Galaxy S4 Android 4.3 update issues continue despite fix
There has been a lot of news over the last few weeks about numerous problems affecting a couple of Samsung’s flagship smartphones, and despite a supposed recent fix the Galaxy S4 Android 4.3 update issues continue.
We already heard how a number of problems have been affecting both the Samsung Galaxy S4 and Galaxy S3 handsets, which in some regions and for some individual carriers saw the firmware update pulled.
In the US both AT&T and US Cellular pulled the update for the Galaxy S4 only for AT&T to recently commence the rollout of the update this week, which was supposed to offer a solution to the numerous problems.
Now though we have been contacted by some of our readers that have still been experiencing problems despite this latest version of the operating system being rolled out. Problems with the Android 4.3 update still include extreme battery drain with little use, and audio is again causing issues when trying to stream it via Bluetooth.
This can cause the audio to come out of the earpiece even when connected to another device, and there have even been reports of various music apps opening up on their own. There are still reports that the handset lags especially when using the home button when in the lockscreen, which has been one of the most serious problems affecting owners of both Galaxy handsets leading to missed calls.
It is without doubt that the Android 4.3 update for the Samsung phones has been one of the most problematic firmware releases to date, and has led to many owners to state they would never purchase a Samsung phone again.
Other platforms or OEMs do also have issues though with the various versions of iOS 7 causing problems for some users, but none seem as widespread as the problems Samsung has been facing recently. Some owners have said all is well with the update though so it could be certain apps that are installed not allowing the software to run smoothly.
Have you had any problems with the Android 4.3 update?
Comments
76 thoughts on “Galaxy S4 Android 4.3 update issues continue despite fix”
Well, let’s see, phone constantly crashing, screen goes haywire when any app is open, lag times, bluetooth hardly works without many tries to stream music in my car (worked perfect before update), overall has made phone almost useless. Don’t know what to do at this point. Ready to take back to sprint and make them eat it and get a new phone, maybe iPhone, I loved this phone until the new update….
I’ve also had issues with the battery not to mention the phone running slow and very glitchy, I have to use a vpn as I live on the isle of man and last night I got so ticked off I reset the phone , I lost all my contacts in doing so even though I backed it up and then sat for an hr watching it update !!! This is my first Android phone and I liked it up to the point of 4.3 update I even wish I could take it back now 🙁
This update sucks! Lock screan lag and typing is just crap with lag so bad I dont want to pick up my phone.games wont play without serious lag issues no matter how much cpu is used.
Videos lag every 8 seconds and so does everything else, phone has lagged 6 times while typing this.
Why make such a fast device with such crap programming its slower than my orane san Francisco 1 yes a single cored phone.
This phone is useless and not fit for purpose anymore and I may take it back tired of crap updates time and time again.
Phone is battered since I updated yesterday. Screen flickers in Chrome, phone generally slow and unresponsive, keyboard lagging and struggling with WiFi connection – keeps saying WiFi unstable but is fine with iPad and missus’ phone. Went from loving my phone to hating it.
I have a useless piece of plastic since the update… crashes, sound problems, lag time, rebooting, all kind of problems… and I’m have the Brazilian model (I9505).
own the S3 GT-I9300 International, WAS my Daily phone till I could no longer make calls on AT&T – kept getting “Not Registered on Network” – I removed the SIM and installed in in my Nexus 5 – so far so good with the Nexus, but it’s still no S3, crappy camera – anyway, I experienced every problem people are mentioning here and on other forums – I reinstalled firmware XXUFME7 – 4.2.2 – it’s pretty stable but I won’t use the S3 for my daily until a stable version of 4.4 is released – Samsung should have tested 4.2 a lot longer, it looks like another rush to the masses and now everyone is suffering – I can see a couple of bugs but Come ON Samsung!!!
