Motorola’s New Moto G Series: A Refreshingly Bloatware-Light Experience

Motorola’s New Moto G Series? As a longtime fan of Motorola’s budget-friendly Moto G lineup, I’ve always appreciated what these affordable devices bring to the table. However, there’s been one persistent thorn in my side: bloatware. For years, these pre-installed, unwanted apps have infiltrated nearly every aspect of Motorola’s Hello UX, from deceptive folders disguised as helpful tools to frustrating weather app partnerships that made checking the forecast unnecessarily complicated.

If you weren’t careful during setup to opt out of Motorola’s “recommendations,” you’d find yourself spending your first hour with your new phone hunting through your app drawer to remove half a dozen unwanted applications. Not exactly the warm welcome you’d expect from your shiny new device!

A Breath of Fresh Air with the 2025 Models

When I recently got my hands on the Moto G 5G (2025) and Moto G Power 5G (2025), I braced myself through the setup process, expecting the usual barrage of bloatware. To my pleasant surprise, Motorola has significantly scaled back! The Hello UX finally feels lighter and more user-friendly again.

Goodbye to Those Sneaky “Hubs”

If you’ve used previous Moto G phones, you’ll recognize my biggest pet peeve: those shopping, gaming, and entertainment “hubs.” Though they appeared to be simple folders, they were cleverly disguised traps designed to load your device with apps you almost certainly didn’t want.

Many users (myself included) mistakenly believed these would be smart organizational tools that would automatically categorize apps you chose to download. In reality, they worked in reverse—you’d open one, see a pre-checked list of apps, and hit “Done” to exit, only for Motorola to interpret that as permission to download the entire list! Then you’d have to manually delete everything later.

Now? They’re completely gone from the latest Moto G phones! I feel like breaking into song and dance, just like that scene from The Wizard of Oz when the house lands on the Wicked Witch. Finally, I can set up an affordable Android phone without feeling like it’s trying to pull a fast one on me.

Motorola’s New Moto G Series : Still Room for Improvement

I can’t give Motorola full marks just yet, though. The Moto G 5G (2025) still comes with a few unavoidable bloatware apps. While I could opt out of social media apps like TikTok during setup, I still found unwanted apps like Chime, Block Blast, and an ad-filled version of Solitaire pre-installed. Yes, I could uninstall them afterward, but why include some optional bloatware while making others mandatory? It’s a puzzling inconsistency.

Next on the Chopping Block: 1Weather, Please

Now that Motorola has taken positive steps toward a cleaner user experience, I have one more request: please end the partnership with 1Weather. This bloated, ad-saturated weather app ranks just behind those sneaky hubs on my list of frustrations with otherwise excellent budget phones.

The 1Weather experience is painful from the moment you open it:

• It shows basic information like current temperature and “feels like” forecasts
• Then immediately bogs down with cycling advertisements
• When you scroll down, you barely make it past one section of forecast data before hitting another double-serving of ads
• The app includes intrusive “1Weather Shorts”—news articles that redirect you to external websites
• Performance suffers terribly—try scrolling from bottom to top and watch the Moto G 5G (2025) drop frames, creating a sluggish, slow-motion recap of everything you just viewed

The silver lining? 1Weather is entirely optional, and Motorola doesn’t try to disguise it as something essential. You can’t avoid it during setup, but you can uninstall it immediately afterward. Your phone will then default to the AccuWeather interface, which is noticeably faster, more responsive, and—most importantly—ad-free.

Motorola’s New Moto G Series : Celebrating Progress Where It Happens

When evaluating budget smartphones, sometimes the small improvements deserve recognition. Motorola could have easily packed its latest $200 Moto G 5G with even more bloatware rather than removing some, so I’ll gladly acknowledge this positive step toward a cleaner user experience.

For anyone shopping in the budget smartphone category who values a clean user experience, the 2025 Moto G series represents a meaningful improvement over its predecessors. While not perfect, Motorola is clearly listening to user feedback and moving in the right direction.