[Q] Widgets freezing - Galaxy Note 3 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Hi,
I have a Problem with my Note 3 that I already had on my Note 2, but hoped that the new device and Android 4.3 would solve the Problem for me, but the Problem is still there.
It is a Problem with everything that is a widget (clock-widget, battery widget etc.).
Widgets are freezing at irreular times, so no one could predict if and when it would hapen the next time, but when the widget(s) are frozen, they Show incorrect values for time and battery-status.
The funny Thing is, that when I rotate my homescreen(s) using "Ultimate Rotation Control" from Google Play
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=nl.fameit.rotate
then the widgets update themselves to the correct values,, but still don't continue to run, i.e. they are still frozen.
Now, I don't ask anybody to tell me what could cause the widgets to freeze, but I would be interested if someone knows a tool with which one could find out what Triggers that freeze (I know the exact time at which it happens, since one of the widgets that freeze is a digital clock with seconds-display).
Would be great if someone could help!
Many thanks in advance!

Related

Widgets stop working randomly, help anyone?

Hey guys,
I've been having a minor problem with my phone lately; widgets stop working randomly. This happens from time to time but lately its starting to happen a lot more often and its getting really annoying. I only have four widgets running on my screen and yet my phone still manages to screw up lol. I have Beautiful widgets, Gauge Battery widget, Xperia Flashlight and Google Search. I'm on an older version cuz I can't be bothered to root my phone again, my current version is R2BA023. I've searched the whole forum for the same type of problem but couldn't find any. When it stops working, the widgets would still be on display but it won't change anything. Like for example the digital clock from Beautiful widgets would just display the time before it stops working, same with Gauge battery. It's annoying cuz sometimes I don't realize the time until I double check it with a watch or something. Does anyone have the same problem? can anyone help? Thanks in advance
I feel quite daft saying it cos I'm sure you have checked it.... you've not got a task killer running? If you have received an update on it your ignore list may have changed.
Junk, are you using adw? Xperia flashlight widget dies every time I restart my phone with adw. I have to remove and re-add for it to work again.
Sent from my X10a using XDA App
@suzed: Nope, I don't use any task killer whatsoever cuz I don't think it does anything. I've tested my phone and when I had ATK, my battery drains a little faster. And it screws with a lot of my apps as well
@AdamUpNorth: Yes, I'm using ADW Launcher but my Xperia Flashlight works fine. I think I had the same problem when I had Advance Task Killer but when I uninstalled it, the widget works fine. But lately my ADW crashes often though, I don't know why either I still can't figure out why my widget stops working randomly. Maybe I'll try and switch to a different launcher...
Make sure you have the newest version of ADW, mine kept crashing a lot before I updated.
Same with Beautiful Widgets. I use Weather and Toggle Widget, and the clock used to stop all the time, but with the latest update, it seems to be running fine.
chris_knows said:
Make sure you have the newest version of ADW, mine kept crashing a lot before I updated.
Same with Beautiful Widgets. I use Weather and Toggle Widget, and the clock used to stop all the time, but with the latest update, it seems to be running fine.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the tip. I didn't know that ADW Launcher doesn't update itself automatically or it's just me. But I've tried updating it to the latest version, I was on 0.8.9 and I assume that was a while back ago. I'm having no problems since the update so I hope that fixed it. Thanks for the help guys
junkk29 said:
Thanks for the tip. I didn't know that ADW Launcher doesn't update itself automatically or it's just me. But I've tried updating it to the latest version, I was on 0.8.9 and I assume that was a while back ago. I'm having no problems since the update so I hope that fixed it. Thanks for the help guys
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There are no applications that update automatically. They require manual updates through the Android Market. Android 2.2 makes it a little faster to update, but that's about all.
junkk29 said:
Thanks for the tip. I didn't know that ADW Launcher doesn't update itself automatically or it's just me. But I've tried updating it to the latest version, I was on 0.8.9 and I assume that was a while back ago. I'm having no problems since the update so I hope that fixed it. Thanks for the help guys
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You only get the notification that updates are available if you downloaded the app from the market. If you installed from SD card, it won't show up.
I tend to check in my Downloads section on the Market couple of times a week anyway and quite often there are updates available. I don't always seem to get the little icon in the notifications bar to say this tho.