Updated to 4.3 on my S3 here in Ireland and have had nothing but problems since; extremely difficult to ‘wake up’ the phone, missing calls, battery drain is huge, takes ages to open apps including texting and contacts. Really disappointed with samsung about this, there should be constant updates on their site about where they are and when to expect a fix. I remember when Sony had that big problem with the Playstation Network at least they kept people informed and compensated everyone afterwards!! Will never buy another samsung after this…
They should let us downgrade the phone back to 4.2.2…. or give our money back.
Unstable WIFI Connections and stupid drain on the battery with NO use overnight. From 90% to 30% with the phone literally doing nothing. Camera settings not the same. Predictive text words accumulated by the OS gone after update. Some settings reverted back to factory settings. Rather annoying.
Im in the same boat as you, i carry two extra batteries around.
My phone got stuck on headphone mode after the 4.3 update. Pluggin and unpluggin the headphones work as the headset symbol goes off. But the phone is stil in headset mode so I can’t aswer calls because the earpiece is not working. My galaxy s4 is useless now. WIFI also comes and goes.
The more and more I keep my Samsung S4, the more i see the bad in what Samsung has done with Android. The Sam S3 & S4 are good phones. But, I can not believe Samsung can not update these phones correctly. I am one of the lucky ones I guess, I have not received the 4.3 update on At&t Sam S4 yet. My wife, has received her’s on her S3 and has not had any problems but, its sluggish now she says. To me, they are ruining their reputation in updating not just phones, what about all the smart-tv’s or refrigs or whatever else… I do not want a messed up software problem on my device. If it will not update correctly, you should be able to go back to the last version at least. Another thing Samsung is ruining the android product anyways and starting to push Tizen, There own product. I can see why Google bought Motorola. Samsung this is unacceptable.. What else can we do with a smartphone? I think, I am done with Samsung, there is too many options out there and the cost is lower than it has ever been. Thanks At&t for having some of the highest cell phone bills ever and no help and horrible customer service and Thank you Samsung for not doing your job.. Can not trust you any longer.. Time to for new options for 2014.
I can no longer reliably stream my music in the car via Bluetooth, without restarting the phone. So far, that’s the only glitch I’ve had, but it’s very annoying to listen to music, take a phone call, and then have to reboot to get the music to stream properly.
I updated to the 4.3 software, and I am dealing with the same issues as others. WIFI isnt picking up, slow cahrge times, app lag, app issues, and most important the intense BATTERY DRAIN. I have 3 batteries currently this is ridiculous. No help from ATT except a high F——-n Bill with a useless phone. I am seriously considering a prepaid carrier, as I switched from Sprint, which was horrible, and then to ATT which has been a frustrating experience. Underlying issue is, the customers need new phones, an expedited update, or credits to our bills. I have filed a complaint with the BBB, in hopes of gaining some resolution. So we shall see, but OCT 2014, I will no longer use ATT services, and I am currently considering paying my ETF, in FEB.
My samsung freezes regularly every few seconds for about 5 to 7 seconds in a minute while typing or surfing acutally pretty much doing anything.
I have decided to quit and return to iPhone from Samsung as soon as I can quit.
I too am seeing significant wifi issues on my samsung S4.
I have big lag problems since update and crashes alot
bluetooth stops working in my car. It always says “unfortunately, bluetooth share has stopped working”. This is annoying. I need it to make and recieve calls in the car, as well as listen to podcasting during my commute.
music player not shuffling and I have no predictive text *sob* off to learn how to spell…
Lag issues as well as poor battery life
I picked up an S4 yesterday. Switched from an iPhone 5 because I’d heard good things. The phone was working great until the update came through. Now the thing lags constantly. Typing, scrolling down Web pages and watching videos all cause the phone to lock up for a couple of seconds. It’s infuriating to be honest. Say what you want about the iPhone but it runs like clockwork. I have tried every fix I can find online and none have worked. I’m disappointed to the extreme and won’t make the mistake of ditching Apple again. FYI the phone lagged 4 times while typing this.
