Lock screen ads could be coming to your Android phone

Summary

• Glance, an ad platform on budget phones in Asia, may soon make its way to the US through partnerships with Motorola and Verizon.
• Glance has over 450 million users worldwide and plans to collaborate with carriers and brands like CNN and the NBA for lock screen content.
• The company could use AI from Qualcomm for on-device data processing and offer personalized content without collecting user data.

Budget smartphones from Xiaomi, Realme, or even Samsung in Asia show news, live scores, and, other media content (a.k.a. ads) on the lock screen. Despite its popularity in Asia, Glance — a subsidiary of the adtech business InMobi Group — hasn’t made its way to smartphones sold in the US. Reports of the lock screen platform wanting to partner with US carriers did pop up in July 2022, but nothing happened afterward. Nearly two years later, Glance could finally be ready to bring lock screen ads to Android phones in the US.

Glance has reportedly started a pilot program in partnership with Motorola and Verizon in the US ahead of a potential full launch later this year. The app is already pre-installed on the Moto G Power (2024) and apparently shipped on the phone’s 2023 variant sold in the country as well. Glance plans to collaborate with more carriers and brands like CNN and the NBA. If the pilot program is successful, the lock screen content recommendation engine could come pre-installed on more Motorola and Verizon devices in the US.

As per the TechCrunch report, Glance has shipped on over 450 million smartphones so far, with 300 million+ active users. One source claims the company does not plan to show lock screen ads on phones in the US. This might just be during the initial pilot phase and could change later on.

Glance could leverage AI to power its recommendation engine

Seemingly, Glance is working with Qualcomm on an AI-powered lock screen experience. This could help the app reduce its data usage, as the personalization and processing would happen on-device instead of relying on cloud servers. The company also does not claim to collect any user data. Its recommendation engine analyzes a user’s usage pattern to show local news, sports scores, and other content.

On phones sold in India, you can disable Glance, though you are frequently prompted to re-enable the feature. Entering the US market will provide Glance with access to users with a higher spending power. In turn, this will allow the company to charge advertisers more money for showing their content on the lock screen, helping fuel its growth.