Android 3.2 - No default picker screens!

Hi Guys,
Just hoping somebody can point me in the right direction.
I flashed to 3.01 US stock from UK in order to get the updates. I updated twice to 3.2.
What I'm noticing now is that if I click on a link, that launches an associated app (browser for instance), I used to get a screen jump up and ask which app I wanted to use. So if I'd installed Firefox, Dolphin and got Stock, it would give me the option if I hadn't yet set a default.
Since 3.2 when I click the link, the screen fades out, but the options aren't showing to select which means I can't launch the link/app.
The fix is to uninstall any relevant applications until I only have one app that can launch said link, then reinstall, and I get the option again.
Anyone had this or know how to fix without reinstalling everything?
Hope that made sense....very tired so it might not have done
I had the problem I hope u didn't set Firefox or dolphin as ur default browser what I did was erase all data now I have dolphin and the default drowser all working fine here
Sent from my Xoom using Tapatalk
This issue has been discussed, but there are two simple ways to solve it without having to reinstall everything.
1) Simply wait and eventually it will fix itself. I know this sounds strange but it will eventually work. I am not generally patient so this one did not work for me.
2) With Autorotate ON, simply rotate the Xoom so that it has to redraw the "picker" screen. Do this when the screen dims and nothing is showing up. I have found that once you do this once for any particular file type you do not need to do it a second time.
I too was reinstalling apps to get the screen to show up, but even that did not always work.
I had the same problem and it seemed to only manifest itself after I re-installed all my apps from Tiamat/Xoom Zone with Titanium Backup. I'm not sure which app was the culprit but after uninstalling Scripter and aLogcat it started working perfect.
Hope this helps!
Same Issues !!
With opera Mobile and MoboPlayer !
HuckFinn said:
This issue has been discussed, but there are two simple ways to solve it without having to reinstall everything.
1) Simply wait and eventually it will fix itself. I know this sounds strange but it will eventually work. I am not generally patient so this one did not work for me.
2) With Autorotate ON, simply rotate the Xoom so that it has to redraw the "picker" screen. Do this when the screen dims and nothing is showing up. I have found that once you do this once for any particular file type you do not need to do it a second time.
I too was reinstalling apps to get the screen to show up, but even that did not always work.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Will certainly check these options out. Are you saying that in the first instance, when the screen dims.,...if I left it long enough, it would appear?
Has this been put to Google on their Bugs page,....as Bugs go...it's an annoying one
The Asus Transformer has the exact same problem. makes me think it could be more of a HC3.2 bug now after seeing this thread than device related.
Worse after you think you have fixed the problem every time you turn the device off and then on again on the problem begins again if you have multiple apps that can load a file or link like a web browser (I use multiple). If you have one app or set one app to be the default then you don't have the problem ....with that file or link
Easy to reset by rotating the screen ..but each time you turn on?
Question........
has anyone fixed this with a factory reset?
Factory reset will not fix this . Other browsers , media players and file managers somehow cause the problems .