Horrible. My Samsung galaxy S3 has constant wifi instability issues since the update. That damn thing should come with a warning or removed all together (Android 4.3 that is) I had no idea about all these problems before experiencing them. I plugged my samsung into cause the other day to back it up and it told me there was an update of the firmware and unfortunately I allowed it to update. What a huge mistake.I use wifi all the time. I also really need my bluetooth to work in my car. My phone is becoming useless to me. Why is this update still being rolled out! Why is Samsung doing nothing about this!?
Bluetooth and music issues. Says unable to play during call and I’m NOT on the phone! Lag, horrible battery life, volume issues, answers calls on its own,and screen flickers and goes haywire with some apps. Using Galaxy S4 that I LOVED before this update. Horrible update! Shame on those who released this software! Its makes my phone miserable and useless.
I update my s3 in the uk and ended up with a £400 piece of crap I got the software flashed then reinstalled and its still much better but still has bugs its 90% brtter but still needs sorted so get it flashed the get the software reinstalled (not over the air) try it it will help till Samsung get there finger out
the update from AT&T for my s4 unbelievably HORRIBLE!!! I thought they already fix some of the issues but since I updated again yesterday my wifi is struggling. It downloads and streams as slow as a turtle. Samsung GS4 is an awesome phone but these updates are making this phone bad! I’m so aggravated right now!!!
It sucks,now my phone is lagging and freezes!!!!
the phone is a little bit laggy….i have lower results on benchmarks and the phone restart from time to time(when i play games)
yes, updated over the weekend, severe battery drain after doing very little. seems to have problems connecting quickly to wifi also. I’ve only had the phone a week and it was great on 4.2.2…
my camera has stopped working after the update. Blank screen only 🙁
After my update my car no longer connects with my phone (Galaxy 3) . Brand new 2013 Ford escape with SYNC. Functions on the phone seem glitchy now and battery life is horrible! Is there a way to remove the update?? or do I have to factory reset?
I’ve had customers with this issue and I myself had the safe issue right after the update. I cleared the SYNC profile out of my phone and the phone profile out of the vehicle. I then restarted my phone and went through the SYNC process again, and now everything seems to be working well.
Before my update I could stream music through the Bluetooth without effort. Now it will connect, but it comes out of the factory speaker, and is extremely quiet. Another thing I noticed was before the update, when my phone was connected through a speaker or audio device through the cable, I could raise and lower the volume with the screen locked. Now with the update I have to unlock the screen. Other than that I haven’t found anything wrong yet with the update. And the battery life is great now. Before the update it would drain completely in a few hours while using it. Now after the ave had it on for 16 hours straight using it while I’m at work and only lost 40 percent
I’ve had lots of problems with the update. My alarms are stuck on ‘flash mode’, despite the settings being ‘off’ for that, the voice command is barely working, and there’s no way to update my ‘wake-up command’, battery is draining fast, when the phone is just sitting there with the screen off, etc., etc.
And when I wrote to Samsung, I got pre-canned advice back re fixing some of the specific issues, NONE of which worked, and there was no acknowledgement that they had roll-out problems (I only found that out a day or so later when I Googled). The last bit of advice was to do a hard re-boot (after backing up because it deletes all data)… sounds to me like a ‘hail Mary’ kind of fix, a fix that I’m not going to try.
So far the only issue I’ve had is the battery drain. Otherwise I installed snapdragon battery guru and the helps out enough to be able to deal with it.
Camera became useless after the update
Updated as soon as I got the phone so I can’t compare or know if it was the update, but the camera quality on this is worse than my 3 year old HTC phone. 🙁
Severe problems connection to wifi. I cant even add new numbers to my phonebook my battery life is running out very fast and the phone is so slow. Im very angry
Samsung galaxy S4 user:
Massive lag issues, most noticeable when typing as the phone pauses a couple of seconds then catches up with what I’ve typed. Web scrolling pauses, fb lags/pauses.
Camera had issues upon first opening after update but seems to have settled now.
