Apps Missing after Reboot - LG V10 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting
This issue has me completely baffled and frustrated. I'm currently on my 3rd LG V10 after 2 AT&T warranty replacements. My first device just bricked one day and ever since I received the replacement device from AT&T, I have apps disappear from my phone when I reboot. After about a month of dealing with it on that 2nd device, I called AT&T and walked through a few tests with them and they agreed that my hardware was probably to blame and sent another replacement device.
I've had that one for about 2 weeks now. I rebooted the phone several times after I received it and had all of my standard apps installed and all seemed good. However, earlier today, after a couple days of above average battery drain, I thought I'd reboot the phone and my heart sank when my phone came back to a half populated home screen. A large number of apps are nowhere to be found on the phone, just like the problem I had with the last device that AT&T replaced. So, hardware has been ruled out and I've spent tonight testing various other changes on my phone to see if I can find a scenario where the apps survive a reboot. I've picked 4 apps that seem to always delete on reboot (now and with the previous device), Hangouts, Pocket Casts, Feedly and Google News & Weather. I use my phone for work so I've backed out of the Mobile Iron install and reinstalled these 4 apps but the apps still disappear. I've removed my microSD (as I'd read a number of app deletion issues around external storage on other devices) and again installed the apps but the problem remains.
I've played around with an app called List My Apps to capture the app list before and after a bunch of these tests and I've noticed that some of the deleted apps seem to actually re-appear on my phone after it's been booted up for a while too. Prior to my last reboot, the app list generated actually included several apps that had previously been missing without me manually reinstalling them from the Play Store. Authenticator, Google Cast, and TripIt were a few of them that showed up in the list before that reboot only to have again disappeared after the reboot. Unfortunately, I didn't see them back on the phone before rebooting to see if their settings and configurations were also intact.
I'm completely baffled by this issue and it clearly cripples my use of the phone. I have no clue if it's something about the apps I use, the settings on my phone or something else. My first LG v10 hardware (the one that bricked) never had any app loss issues with largely the same app set. My phones have all been encrypted, which is my next test once I can run the decryption process when I get my battery charged up to 80%. Because I use my phone for work, it's not rooted which seems to greatly limit my access to any log data from the phone.
Any suggestions or debug tips would be greatly appreciated!
Just in case it helps, here's a list of the apps I typically run on my phone with the apps that didn't survive the reboot bolded:
* Action Launcher 3
* Alarm.com
* Amex Mobile
* Android Wear
* Angry Birds
* Asana
* Atomas
* Auralux
* Authenticator
* Automatic
* Baby Connect
* Calculator
* Calendar
* Cardboard
* Cartwheel
* Concur
* Connect
* Credit Karma
* Dark Sky
* Device Manager
* DiskUsage
* Dropbox
* Duo Mobile
* E*TRADE
* eBay
* Evernote
* Evernote for Android Wear
* feedly
* Fire TV
* Fit
* Fitbit
* Google Cast
* Google Opinion Rewards
* Google Play Games
* Google Voice
* GSam Battery Monitor
* Harmony
* HBO GO
* Hook
* IF
* IMDb
* Inbox
* Ingress
* Instagram
* Keep
* Last.fm
* List My Apps
* Lyft
* MobileIron
* My Cars
* My Cars Pro key
* News & Weather
* Norton Snap
* One Today
* Out of Milk
* Pocket Casts
* Reddit
* RescueTime
* Skype
* SmartThings
* Starbucks
* Strava
* Super Stickman Golf
* SwiftKey Keyboard
* the Sequence
* Twilight
* Two Dots
* Ultra GPS Logger
* Untappd
* Waze
* WhatsApp
* Wifi Analyzer
* YNAB
* Zeo Android
* Zillow
* ∞ Loop
Note- I've also noticed some stock apps like Google Maps and Drive are missing (but not included in this list)
There doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason around when an app was installed although most apps I've installed in the last few days were removed...Pokemon Go included
Were your replacement units new?
skingg said:
Were your replacement units new?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't know for sure but the messaging from AT&T was that they "could" be new but not guaranteed which I take to mean that they are very likely refurbished.
So, to add more confusion but good progress, I unencrypted my phone last night after installing the same 4 test apps. When the phone rebooted as part of the unencryption process, I was very happy to see that those 4 apps were still there. I opened one up and the settings were good too. I figured I'd rip the bandaid off and do another reboot. This time, the 4 apps I'd been testing with were gone but surprisingly all of the other apps that had disappeared with the first reboot were now restored to the phone! Their settings were all as they were and clearly they were there all along.
It seems like the encryption may be causing my problem but I'm a little stumped about why it's behaving this way and I'm also confused about why the test apps were there after the initial unencrypted reboot and then gone after the second reboot. Either way, I re-installed those 4 apps and have rebooted and it looks like all apps are surviving now.
So, my issue now is that I NEED encryption in order to access work email but encryption is breaking my phone. Is anyone else having trouble with encryption on the V10? I did do the "Quick Encryption" option vs "Full Encryption" but I haven't been able to find any documentation anywhere about the differences (outside of the text provided when you choose). Does anyone know if the Quick option might cause problems like this?
On a side note, from the limited test of this morning, my battery seems much happier with encryption off!
Well I suppose you could try a factory reset of your phone to be sure and see if if some of your apps will still go missing when encrypted.
skingg said:
Well I suppose you could try a factory reset of your phone to be sure and see if if some of your apps will still go missing when encrypted.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have this issue too, but happened with and without encryption. In the process of backing up to do another Factory reset, which fixed the issue for 6 weeks last time, this is frustrating!
Apps keep disappearing from my AT&T LG V10
I had a LG V10 that went on an endless reboot cycle after about 7 months of no problems, so I had to get it replaced at the AT&T store. They mailed me a replacement, and then I noticed that after rebooting I was losing apps and had to re-install them. Today I rebooted and my Google Play store is missing and half my apps are popping up errors saying "Unfortunately, App xxxx has stopped. " The app XXXX" is one of about 10 apps that is crashing" What is going on here?
nygmam said:
I have this issue too, but happened with and without encryption. In the process of backing up to do another Factory reset, which fixed the issue for 6 weeks last time, this is frustrating!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
@nygmam & @GenxBear
Misery loves company and I guess it's good to see that I'm not the only person experiencing this. I hope it means that we might have some ground so stand on with the carriers.
I've been suffering through reinstalling 10-15 apps every time I reboot until I can get in to an AT&T repair center to have them troubleshoot in person but yesterday's reboot came back in worse shape with no Play Store and a lot more missing apps. The strange thing I've found over the last month is that usually doing 2 back to back reboots will restore some of the missing apps. Hasn't helped with Play Store this time though.
