bloatware

English

Etymology

From bloat +‎ -ware, originally in the sense “unwieldy software”. The sense “pre-installed software” has become predominant since the 2010s.

Pronunciation

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

bloatware (uncountable)

1. (computing, informal) Software that is packed with too many features and therefore slow or unwieldy; software that is inefficiently designed and occupies an excessive amount of memory or disk space.

   Synonym: fatware

   • 1996 February 12, Ed Foster, “Passing the bloatware buck: Programmers finger deadlines, driven bosses”, in InfoWorld, page 58:

     Today’s software development cycle does not allow time to optimize and refine products, and that leads to bloatware.

   • 2001, Glenn E. Weadock, Upgrading Your Home PC, →ISBN, page 16:

     That’s not really a surprise, considering that writing efficient software takes more time than writing wasteful code. “Bloatware” makes economic sense for software developers, if not for consumers!

   • 2001 March 23, Joel Spolsky, “Strategy Letter IV: Bloatware and the 80/20 Myth”, in Joel on Software; republished as Joel on Software […], 2004, →ISBN, page 277:

     I’ll bet you think I’m going to write one of those boring articles you see all over the net bemoaning “bloatware.” Whine whine whine, this stuff is so bloated, oh woe is me, edlin and vi are so much better than Word and Emacs because they are svelte, etc.

2. (computing) Unwanted pre-installed software, especially on a smartphone.

   Synonym: crapware

   • 2010 October 29, Nick Saint, “Opinion: Google Android is only 'open' if you're the phone company”, in CNN‎^[1], archived from the original on 12 August 2019:

     If consumers didn't like the bloatware that came with their phones, other manufacturers wouldn't include it, the bad actors would lose customers, and everyone would have to adjust.

   • 2013 December 24, Heather Kelly, “Tips for getting started with your new mobile gadget”, in CNN Business‎^[2], archived from the original on 7 July 2016:

     The problem is especially bad with Android and Windows phones sold through third-party carriers, which like to preinstall all sorts of bloatware.

   • 2017, Haroon Elahi, Guojun Wang, Xu Li, “Smartphone Bloatware: An Overlooked Privacy Problem”, in Guojun Wang et al., editors, Security, Privacy, and Anonymity in Computation, Communication, and Storage, →ISBN, page 170:

     Bloatware has also introduced numerous security and trust issues in smartphones. […] OEMs, third-party app providers, telecommunication operators, and malicious parties have used bloatware apps to over-collect user data.

   • 2018, Luzhou Nina Li, “Android App Stores and the Appification of Everything”, in Jeremy Wade Morris, Sarah Murray, editors, Appified: Culture in the Age of Apps, →ISBN, page 46:

     Most phones had preinstalled Android stores and bloatware built in by manufacturers, but workers would still choose to install third-party marketplaces like Tencent MyApp, Baidu 91 Mobile Assistance, and Qihoo 360 Mobile Assistants.

   • 2018, Shawn Mankad, Shengli Hu, Anandasivam Gopal, “Single state prediction with embedded topic modeling of online reviews for mobile app management”, in The Annals of Applied Statistics, volume 12, number 4, →JSTOR, page 2297:

     “ […] samsung should stop adding crap bloatware […] i never use such app^[sic] and i dont need it”

Translations

software that is overpacked with features

• Finnish: turhakeohjelmisto, ähkyohjelmisto
• French: obésiciel (fr) m, obésitiel m (less common), boufficiel (fr) m (less common), inflagiciel (fr) m (less common), bloatware (fr) m
• Japanese: ブロートウェア (burōtowea)
• Spanish: software inflado m

See also

• crapware
• crudware
• fleeceware
• pajeetware
• software
• spyware

Further reading

• “bloatware”, in Merriam-Webster.com Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.

French

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English bloatware.

Noun

bloatware m (plural bloatwares)

1. (computing) bloatware

   Synonym: obésiciel

   • 2024 September 5, “Bloatware (obésiciel) : tout savoir sur ces programmes énergivores”, in Agence GW‎^[3], archived from the original on 25 April 2025:

     Si le terme bloatware est utilisé pour parler de logiciels, nous pouvons également appliquer ce concept pour parler de sites internet. […] Vous ne pouvez pas vous débarrasser de tous vos bloatwares sous prétexte qu’ils sont gourmands en ressources. Certains restent utiles au quotidien.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)