Source: Glance, owned by adtech firm InMobi Group, is partnering with carriers to launch its media service for Android lock screens in the US within two months
this sounds terrible Sagar Naresh / Android Headlines : US Carriers Planning To Show Ads On Android Lockscreen Powered By Google-Backed ‘Glance’ Brad Linder / Liliputing : Lilbits: Your next Android phone could have ads on the lock screen, MacBook Air with M2 is almost here, and the GPU shortage is over (for now) Rob Rich / SlashGear : Your Lock Screen Is No Longer Safe Steve McCaskill / TechRadar : Soon enough, not even our lock screens will be safe from adverts Joe Rice-Jones / KnowTechie : Lock screen ads are coming to the US and they are disgusting Cristina Alexander / Digital Trends : U.S. carriers want to ruin your Android lock screen with advertisements Tweets: Robert G. Reeve / @robertgreeve : A $2 billion company is launching an ad feed on lock screens. Android only for now, but I'm sure it's just a coincidence that Apple just opened up their lock screens for customization too. As if push notification ads weren't annoying enough https://twitter.com/... Parker / @pt : I too am outraged people who don't want to own an ad-free iPhone, like I purchased for the cost of a high-end laptop, also have options that fit their more modest budgets. We (elites) should move to stop this market from existing. It serves no purpose (for us). https://twitter.com/... Aaron LaCluyze / @lacluyze : No. Just no. Stop it. There are enough ads in every other corner, nook, and cranny of our lives. https://gizmodo.com/... Hank Yeomans / @hankyeomans : This is why I'm team Apple: No carrier ad partnerships for lock screens. Apple won't allow this except under heavy restriction and that's what I pay apple for. https://techcrunch.com/... Shah Selbe / @shahselbe : This is the worst idea. I really wish the tech industry would move beyond their putting-advertising-on-literally- everything fetish. https://twitter.com/... @hypervisible : It's gonna be next-level trash when they decide to install a “watch this ad to unlock your phone” version. https://gizmodo.com/... See also Mediagazer
Context & Ripple Effects
Google’s Play Store policy had already drawn a boundary around lock-screen advertising by barring ordinary Android apps from placing ads there, while leaving dedicated lock-screen experiences outside that restriction. Glance’s carrier distribution turns that exception into a route to U.S. handset reach rather than an app-by-app acquisition exercise.
The move belongs to a broader effort to monetize screens that users encounter before choosing an app: Telly proposed ad-supported TVs with a permanent second display for advertising, and Samsung later tested promotions on refrigerator cover screens.
First-order effects
- Glance and InMobi gain a carrier-led channel for delivering lock-screen media to U.S. Android users, while participating carriers add an advertising service to the handset experience.
- Android users on participating carriers face a lock screen that can function as a media and advertising surface rather than solely a device-access layer.
Second-order effects
- Advertisers gain inventory at a high-frequency phone touchpoint, giving Glance a distinct placement from in-app advertising and pressuring other Android distribution partners to offer comparable inventory.
- Carriers become more consequential gatekeepers for lock-screen media distribution, shifting part of the value of Android attention from app publishers toward handset-channel partners.
Third-order effects
- If carrier-backed lock-screen services spread, consumer-device monetization will increasingly extend into default interfaces, following the same screen-level logic behind Samsung’s cover-screen ad pilot.
- The earlier Play Store distinction suggests that control of the lock screen itself—not simply the content shown on it—will determine which ad products can reach users under platform rules.
The trend: Adtech is moving beyond app inventory toward monetizing default, always-visible device surfaces through distribution partnerships.