@nygmam, do you have any new discoveries or root cause theories as an XDA senior member?
At this point, I'm just hoping to convince AT&T to give me an early upgrade to ditch the V10 and get a different phone which sucks because I really do love the V10 but these issues are just terrible...
Reboots help a little
So after I lost the Google Play store, I rebooted a few more times and the store came back... But now I'm noticing certain apps are either grayed out (which then need to be reinstalled) or the app looks like it's there, nut then gives an error when you try to run the app that the app is missing.. Then I reboot and the app works... Really strange... If they would let me I'd would have loved to swap this for a Samsung Note 7, but now that those have been recalled due to exploding batteries, I guess I'll have to wait a bit..
So just as a note, my LG V10 is stock firmware, NOT rooted. Every time I reboot, some of my apps disappear, and my Google Play store disappears. Then I get getting errors of apps that rely on the Googly Play store services stop working one after the other., pop up after pop up. Then I reboot and after maybe anywhere from 3-8 reboots the Google Play store comes back. I have even tried removing the battery to see if that would help, but no luck. The Play store just randomly comes back. Also now the speak is no longer working when I answer a call. I have to use the spearkerphone instead of the earpiece to hear the incoming call. Looks like a trip back to the AT&T store is in order. This is my 2nd LG V10 in 8 months.
Again, I had resisted rebooting for about 2 weeks, but phone was slow and sluggish, so needed to reboot. Came back, and out of 223 backed up apps, I was showing 45. Decided to wipe and restart.
One "trick" I have for small deletion events is to use ES Explorer (Still don't like it, but....) to backup the all my apps. Last time ES was gone too, but the internal File Explorer was still there, that allowed me to install ES Explorer. I then use two side by side tabs, one with the APPS backed up the other with the APPS tab used to backup. I sort them both alphabetical, and go page by page installing the missing apps. I will note, all data is there, just the app seems to be not found.
However, I was not about to install hundreds of apps. I had an LG backup from 9/11 I went and recovered most of my apps after reset. Now I am stuck updating a ton of apps, although I could install them from my backups in ES.
While I don't mind factory reset now, and have the restore down to an art, My google Watch is a pain as it has to be reset and paired a new too.
I wish there was a fix for this, or at a minimum, a way to run a directory compare, against the APPS tab, and automate the install. However, I doubt possible without ROOT, and I don't want to mess with that on this phone.
I will say, Quite frustrated, but love the phone. I am torn. I know if I take it back, the best they will do is offer me a new one, with no explination why it happened and no guarantee it won't happen again. This is my 2nd V10 and it has affected both.
9 Days later, and this issue is back... Has anyone got to the bottom of this?
I realized that if I have to reboot and I lose my Google Play store, the easiest way to get it back is to pull out the battery and let the V10 sit for about 2 or 3 minutes before reinstalling and turning the phone back on. If I do that, the google play store re-appears, but if I simply reboot or turn off and turn on right away, the google play store doesn't come back. Now the latest issue is that I lose my GMail account settings when I put the battery back in. I have to sign in to my Gmail account, and password, then I get the text from Google in the 2 step verification and re-sync my GMail. All the contacts that I have synced with Gmail disappear so my texts and contacts just show phone numbers, no names, until Google has had a chance to re-sync and then the names appear again. What a nightmare. This will be my last LG phone I buy. It's a shame since I really like the removable battery and Micro-SD slot that all the new phones no longer have.
While I had this issue without encryption enabled at the phone only level, after the first time, I encrypted.
I just had this issue return, as stated above. Decided to unencrypt, to see if it helped, and 4 reboots later, no issues. I am not holding my breath, but so far so good. While I know this isn't the cause, it is odd that decrypting helped my problem.
wondering if others who have this issue also encrypt, or have had it decrypted. I also have cut down on number of apps installed since the non-encrypted issue. Thinking maybe there is some space issues or encrypt overhead isn't allowing a full decrypt prior to boot., but that is only speculation.
Waiting for a return of the issue with my now decrypted phone
Not Encrypted or rooted here
@ nygmam - My LG V10 is not encrypted or rooted. Just stock firmware. I'm going to back up my stuff and do another exchange at the AT&T store today.
That sucks. I doubt a new phone will cure it then. This is my 2nd, and the same issue has happened on both. What is interesting, is that when I do sideload teh apps back, it seems to think I am upgrading an installed app, even though it doesn't show up. The Data is even there after I side-load.
For example, I was always loosing Android Pay, but sideloading it resulted in all my cards showing up again, and it working perfectly. As the apps sometimes come up when rebooting, it seems as if something is just not letting them all load at boot up.
Interestingly enough, I had the phone "Hot Reboot" by itself once after a load with many apps missing. The phone seemed to be quite unhappy, an just froze, then the screen went back to the white loading screen and all apps showed up at that boot.
Makes me think something is amiss in the boot process, and that if I had the possibility to hot reboot (If I were rooted) all my apps would come back.
This is all very frustrating
should add, did you try to encrypt/decrypt to see if that helped?
I have a lgv10 as well and this seems to be a problem that affects most users. I've read multiple forums and no one seems to have a solution. This started occuring about 3 months ago for me, it happens like twice a month but not everytime,i restart and i switch my battery out mid day usually. First it google play and some other google,things that woild,dissappear. I would have to sign in to my google stuff again. But today it deleted about 50 apps which i had to reinstall, thankfully you dont to configure any app settings. They just take off from where u left them like spotify still had the same song on pause.
I highly doubt this has to do with encryption, this is just some lg flaw that they probably dont know how to fix either
I'm having similar problems with the refurb V10 I bought in June. I'm actually having three EXTREMELY troublesome issues:
1) apps disappearing. sometimes they come back after a reboot. sometimes i have to reinstall them. Sometimes play store won't even download.
2) GPS not staying fixed or quitting altogether. Sometimes a reboot fixes it but I risk losing apps.
3) Bluetooth.. where to start...connection with android wear is unstable, phone and music connections unstable...a daily struggle.
I haven't tried a factory reset yet.... sounds like it doesn't really help
I would try exchanging the phone, but I went through multiple exchanges on my previous phone: a G4. Two phones died of boot loop. Tmobile exchanged one, LG exchanged the next. Like was said earlier. it's a shame the only phones with external storage and swappable batteries are so unreliable.
---------- Post added at 01:18 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:49 PM ----------
Here's another thing that sometimes works:
clear cache and data for google play store and then reboot. If it asks you for which account to use for 'backup' I think that re-syncs apps.....maybe.
