher already for sale in the ay Store, AppFlash (as it is called) will “help users find content services across different apps — Evie is working with Verizon to make this the default experience on customers’ Android devices, popping up whenever they swipe to the left of their home screen,” according to the report. However, where Evie uncher requires a swipe-up to get to its search field, AppFlash will be accessed via a right-swipe to get to the left of the home screen, occupying the space where Now resides on stock phones. Evie CEO David Zhao said AppFlash is the Verizon-bred version of a new Evie product called Sidescreen, which could eventually be offered by other mobile carriers. The search bar works much like you would expect, gathering results about restaurants, movies, songs, apps from your phone the web as you type. esumably there will be a way to turn off the feature, but that remains to be seen. TechCrunch says the new launcher will be rolling out across Verizon Android devices in the coming weeks. Search Impact: No one’s asking for yet another way to search on our phones. already have the widget, search app, Chrome, Gboard, so Verizon’s interest here probably isn’t in providing a better experience for its customers. You need look no further than the AppFlash ivacy licy on Verizon’s website to get the truth: ” collect information about your device your use of the AppFlash services … (including) your mobile number, device identifiers, device type operating system, information about the AppFlash features services you use your interactions with them.” And if that’s not enough, it will also mine data “about the list of apps you have on your device.” Thankfully, it also says that user will be able to “control whether AppFlash collects location contact information about your device using settings available on your device.”