Huawei shows unsolicited ads on smartphone lock screen

Huawei is facing major problems due to President Donald Trumps ban but the company is now facing a backlash of its own making with the emergence of lock screen adverts on some of its phones.

Intrusive promotions for the likes of Booking.com have been appearing on affected devices in recent days according to reports, with numerous models impacted.

You’d think that this would only apply to budget handsets, but it’s far more widespread and includes all the recent flagships – users of the P30 Pro, P20, P20 Lite, Honor 10 and P20 Pro are all complaining on Twitter.

The ad space in question is the phone’s magazine unlock feature which enables users to select a rotating set of images to appear on their lock screen. This functionality from Huawei appears to have spotted a revenue making opportunity.

Angered Huawei owners have been taking to Twitter to share screenshots of their offending lock screens in a search for answers but thus far both Huawei and Booking.com are remaining tight-lipped.

What’s really troubling about this is that nobody has agreed to this. If there’s something buried in the terms and conditions, it’s not been found yet, and if there’s not, this is a massive liberty for a company already battling to save its reputation.

Fortunately, ridding yourself of the encroaching ads is simple. All you need to do is to change your lock screen wallpaper to literally anything else than Huawei’s Magazine lock screen wallpaper.