I happen to have three LG devices - one Gpad X 8.0, one Tribute HD, and one Stylo. ALL OF THEM experience this issue. It's an LG problem, not a V10 problem, and is clearly software. None are rooted or toyed with beyond stock. I'm experiencing the exact same issues.
TOTAL nightmare. Never buying an LG phone for production purposes. Did anyone ever find the cause?
I ended up with a string on weeks with no issue. Found if it was decrypted, and if I waited a minute or two prior to rebooting, and to NEVER use REBOOT from the power menu I was always fine.
However, woke up yesterday to a dead phone. Swapped batteries, with no joy, turned out it bootlooped itself, and had become a door stop. I decided to upgrade to an LG V20, as I can't live without the replaceable battery and SD card.
So far so good. I will add, my wife had the LG G3, and now has the G5, and has never had this issue, so I hope will be fine. I also did a clean install, so hoping this helps, left out a lot of apps, I never really used anyway.
Related
[Q] My phone seriously messed up itself
Yesterday my phone ran out of battery and it took me a while to get back to my charger. I came back late and I put my phone to recharge over night. I wake up and start my phone and it's like it's never been used before. It has done some sort of reset by itself. All these help popups comes up about how to use slides and motion etc etc. My gmail account is not registered to my phone anymore. I go through my applications and now I start to realize that something is seriously wrong. Some of my apps are missing on my home screen and when I look for them they seem to be uninstalled, so I try to install these apps again and get the "unknown error code during application install -24" error. This is the case for 3 of my paid applications. Portfolio stocks, swift key and maps with me. I have more problems though, 50 % of all my apps that are still installed will not even start, like all of my games for example, Every time I try to start one of these I get "Unfortunately, application has stopped" This is also the case for some other apps like skype and spotify. Most of my apps have completely dropped the app settings and information. All my whats app conversations are gone for example and my number isn't even registered anymore. Some apps still have the icon on my home screen but when I try to start these (like googles for example) it says "application not installed" even though the icon is there. So as you can tell there some major problem has occurred when my phone turned itself of yesterday. Now I'm afraid my phone ****ed itself up to much to actually be recovered with is a ***** but I'm wondering how the hell could this happen? What kind of information has deleted itself and why is this possible? And is there anything you guys think I can do except resetting the whole device. My phone is not rooted and I regret not making backups..... I have a galaxy s3 I9300 with android 4.1.2 Regards Victor
factory reset. don't know why it happened
[Q] What's going on: Weird issues - Unable to uninstall, download from Google play
This one is a weird one. I have not experienced this before. My wife's HTC One X unrooted, factory unlocked from oversees, still under warranty. Latest JB available (stock). Just the other day I went to clean up some of her redundant apps that I installed on her phone. All apps were from legitimate sources, Google Play. Problem 1. I could not uninstall any app. The device would get quite warm, actually very warm. I would do a hard boot and sometimes I would then be able to uninstall the app, most other times no. I even have uninstaller apps and I tried using them and the app would go through the motions. it would seemingly uninstall the apps but it really didn't . On the times it would uninstall apps (it doesn't matter which app or how large or small) it often would take a long time. Problem 2: Downloading apps from GP. I might be able to get away with downloading one app and installing it. However, most of the time GP would be stuck in "downloading', Again, if I do a hard reboot or even soft reboot, sometimes the download would start and you would see the small tray and down arrow. Most of the times, not. What is odd about this is that if I go to Google Play via desktop and remotely tell GP to install a particular app, it usually does without issue on the device. Problem 3. I did a factory restore and after a few apps everything was ok. but problem would then develop again. I repeated the process to narrow down which app may be causing issue but I haven't been able to do so. Then, I did a hard reboot again and then the download would be very slow to start, several minutes then it would start up normally. I tried uninstalling an app and it too took a long time initially and then it was ok. However, in between this all, it was not. Even when going to SETTINGS, APPS, seeing info on the app (cache size, etc) would take a very very long time to populate. The wife has her phone with her today at work, but for now it is operating as it should. However, I am very confident it will return to the way it was. Does any one know what could be going on? Is this a s/w issue or hardware issue? Is there any way to test to see if the flash drive has bad sectors or is somehow damaged? Perhaps the HTC needs a brand new re-flash to the original ROM ?
[Help] Wifi and 3G turning on alone...
Hello there! I have been having a bit of a problem lately. I own a BLU Dash 5.0 simunlocked from factory. It's a double sim model, which I have two sims, since the companies are spanish, let's call them Green Sim and Blue Sim (since that's how they are color coded in my status bar). It is also running Android Jelly Bean 4.2. Here is the problem. Ever since of March 20, a Chinese app appeared on my home screen, I don't know how, something called "Mobile Video" but the content was in a foreign Asian language. I suspect of my friend since I lent it to him for 15 minutes and then it appeared. Aside of this, the wifi and the Green Sim 3G was turned on. I clicked on the app curious of it was something my friend downloaded from me, but then the app prompted me two options, I didn't know what it said since again, it was Asian. Next, I proceeded to uninstall it, going to my apps list, I was surprised to see another mysterious app, "Push_Down", that was the name. I uninstalled both Mobile Video and Push_Down. I thought I fixed the problem. Wrong. Next day when I woke up, I found two new apps on my homescreen, and again, the Wifi and Green Sim 3G was on.These were Chinese also. I uninstalled them both and found once again "Push_Down" in my apps. After I uninstalled them, I thought the problem was finally fixed. Wrong again. Since this event, about every 2 or 3 hours, my Wifi and Green Sim 3G turn on automatically, but haven't downloaded anything new, one, because I have no credit left, and two, I have no internet at home. Ever since, daily I wake up, the same problem, the Wifi and 3G are on. I checked my SD Card, I checked my Phone Storage, both with 2 Antivirus (Avast!, and Lookout Mobile) and with Addons Detector. Surprisingly, nothing has appeared. My last option is what hurts me most, to reset my phone, which I don't want to do since I have lots of apps installed, progress made with certain games and etc, etc. Also, I am not a root user, so I haven't rooted and won't root my phone. Now, can anyone please help me? I am very annoyed at this happening everyday!
same problem...cheinese apps keep reinstalling I too have had this problem for a few weeks now. Got a Chinese smartphone for Christmas (ok i know thats the first mistake, but it was worth a try for the money). mfaction royale mp720 (mpie comes up on the startup screen). Anyway i realised there where a few Chinese apps that came with it (pinyin and a app with a orange icon with a squirrel logo on it) so i unistalled these without problem. One chinese app i couldn't uninstall so i disabled it in the app settings Everything had been working fine without problem and had been very happy with the phone until a week or so ago. started getting the apps described above installing. These include 'push_down' 'push_collect' 'filegogo' 'mobile video' and some others with chinese writing on them. I also get my phone setting itself to mute when these apps reappear. Keep uninstalling them but they keep coming back. Have tried AVG and Antimalware but they only flag things up as they install themselves, not the thing thats doing the installing. I thought that google account might be a problem so changed password and reset my phone to factory default. As a test i didn't connect back to google account. No joy. Although some apps have not reappeared some have and this morning a new one so i don't think its google account. I did read some Chinese phones can have the malware embedded into the firmware but it's been fine for months. Perhaps there is a delay so your not likely to send the phone back then the malware begins. If this is the case then the only way round would be to root the phone then find the app or apps that are doing this. Not sure if it's easy to root one of these phones. Anyone else had these symptoms after a full factory reset?. Anyone been able to sort it out? Anyone know of a guide to root his phone?
