Amazon Removes Ads from Prime Exclusive Phones

The price of saving some cash on a smartphone if you bought it from the Prime Exclusive catalog was having to look at ads on the lock screen. For some folks that was a deal breaker, others pocketed the saved cash and moved on. Amazon has now decided that it will remove ads from the entire Prime Exclusive fleet.

The fleet includes several devices, like the Moto X4 and the Nokia 6. The catch to the move is that prices for all Prime Exclusive smartphones will rise by $20 to compensate for the lack of ads. If you already own a Prime Exclusive device Amazon plans to remove ads from your device too.

Owners need to be on the look out for a “February 2018 update” rolling out starting today that disables the ads and lock screen offers. You will need to have the latest version of the Amazon Offers app installed as well to kill the ads.

This move comes on the heels of a security flaw that allowed clicked ads on some phones to bypass the fingerprint scanner on affected devices and give anyone access to the phone. An Amazon widget will be preinstalled on all Prime Exclusive devices that does show offers, but that widget can be removed reports CNET.

“This change allows you to personalize your Prime Exclusive Phone’s lock screen and to more easily use your phone’s unlock technologies, such as facial recognition and fingerprint sensors,” Amazon said on a customer support page.