Wifi constantly unstable.
Only did the update this evening so unsure about battery life issues- although after reading comments I fear I may have that to look forward to.
In summary: worst update I’ve ever experienced – don’t do it!
The first 4.3 update bricked my phone with the no charging error. Got it back from Samsung yesterday and got the newest update pushed in. Since the other one bricked me, I figured it couldn’t be any worse. So far, I see my LED notifier is not working. Waiting to see if any more horrors await. This used to be a great phone.
Since the 4.3 update on my S4 it now switches itself off after approximately 5 minutes use (whilst on standby it stays switched on). It then goes on to restart but gets as far as the “Samsung Galaxy S4 I9505” screen and then switches off again. This happens until I remove the battery or it runs out of charge, all the time device gets hot. Several other minor issues, such as LED notifier light not showing blue. Even though I have owned several, If I was due an upgrade today I would not choose another Samsung phone.
I have the same problem in addition to message saying ‘wifi being unstable’ all tbe time .. have other devices and have no wifi issue not to mention all the apps are running way too slow or crashing half the time. It’s really frustrating cause i have to keep phone connected to charger all the time…where is the mobility on this mobile phone? I have a galaxy s4 and recently upgraded to 4.3 big mistake.
DAMN! I’ve just got the s4 and updated it right after the initial setup. After that the wifi kept disconnecting. Never worked with it before this update so i thought there was something wrong with my equipment. I’ve spent 200euro on a new modem and router whitout result. Not to mention the wasted time I’m never getting back! I went back to the store where they gave me a new one which is working fine (if you have the original packaging they can make it a DOA). Before EVER applying an update again I’ll be checking the internet to see if there aren’t any issues.
Yeah. My galaxy S3 updated a few days ago. Drive to work today – 40-ish minutes due to traffic – saw the battery drop from a full charge to a hair over 70% doing nothing but sitting in my pocket – and plugging into my work PC’s USB port, which would charge it fairly quickly, has it sitting at 87% after 5 hours… Wifi, mobile data, pretty much everything off, apps not running… it’s just eating through the battery. And a bit warm.
On my GS4, my Bluetooth audio just randomly miss for a few seconds at a time since the update.
My S4 is pants! Apps are sluggish and the camera will not focus now! worst roll out yet!
Battery life is horrible since the update. Twice I’ve gone to work with 98% battery. Didn’t touch the phone for 6 hours, go to use it and I have 2% battery. No apps were opened. So frustrating. Is it possible to go back to the older software?
My S4 became so lag after the update.
Is Samsung going to fix it? Please help
I can’t to my sd card.
I meant to say write
Beware, the update ‘damaged’ my SD card and I had to reformat it. Lost all my data/pix. Super irritating.
my s3 is lagging beyond belief. I thought the update would make the phone faster but no its dead slow…. Actually my S2 was way quicker! Hope the S5 is an improvement.
When I go into my text messages and want to create a new one…the contact I type doesn’t show up anymore. I have to go into my contacts and find that person…then send them a text. What is up w/ that?
My battery dropped 10% in 6 minutes!!!! my battery is draining faster than it can charge.. i have the samsung galaxy s3 from Verizon and I downloaded the Android 4.3 update yesterday
Me too! This is ridiculous! It also digtally ‘damaged’ my SD card and I lost all my data. My music plays back super crappy now too via bluetooth, like a scratched CD. Make it stop!
when i played my downloaded videos and/or listened to my music, its not as smooth as it used to. the quality is like when a scratched cd is being played. its halting. is this due to the update or its another issue altogether? im sorry as im a new android user. so kinda frustrating when i cant find the solution.
I’m having the same problem and it’s driving me absolutely nuts!
got the update last week and since then have severe battery drain. also have problems with the notification bar. it shows the same notifications again and again. I also don’t like the colours. far too bright but I can’t change that either. not happy. any fixes yet???