Hmmmmm.... cmillsy said: I too have had this problem for a few weeks now. Got a Chinese smartphone for Christmas (ok i know thats the first mistake, but it was worth a try for the money). mfaction royale mp720 (mpie comes up on the startup screen). Anyway i realised there where a few Chinese apps that came with it (pinyin and a app with a orange icon with a squirrel logo on it) so i unistalled these without problem. One chinese app i couldn't uninstall so i disabled it in the app settings Everything had been working fine without problem and had been very happy with the phone until a week or so ago. started getting the apps described above installing. These include 'push_down' 'push_collect' 'filegogo' 'mobile video' and some others with chinese writing on them. I also get my phone setting itself to mute when these apps reappear. Keep uninstalling them but they keep coming back. Have tried AVG and Antimalware but they only flag things up as they install themselves, not the thing thats doing the installing. I thought that google account might be a problem so changed password and reset my phone to factory default. As a test i didn't connect back to google account. No joy. Although some apps have not reappeared some have and this morning a new one so i don't think its google account. I did read some Chinese phones can have the malware embedded into the firmware but it's been fine for months. Perhaps there is a delay so your not likely to send the phone back then the malware begins. If this is the case then the only way round would be to root the phone then find the app or apps that are doing this. Not sure if it's easy to root one of these phones. Anyone else had these symptoms after a full factory reset?. Anyone been able to sort it out? Anyone know of a guide to root his phone? Click to expand... Click to collapse Actually, as much as my experience from rooting, I haven't done it once again after a bad event I had, like almost bricking an old phone I had which for my good luck there was a way to restore it Ever since, I won't root anymore unless there exists a ROM backup by the manufacturer. But still, I don't know what's causing this. My phone has been fine since stock, I have more than 2 months with it! The problem started since last Thursday, which is why I suspect it's an app I downloaded or ad I clicked on. Any ideas? (Also, thanks for your reply )
Remove System Apps
Hi Guys I have a quick question - How do i remove system apps on the Tab S3. Everytime i go to remove and app thru Tit Backup - It restores it after reboot. Rooted with SuperSU - Id like to uninstall Knox etc but cant? I had this on the S8 - Is this to do with the Kernel needing to be permissive? Any help would be welcome.
fkofilee said: Hi Guys I have a quick question - How do i remove system apps on the Tab S3. Everytime i go to remove and app thru Tit Backup - It restores it after reboot. Rooted with SuperSU - Id like to uninstall Knox etc but cant? I had this on the S8 - Is this to do with the Kernel needing to be permissive? Any help would be welcome. Click to expand... Click to collapse I think you have no R/W access to the system. Did you flash the no-verity-opt-encrypt patch when rooting? Download root essentials from the play store. There you have the option to mount system R/W. After enabling that removing the system apps should work. Verstuurd vanaf mijn SM-T825 met Tapatalk
Thanks... Completely slipped my mind about the RW access I'll give it a go
Nope didnt work - Trying to delete anything of the system partition doesnt go anywhere
Solution I found for my Galaxy S7 was to use /system/app mover available from F-Droid.Org Move apps first to be User apps, reboot and you can uninstall them.
Judging by the number of Thanks on this thread, I can see that problems with apps have been an issue with rooted Tab S3s for quite some time. The problems I am having are actually the reverse, however; whenever I delete system apps my device becomes all but soft-bricked (Android strips me of many user privileges). Makes me sick for a device I paid $500 for and own. Now this is for a recent root "professionally" performed just the other day by OneClickRoot using Magisk. Having said that, I would suggest that anyone having difficulty removing apps really doesn't want to experience the consequences of what happens when you do. So far OneClickRoot has been MIA as far as providing assistance for an improperly performed root that voided my warranty and which I cannot use. But what they do not know (yet) is that I screen recorded the sessions while they had remote access to my PC and were rooting my device. I haven't yet investigated whether there are newer files they could have used, but I do know that I was prompted to update Magisk on my device almost immediately afterward. It does seem clear that Android came out with some kind of a patch that thwarted the plan. And it was seriously harrowing. Anyway, with the guidance of the screen recordings I was able to do some experimenting with app removal and unroot/reroot at my leisure. It didn't take much in the way of app removal to throw the system into a state of angst like I've never seen (I rooted my Galaxy S3 phone a long time ago on my own and it went peacefully and without incident). I never once touched [removed] a single core system file on this S3 tablet (of course, that may be understating it; apps like Chrome could be considered to contain core system files - after all, it is an Android). I also did not remove Google Play Services or Google Play because I kinda had a hunch. Incidentally, I used ES File Explorer to remove the apps. A decent reputation with Google. Downloaded with Yalp Store. (After removing the apps, some time later I went back to the root section of ES and got a notification that said "Sorry. That feature is not available on this device.") At the moment I am back in re-rooted state and experimenting with an app disabler/freezer. So far so good. It's interesting to see what I haven't been able to disable - Chrome being one of them. The others (Music, Movies, Maps, Hangouts, OneDrive, etc. were disabled without incident). I'm wondering if this experiment is demonstrating which apps I can safely remove with the root. Oh, I disabled Google Text-to-Speech and once in a while I get a feeble notification alerting me that it has stopped which is fine by me. I'm sick of them stalking me all over the Internet let alone logging my every keystroke. Anyway, that's my story and the current forecast where uprooting is concerned.
I looked at oneClickRoot. It wants access to all your accounts. Why does it need that? That scares me. I also don't see how it would root your device without tripping Knox. Maybe it doesn't, I don't know. Sent from my [device_name] using XDA-Developers Legacy app
jd1639 said: I looked at oneClickRoot. It wants access to all your accounts. Why does it need that? That scares me. I also don't see how it would root your device without tripping Knox. Maybe it doesn't, I don't know. Click to expand... Click to collapse JD, sometimes roots trip Knox and sometimes they don't. They didn't advise me of that either way. I'm not sure why they want access to all your accounts. Maybe it's just because a root requires total access to your device. There's nothing you don't see while they are performing the root so I don't think it's much to be concerned about.
