The Amazon Prime Exclusive Phones program offers Amazon Prime subscribers significant discounts on smartphones in exchange for lockscreen ads, but the annoying feature will now go away.
Amazon will be removing the lockscreen ads on all new and current Amazon Prime Exclusive Phones, but this will come with a catch.
Amazon Prime Exclusive Phones Lockscreen Ads Will Go Away Soon
Amazon introduced the Amazon Prime Exclusive Phones program in June 2016, starting with the BLU R1 HD and the Motorola Moto G4. Several Android smartphones have since been added to the program, with current discounts being offered including $300 off on the LG G6 Plus, $70 off on the Motorola Moto X4, and $50 off on the Nokia 6.
In exchange for the discounts, the lockscreens of the smartphones displayed ads. Customers may opt out of the ads with an additional payment that varied between devices. However, this extra payment will no longer be needed.
According to Amazon, starting Feb. 7, lockscreen ads will be removed from the Amazon Prime Exclusive Phones program. New smartphones will no longer come with the annoying feature, while an update will also be rolled out to devices already purchased by customers under the program to remove the lockscreen ads. Owners of the smartphones, however, will need to make sure that they have the latest version of the Amazon Offers app from the Google Play Store installed to receive the update.
According to an Amazon support page, the removal of the lockscreen ads will allow customers to better take advantage of the various unlock systems in devices, including facial recognition and fingerprint readers.
Lockscreen Ads Removed, But Here's The Catch
The removal of the lockscreen ads, however, comes with a catch, as Amazon will increase the price of all the smartphones offered under the Amazon Prime Exclusive Phones program by $20.
Despite the price increase, the program is still worth considering for Amazon Prime subscribers looking for a good deal on Android smartphones. The $20 increase means that the offered discount will not be as enticing in the past, but that may be a small price to pay for customers who do not want any ads bugging them on their devices.
The devices will still come with preinstalled apps such as Prime Video and Prime Music, which are not allowed to be removed, and an Amazon Widget that will still be displaying ads. However, these are not as annoying as always seeing ads on your phone's lockscreen.