Updated couple of days ago. Battery drains at least 60% faster. If only I could remove all the Samsung rubbish without rooting the phone.
Is there a downgrade path back to 4.1?
AN UPDATE ON MY S4 PROBLEMS AFTER UPDATING.
i updated my samsung s3 yesterday an it was the worst thing i did in 2013, the battery drains fast. but the worst thing is now my texts show up on my home screen when my phone is locked that means anyone can read them yea big problem. i have no other option but to trade this samsung in for a apple. yea i will never go back to a samsung celular again.
I am having the same problem with a big white text message box popping up on the lock screen. Very indiscrete! NO option to turn it off unless I want no notification at all that I have a new text. I called verizon and they tried to troubleshoot then got samsung on the phone and they cannot resolve the issue! Preview in the notification bar was just perfect and nice and small. This enormous white text box is unnecessary and aggravating me that I too would switch phoness. This needs fixed! Not to mention it lags noticably and something is going on with the lock screen and my clock. An arrow appears from time to time to change the settings of my clock on my lock screen. Its not right- something is wrong that it is doing that.
Bluetooth issues. Music player issues. Lag issues. Can’t browse “my files” folder without serious lag. Emails resend from 3 months back. Not happy, causing me big problems.
Is there anything I can do?
Update my arse! I’m just saying
Incredible LAG!! Answer from Samsung: “if you want, just delivery phone on a certified phone repairer for a downgrade”… joking right?
Extreme battery issue and LAG while operating phone
I’ve had my phone for two months and hate it. It shuts down and then either won’t turn back on until plugged into a charger or continously tries to reboot. The battery is uselss, it lags when typing or browsing, my text messages show a list of numbers rather than my contacts. I wiah I’d stuck with HTC. It waa perfect until I put 4.3 on it.
I had the upgrade done on 1/9/14 and along with the battery drain, when the phone rings or a message come in the flash for the camera goes on until I answer. Tried everything I know to fix this, including removing battery. I was not having any problems until this upgrade.
This is EXACTLY why I don’t use official updates. I stay at where the phone is stock then root it and install a custom 4.3 rom and voila! All is well or I can revert to stock (downgraded OS)
Updated my software two days ago. Having a problem with a large white text message box popping up on the lock screen. Very indiscrete! NO option to turn it off unless I want no notification at all that I have a new text. I called verizon and they tried to troubleshoot then got samsung on the phone and they cannot resolve the issue! Preview in the notification bar was just perfect and nice and small. This enormous white text box is unnecessary. Not to mention it lags noticably and something is going on with the lock screen and my clock. An arrow appears from time to time to change the settings of my clock on my lock screen. Its not right- something is wrong that it is doing that. My sister has the Note- same issues!
I updated against my better judgment. Thought everything was fine at first. Then everything got slower and my flash goes off when I get an e mail notification. How do you fix that?
the flash is an option for notifications great if u often have phone on silent
BT is a mess!! ARGG…. used to stream in my car and now it says its connected and even shows on the car display but no audio… if i re-pair the device it will play one song then back to silence. very frustrating. when did microsoft begin developing android??!!!!!!
Multiple issues since installing new firmware and continuing since the “fix”. Very disappointing as I only had minor gripes with this handset before the upgrade:
SD card removed unexpectedly
Device freezes and/or powers off
Lag when typing texts/emails
Severe battery drain even when not in use. Maximum of 8 hours even with minimal usage
Texts sending multiple times or stating unable to send and i get a reply so clearly sent
Received texts in duplicate despite only being sent once
Screen becomes unresponsive in multiple apps
Video freezes yet sound continues
updated my s4 and now when i hit the home button when the phone is locked just to see the time the time is stuck were the last time i used the phone like if i used it 11:23 and hit the button 30 min later or so it still says 11:23 then after few sec it updates too current time….. and also after the update all my apps were gone! i had to install them all over again
My phone also turns off by itself and i miss calls.. everything about this phone after the new update irks me..