Picking up where I left off with my original post, I soon discovered Terminal Debloater developed by Magisk (a means of removing apps systemless-ly!). OneClickRoot didn't advise me of that method (and still hasn't gotten back with me, incidentally). Of course, they do make money selling extended support packages (and it's worth noting that they didn't flash TWRP to my device either). I thought if Terminal Debloater didn't do it nothing would. And it didn't work, even though I didn't uninstall Google, Google Play Services or Google Play. I mean, it got rid of the apps just like ES File Explorer did, but my device once again became nearly unusable (unable to open Google Play Store or Amazon Appstore among other features of my device). But systemless-ly? Not so sure about that. Resetting the device remedied the problem(s) and reinstalled everything without requiring a re-root (minus 3rd party apps that I already had installed, of course). I had forgotten about the previous backup that I had performed with Titanium Backup but it was like 4am and I was getting foggy, you know - there have been a lot of late nights lately. My device was still rooted after the reset and I was able to reinstall Magisk Manager with an .apk (Google Play Store banished it). Maybe that's what they meant by systemless uninstall - the relative ease of reinstall. So I think that after all of this experimentation it is fair to say that unless you have goals other than uninstalling meaningless stuff like that withTV app it isn't going to work out. And for an app freezer/disabler to work properly you need a root. And an app/freezer disabler won't disable them all. I still have a lot of Google apps it won't disable like Gmail, Chrome, Photos, Movies & TV and Google Play Music (although I realize most people aren't interested in disabling Google apps). I could probably safely remove YouTube, Maps and Drive (I was only able to partially able freeze the former but I was able to fully freeze the latter). There are others I could probably uninstall too - OneDrive, other Microsoft apps, Weather, etc. - it would just seem pointless though since they are already frozen. So maybe freezing is a good enough reason to root for those who only want minimal removal of apps and still want Google where the sun doesn't shine. Anything that can be frozen can probably be safely removed with the root but I haven't experimented with that. It might require a 4th reset and/or reroot. But you will never have total freedom to do what you want. As far as OneClickRoot, it is fortunate that I paid with PayPal because I am going to file a claim based on many factors. They asked me why I was rooting my device and I told them I was going to remove apps. They didn't advise me on that either way. They didn't tell me that the root would trip Knox. It says on their Galaxy Tab S3 page, "After the rooting process is completed and done, you may start installing carrier-blocked applications" "you may positively eliminate preinstalled crapware" and "Remember that after rooting, you are the administrator of your own phone so have the freedom to do anything you want with your phone." If they made the mistake of referring to a phone on their tablet page then that's their bad. I do not yet qualify to post links on this forum, but you can find the page by using DuckDuckGo to search "Galaxy S3 Tab OneClickRoot" and it's the first search result). I paid them $60 total to root my device; the first time I thought I removed too many apps and that it was my fault so I paid them an additional $20 to re-root it. Turns out it really wasn't my fault at all because with the 2nd root I uninstalled even fewer apps than the first time (and like I said before, never any core system apps or even any major android apps like Google Play Services). I figured out how to unroot it on my own (with firmware files from SamMobile and flashed with Odin) and then screen recorded the 2nd root. At the end of the day I'm not sure it's really worth it to root just to remove a few apps and void your warranty if you're still covered (I have only owned my device for just over a week). But then, not everyone has the same objectives I do. I am completely crazy serious when it comes to my privacy. One might ask why I even purchased this device and it's because it affords customizations that Apple doesn't (or so I thought). But I can still run Linux. And, of course, I have no intent of setting up a Samsung account or a real Google account. I bought a cheap sim card from TracFone to use with my old S3 phone to set up a fake Google account (because of course you have to have a phone to register a Google account). My TracFone account is under a fake name, my phone number has a Chicago area code (I live across the country), my Google account will be under a fake name and I use a paid VPN on my device(s) using a Chicago IP address. They deserve it. All just so I can get a few paid - but important - apps. If it weren't for that, Google account be damned. I sold my black little soul to Amazon a long time ago but their selections are limited. ---------- Post added at 09:31 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:48 PM ---------- Oh, and for those who aren't rooted and simply want to uninstall system apps for more space, you can force 3rd party apps to SD by enabling that feature in Developer Options. Go to Settings > About tablet > Model number > Software information Click on Build number 7 times. That will activate Developer Options which you will then find at the bottom of the column on the left side. Click on Developer Options and scroll way down to Force Allow Apps on External. Then scroll up to Running Services and observe what's going on behind the scenes. Especially if you have denied (and even frozen) location permissions, deactivated bluetooth, limited background processes to "none" and deactivated automatic updates. They will grab at ANYTHING - your bluetooth, phone, etc. You can stop the processes but they still keep coming back. It's fun to give them an occasional punt anyway. I did manage to finally disable blutooth but that *had* to be frozen. Disabling in settings wasn't good enough. Google Location Service cannot be stopped ever.
I should set up the fake Google account on my S3 phone with the Chicago IP address and then play Ingress in my real neighborhood just to taunt them. Blue team!!!!
You do know there is a root method by ashyx in the development section, right. Also, I'd just freeze apps with tibu. That way if your system starts to freeze you can just unfreeze them. Sent from my [device_name] using XDA-Developers Legacy app
jd1639 said: You do know there is a root method by ashyx in the development section, right. Also, I'd just freeze apps with tibu. That way if your system starts to freeze you can just unfreeze them. Click to expand... Click to collapse Hi JD. No, I didn't know about ashyx. Thanks for that though. I might end up looking into it. I'm wondering if a root is just a root, though? There are a couple of apps that have given me errors that said "Your SU binary is functional but might not work reliably on some Android 4.3+ ROMs. If you encounter any issues in TB, please try SuperSU instead." I got that error from Titanium Backup today and I think also from Malwarebytes the other day. So I'm wondering if uninstalling Magisk and installing SuperSU instead might make a difference. I reallly have no clue. I'm going to try it though. As a last resort I will probably try re-rooting. Have you used ashyx? If so, were you able to remove apps without a hassle? Also, is that your Porsche? Nice . . . . . if you're in Minnesota, bet you can't wait until June lol. I'm from the Midwest orignally - I guess it was kind of a rough winter, no? I know last winter was.
You'll get the same message with supersu as magisk in TB. It's not an issue. And, yes, I use @ashyx method for root. It's worked for all firmwares so far, but I'm almost sure it won't (twrp) if Samsung ever gives us Oreo. But I have confidence in ashyx that he'll modify it so it will, he's the man!
jd1639 said: You'll get the same message with supersu as magisk in TB. It's not an issue. And, yes, I use @ashyx method for root. It's worked for all firmwares so far, but I'm almost sure it won't (twrp) if Samsung ever gives us Oreo. But I have confidence in ashyx that he'll modify it so it will, he's the man! Click to expand... Click to collapse Hi JD. Long time no see. Or so it seems. My head has actually been far removed from the Tab this past week. I actually had my S7 rooted just a couple of days before the Tab and so I have been juggling both devices. I think I'm about to pop a blood vessel. I honestly would have rooted them myself but there was just too much scattered information and since I was dealing with two devices I had OCR do it. But anyway, I haven't been much invested in the Tab over the past several days. I broke a few too many green antennae again and bricked my S7 for the third time. Whenever I have fresh firmware flashed to my device I get those uninstall apps and become possessed. At least I can reinstall the firmware and re-root on my own now. Things sure have changed since the S3 (phone) and the Galaxy Tab Pro (which was introduced before app permissions became an option). I never did root that device. I guess that's about 4 years old now. I do believe my S7 was rooted with the ashyx method. I saw a file or something somewhere. It is easier to remove system files on that device but more complicated as there are so many more of them being a phone and all. As far as Oreo . . . . .ugh. Something about the potential for crush injuries doesn't seem really appealing. I can imagine the "system" is only going to become more oppressive and Google more invasive. Right now I'm still trying to figure out wtf Nougat is. Besides, Nougat will be a good OS for a long, long time. The OS on my S3 phone [Lollipop?] is still adequate. And developers are still trying to perfect apps for rooted Nougat OS's. A lot of stuff is still buggy. I'm not *quite* as fanatical about privacy on my S7 since my phone number was tied to my Google account long before I decided to stop being lazy about privacy issues. But once I get the paid apps I need I immediately freeze Google Play Services and Google Play Store. And before I use the store I remove my SD card before they can rape my app settings and data. And, of course, I pay for a Google Play gift card with cash. It's extremely difficult going to these extremes but I am still new at it on my devices so it will just take time to adjust. I went through the same grief with my PCs but it's all good now. My banks and creditors no longer hassle me when I use private browsing and a VPN when I log in. Google will never give in though. Ever. And that really is something scary. I actually did acquire Windows 10 Enterprise for both of my PCs after many fruitless and failed attempts at tweaking my registry. Now I have full access to Group Policy Editor and live in relative privacy [and peace] where Microsoft is concerned. Wish android had a Group Policy Editor. Anyway, as far as where I left off with app uninstalls on my Tab, I had only just flashed the stock firmware on that before I bricked my S7 so there are still what I call "secondary" Google apps like Maps, Gmail, Movies & TV, etc. Those are frozen, however. It still might be a couple of days before I get to uninstalling those but I will update. I have no life. I need to come up for air lol. It is important to me to post about this experience; I guess I feel somewhat like an activist in a sense. Google just runs roughshod over everything and everyone like they OWN, you know? And they don't. They don't own me, or you, or our devices. And so this is for people - not "advertising IDs" - who feel similarly and don't want Google invading their devices and private information. Umm . . . . I know there are a lot of individuals who want to root their Tab S3s and I may at some point post instructions on how to do that using Magisk (it really is simple) but right now I just feel that it would be unethical to do so until I can figure out which apps are truly safe to remove without bricking. And, of course, I can post instructions on how to flash the stock firmware as well. Thanks for the info about the messages, btw. Still trying to figure out how to disable those. There has to be an .obb tweak somewhere for that. As I recall, the primary reason I rooted my S3 (phone) to begin with was to disable the shutter sound on my camera! And that required an .obb tweak. For the life of me I can't remember what app I used to accomplish that. ---------- Post added at 05:36 AM ---------- Previous post was at 05:16 AM ---------- When I get a message telling me that something I don't want has stopped working, it would at least be nice to see a bow on top of that bubble with some streamers and balloons in the background. :laugh:
The Battle Of Jorte. The night before last I was making some tweaks to my S7. I had just finished up purchasing some apps I needed from the Play Store and had refrozen that app and Google Play Services. Some time before I had previously installed a day-planning type app called Jorte. All of a sudden I started getting notifications in my notification area that said "Jorte will not run unless you enable Google Play Services." I tolerated this for a while and then finally thought, "Ok, well, I'll just uninstall Jorte and that will put an end to that." (I didn't really want Jorte anymore - I had installed it along with a couple of other day-planning apps I was making comparisons with and had decided on a different one - one that wasn't "dependent" on Google Play Services.) So I uninstalled Jorte and realized that there was another app that I forgot to purchase. When I went back into Application Manager to reactivate Google Play Services and Google Play Store they were gone! Well! I wasn't sure if that was a good or a bad thing. I opened my App disabler app and sure enough - they were still installed on my phone, just hidden. How trite! How petty! I was furious. I decided at that point that I had all the paid apps I needed. One would THINK that an ETHICAL company without nefarious intentions would take the position that if an individual isn't using their services that they would be more than HAPPY that they be disabled especially if they are "FREE". After all, why waste resources?? To whose benefit is it to leave Google Play Services running in the background when it isn't needed? I did something then that hadn't yet dawned on me. I have an app disabler that allows one to disable all of the services associated with that app (specifically Google Play Services). Uninstalling "GPS" bricked my device before so that wasn't an option. So I went offline and disabled my mobile data (also something I hadn't done before) and went into the app disabler (which I will not name [yet]) and started disabling everything with the word "sync", "collection", forwarding", "uploading", "geolocation", "account", "transfer", "advertiser", "notification", "analytics", "indexing", "listener", "secret", "logger", "metadata", "reporter", "credentials", "metrics", "watcher", "sharing", "monitor", "phenotype?!", "detection", "stats", "supervision", "VACUUM". . . .amongst several others. (Are you guys getting alarmed yet?.) Out of 276 services I disabled 105. I had to disable them one by one because the app would stop each and every time. I also disabled 4 out of 6 services belonging to Google Services Framework (which were all that the app disabler were able to freeze). All of these actions effectively disabled Google from running on my device as observed from Running Services in Developer Options (that, of course, combined with disabling/uninstalling Samsung apps and associated services). Staying offline and disabling mobile data prevented my actions during this process from being reported (and interfered with). So far over the past couple of days all has been quiet. No more '"________ will not run without Google Play Services" or "________ has stopped" notifications, no more Google running in the background and helping itself to my data like a smorgasbord. I attempted to apply these same settings to my Tab S3 and it didn't fly. I had to disable ALL of the subservices associated with Google Play Services and I also uninstalled Google Services Framework entirely. That debacle is for a different post.
I want to add that most any app can be uninstalled on the Tab S3 once the disabling of Samsung, Google Play Services and Google Play is achieved. Prior to this, for whatever reason I had a great deal of difficulty uninstalling Chrome and Google Play Music. If you think really, really hard in advance about all of the paid apps that you want that are critical to your root and whatever other paid apps you want, you can install them and ditch Google Play Services. They got their money and earned what they deserved. There is no reason to keep Google services continuously running in the background. You can get top notch apps that don't depend on them. I have My Backup Pro, Servicely, SD Maid, an APK extractor, a couple of really good disablers/uninstallers, ES File Explorer, Root Explorer, etc. Really consider your privacy - your data is important. Would you let a stranger rifle through drawers at your house? Even if Google has been collecting your data for years, all hope is not lost. You have many years ahead of you. Most of the data they have collected becomes obsolete over time and they don't need to keep collecting it. There are many, many apps that are not dependent on Google Play Services. There's an app called F-Droid that has an .apk installation file that can be directly downloaded from the Internet and which offers LOTS of great apps. They have an app called Yalp Store that shows you which apps Google Play Store offers that don't depend on Google Play Services and you can filter those results. You can even download and install them manually. The developers of F-Droid are privacy-conscious and all of the apps that they offer are geared with that in mind. I paid a lot of money for my devices - what, $1300 overall? The manufacturers are not entitled to more than that, especially if I have paid for additional apps. I do have a dummy YouTube account - I consider it free cloud storage for my videos in exchange for the the data they have stolen from me over the years (I've got some cool videos, too - I'd link to my channel but it would blow my cover). To achieve all of this you will need to start fresh - uninstall your apps, remove your SD card, clean your device really well, wipe your device and close your Samsung account. You don't need a Samsung account to run your device. You can decline both Samsung and Google services at setup but all of those choices are meaningless because they take what they want anyway. There may be a few sacrifices that may be a dealbreaker to some such as Facebook, but there are a few apps that work around that limitation such as Tinfoil for Facebook. You may also be able to log into Facebook using a privacy web browser. I have Firefox on my devices using a VPN, Privacy Browsing and multiple privacy plugins and it works just fine for every website I have visited (I can't speak for Facebook, though, because I don't use it (not for privacy reasons, though - I have unresolved mixed feelings about it). It should be fine to use with a web browser although some websites do badger you to use their app. You can try it though before uninstalling the Facebook app and see how it goes. Granted it won't be as convenient but you can bookmark it and still have access. Twitter is dependent on Google Play. As I was writing this paragraph I just found a highly rated app called Metal for Facebook & Twitter which isn't dependent on Google and which allows you to access both of them. No ads, gets you notifications from Facebook, supports Orbot/Tor, etc. Sounds excellent. So there's some stuff to consider.
Between both of my devices I had become really mentally/emotionally stressed and exhausted and had a short but intense cry yesterday. I would have benefited from a longer one. Last night I woke up to discover that Google had added another hundred or so services to the Google Play Services app on my S7 which brought the number up to 300+. (As an aside, the same thing happened on my Tab S3 several days ago.) I'm not sure if I had wi-fi or mobile data turned on when it happened or both - I had been turning them both on and off intermittently throughout the day. All I can think is that Verizon must have been sharing data. It happened on the S3 for a different reason and I caught that while it was happening. I thought that I was using Verizon simply for a signal. I don't use their cloud and I don't sync any data to their servers in any other manner. Come to discover there were a couple of settings I overlooked. Google and Verizon are in bed together - I did discover that much. I really did want to maintain a location with Verizon so I could at least locate my device if I were ever to lose it; they charge enough and I can be incredibly absentminded at times, like using the calculator on my phone while shopping, lying it down on a shelf when picking something up and walking away. But when I went to Verizon's website to see if they offered such a service I was redirected straight to Google. They're kidding, right? Google is so unbelievably insidious. You really don't know until you try to escape. I'm a quiet, introverted person - all I want is my privacy, my freakin' Kindle app and a few simple others. And I WOULD get a Kindle, but even the best one only records video in 720p! But no - 4k or no 4k, I'm not about to curl up in a hollow log with a Kindle. The S3 has been turned off for the past couple of days; both devices present challenges of their own. The S7 is worse I think with Verizon in the mix. My S7 has turned out to be the guinea pig it seems. I know how to re-root the S7 if I brick it again but I'll spare myself the hassle. I paid One Click Root for the 6-month extended support package and I'll make them work for it. They pretty much dissed me on the S3 so they deserve it. Right now the S7 is stable (and functional) again - I was up for hours last night after my ghastly, half-conscious discovery disabling another hundred Google Play subservices. Right now I'm backing up to My Backup Pro's cloud and after that I think I'm going to go offline and uninstall The Framework and Google Play Services. Surely Google can't coerce Verizon to cut off data services to a loyal customer.
A few updates and and an apology. . . .but not in that order. Ummm. . . .I realize that this whole Google privacy thing is a touchy subject and I'm really sorry for having brought it up here (kind of, you know?). I mean, in the sense that this is a really helpful place for what it is and I do understand something about getting knocked back in Google search rankings. I'd really hate to see something like that happen. So this will be my last post on this topic. This whole endeavor has really been a nightmare - a real war and I have lost tons of sleep. I'm amazed that I haven't hard-bricked my devices. One day I re-rooted my S3 three times. Yesterday I re-rooted my S7 twice. There is no compromising with Google. None. I thought that I could whittle it down to just not using any of their apps, you know? What other business do they have running data collection or location services on my device? I don't have a connected Samsung or Google account, I declined app usage data, location services and diagnostic usage at setup. I disabled all of those plus everything else that could be disabled in settings and everything possible in permissions. Yet settings keep being switched back on which is the whole reason I rooted my devices. THEN after I root, I install these 3rd party freezing apps and watch Google behind the scenes with their 380 hidden services going to town collecting all sorts of data - Bluetooth, radios, geofencing, storage. . . .it's absolutely unreal. They hide and disable apps I paid to 3rd parties on independent websites. . . .I just don't even know where to begin. I started getting screenshots of all of this and they started deleting and disabling those. Anyway, I don't know how much longer I have now to return my S3 to Amazon but it might be going back in a pine box. It's defective. I mean, seriously. The permissions keep turning themselves off. Inherently defective perhaps, but defective nonetheless. I've had the S7 since November so I don't know what Verizon can do for me but I think California has some laws. Anyway, I'm in the midst of preparing some killer videos on rooting and flashing stock firmware to both the Tab S3 and S7 and I will come back and post YouTube links to those when they're done. They will no doubt be immediately removed unless Google finds them lucrative enough to keep, and if they are removed I will PAY Vimeo to host (and protect) them. Oh - heh - before I forget: YES, you CAN remove every single Google app from your S3 EXCEPT for Chrome. It's part of the infrastructure, man. You will brick your device every time you try to remove it. But remember this - and this is CRUCIAL - install an app freezer (better yet, two), then turn off wi-fi making sure to disable auto-reconnect because everything you do is transmitted and they will brick you. You don't want to clue them into anything. Then use your best judgement to freeze and disable every possible permission before you start Also reboot after every app uninstall (or two). It takes a lonnnng time depending on how many you remove but trust me on this. If you intend to maintain a Google account you should be all good.
I acually use TITANIUM BACKUP for freezing , u freezing & uninstalling system application's:good:
JackieBlue said: A few updates and and an apology. . . .but not in that order. Ummm. . . .I realize that this whole Google privacy thing is a touchy subject and I'm really sorry for having brought it up here (kind of, you know?). I mean, in the sense that this is a really helpful place for what it is and I do understand something about getting knocked back in Google search rankings. I'd really hate to see something like that happen. So this will be my last post on this topic. This whole endeavor has really been a nightmare - a real war and I have lost tons of sleep. I'm amazed that I haven't hard-bricked my devices. One day I re-rooted my S3 three times. Yesterday I re-rooted my S7 twice. There is no compromising with Google. None. I thought that I could whittle it down to just not using any of their apps, you know? What other business do they have running data collection or location services on my device? I don't have a connected Samsung or Google account, I declined app usage data, location services and diagnostic usage at setup. I disabled all of those plus everything else that could be disabled in settings and everything possible in permissions. Yet settings keep being switched back on which is the whole reason I rooted my devices. THEN after I root, I install these 3rd party freezing apps and watch Google behind the scenes with their 380 hidden services going to town collecting all sorts of data - Bluetooth, radios, geofencing, storage. . . .it's absolutely unreal. They hide and disable apps I paid to 3rd parties on independent websites. . . .I just don't even know where to begin. I started getting screenshots of all of this and they started deleting and disabling those. Anyway, I don't know how much longer I have now to return my S3 to Amazon but it might be going back in a pine box. It's defective. I mean, seriously. The permissions keep turning themselves off. Inherently defective perhaps, but defective nonetheless. I've had the S7 since November so I don't know what Verizon can do for me but I think California has some laws. Anyway, I'm in the midst of preparing some killer videos on rooting and flashing stock firmware to both the Tab S3 and S7 and I will come back and post YouTube links to those when they're done. They will no doubt be immediately removed unless Google finds them lucrative enough to keep, and if they are removed I will PAY Vimeo to host (and protect) them. Oh - heh - before I forget: YES, you CAN remove every single Google app from your S3 EXCEPT for Chrome. It's part of the infrastructure, man. You will brick your device every time you try to remove it. But remember this - and this is CRUCIAL - install an app freezer (better yet, two), then turn off wi-fi making sure to disable auto-reconnect because everything you do is transmitted and they will brick you. You don't want to clue them into anything. Then use your best judgement to freeze and disable every possible permission before you start Also reboot after every app uninstall (or two). It takes a lonnnng time depending on how many you remove but trust me on this. If you intend to maintain a Google account you should be all good. Click to expand... Click to collapse Watch out the Russians are coming too.
RAM management after Sept Update
I use the tablet mostly for playing. And I am used to move between them without issues. Unless I open a bunch of other apps or browser with multiple tabs and what not. The games remain running without issues or at least they used to. Normally I don't update anything, except for the games because they are live service and I can't play them if I don't. After learning that this update would improved multitasking I updated. Ever since I can't keep the games open if I leave them for like 20 minutes or maybe less, haven't time it. Using it as I did, closed them. So I decide to clear all and only play one. After a notification, went to that game for daily tap immediately went back to the prev game and it had close, which cost me a match. After finishing what I was doing on that game. I went to the settings to see if something was amiss. And all the apps I remember disabling that I couldn't uninstall like Youtube are still disabled. I don't have any social media app like FB or anything that would be constantly running. And went back to the game. Lo and behold had to restart again. I checked Dev options and Apps "Background process limit" still standard. Memory is at 4~4.5 with so much free I don't get I it's been so aggressive. Have 66 apps on "deep sleeping" have things like digital well being and other monitoring stuff also off. And the only thing I changed was enabling the "Labs" to allow Multi window for all apps. And just now, went to homescreen while I picked something from the kitchen, I know I didn't take more than 5 min because the screen didn't even timed out. And when I tap on a game, had to relaunch. God this is ridiculously annoying. And non of the games updated since. I only updated a couple of apps from store. And worst, I updated believing it would be better at multitasking. Like it would be smarter when using split screen, but it isn't. Maybe it does improve for Samsung apps. But I've seen nothing good from anything I use. And changes to the UI could've been implemented better. Like having dual pane only when you are holding the tablet lanscape. I remember having very old android device that had dual pane but revert to single if you hold them portrait. I'm considering doing a full reset. But I'm hoping not too. Between the apps and games, which most are 5GB+ up to nearly 10GB it would take me a very long time to set everything again, Easily a full day for some games. (Very bad old, first gen copper line DSL) Is anyone have any type of similar issues. Cause it would suck if I reset it and that's just how it works now. And it wants me to use the "keep open" feature. Which I don't like, I do like to use the clear all. One of the main reason I got this particular tablet was for the multitasking. This is the first device I didn't try rooting out of the bat because of a warranty and what not and decided to give it a go as is. Now I'm not sure If I'm just spoiled by years for rooted and heavily modified devices. Or this is just a Samsung thing.
@Omizuke: Not sure if this is related to RAM management, but I'm also on September update. When I update apps via Play Store/Galaxy Store, the device will completely freeze for as long as 30 seconds. It just locks up, I can't do anything. Can't pull down the status bar, nav buttons don't work. Then suddenly it returns to normal. I get the same thing when connecting to WiFi or pairing via Bluetooth. ROM is clean flashed with Odin, i also did a factory reset. This didn't happen at all on the July update. I'm not seeing any issues with app killing, as you've described it. All opened apps continue running and I can return to them on demand. I play a lot of games, COD Mobile in particular, and I switch apps a lot between rounds. I feel you on the not wanting to set up everything again. I save cached copies (APKs/obbs) of my games/apps on my SD card, so I can set everything up without Internet. Just use an app like Total Commander/X-plore to copy the apps.