[Q] Delay in Opening Contacts in Note 3

Hello guys,
I'm new to the forum
I notice that there's a slight delay opening Contacts (3 seconds+) and Dialer (1 second+) in my Note 3.
However after opening it once, there's no delay opening it the second time,
unless I clear the Contacts Apps in the running apps and open it again.
I'm not sure if this happens from the fist time I unbox it; I didn't really pay attention at the time.
Maybe this happens after I turn off and uninstall updates on some of the bloatwares, but I'm not sure.
ROM is stock Samsung, everything is still stock. Just some updates to some of the stock apps.
I haven't installed any new apps yet. However, I do turn off and uninstall updates on some of the bloatware.
I've also changed the 3 settings (cant remember the names, animator or something) on the Developer Options to OFF.
And I've removed the S Voice from the Home Button too.
The Note 3 is the Exynos one. Stock Samsung.
There are about 800 contacts, all google contacts. They are also synced, together with gmail. These contacts are imported from BB 10 OS, and some have pictures from the BBM.
Does anyone else have this problem, and is there a fix for this? I've searched the forum, seems like some have this issue, but I can't find any real fix for this.
Thanks!
Sounds normal to me. It has to re-launch the app, and the app then has to re-scan all your contacts. 800 contacts is a lot to scan through, so 1-5 seconds is to be expected.
No lag here. Did you try a restart with cache wipe? Usually that solves similar problems.
Sent from my SM-N9005 using xda app-developers app
I noticed the same lag. I actually noticed it on my previous phone (SGS 3). At that time, I used GoContacts/Dialer, which I thought might be the cause of that. After removing it, same lag with the stock dialer/contacts.
Besides, I was a flash-addict, and I noticed that on every ROM I tried.
And now, even if it's a bit quicker, I still notice it on my new Note 3 (@stock/rooted). But unlike on my SGS3, it's only the first time you open dialer/contacts that it appears (as long as the system doesn't kill the process).
I wonder if it might be a good idea to force keeping that process opened.
flochy said:
I noticed the same lag. I actually noticed it on my previous phone (SGS 3). At that time, I used GoContacts/Dialer, which I thought might be the cause of that. After removing it, same lag with the stock dialer/contacts.
Besides, I was a flash-addict, and I noticed that on every ROM I tried.
And now, even if it's a bit quicker, I still notice it on my new Note 3 (@stock/rooted). But unlike on my SGS3, it's only the first time you open dialer/contacts that it appears (as long as the system doesn't kill the process).
I wonder if it might be a good idea to force keeping that process opened.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks for the replies guys.
Anyone else has the same problem on their Note 3 ?
surfol said:
thanks for the replies guys.
Anyone else has the same problem on their Note 3 ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Solved. It turned out that my issue was caused by turning off Chat ON app.
I actually turned it off when I first got the phone, and now I tried to turn it back ON.
The lag is actually reduced to 1-1.5 seconds (much more acceptable than 3 seconds).
For others with the same issue, hope this helps
surfol said:
Solved. It turned out that my issue was caused by turning off Chat ON app.
I actually turned it off when I first got the phone, and now I tried to turn it back ON.
The lag is actually reduced to 1-1.5 seconds (much more acceptable than 3 seconds).
For others with the same issue, hope this helps
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Glad to know you found resolution to your problem. Like another post suggested, when you are syncing your contacts to a device through a 3rd party application such as GMail, Exchange, Yahoo etc... The application runs an API in the background at application launch which pulls all your information onto the device. When you automatically sync, your device periodically sends a request to the server for contact details, task details, calendar details etc...
800 contacts and whatever other events you're syncing will definitely take time. If you press & hold your home button and your swiping your application out of memory and then reloading, like suggested, this is going to take a few seconds. By turning Chat On back on, this has limited the lag which is acceptable to you. This definitely is not a "problem" as I've initially stated but instead more of a communications lag between the device, your server and the API which is engaging in the communications.
Hope this helps!
surfol said:
Hello guys,
I'm new to the forum
I notice that there's a slight delay opening Contacts (3 seconds+) and Dialer (1 second+) in my Note 3.
However after opening it once, there's no delay opening it the second time,
unless I clear the Contacts Apps in the running apps and open it again.
I'm not sure if this happens from the fist time I unbox it; I didn't really pay attention at the time.
Maybe this happens after I turn off and uninstall updates on some of the bloatwares, but I'm not sure.
ROM is stock Samsung, everything is still stock. Just some updates to some of the stock apps.
I haven't installed any new apps yet. However, I do turn off and uninstall updates on some of the bloatware.
I've also changed the 3 settings (cant remember the names, animator or something) on the Developer Options to OFF.
And I've removed the S Voice from the Home Button too.
The Note 3 is the Exynos one. Stock Samsung.
There are about 800 contacts, all google contacts. They are also synced, together with gmail. These contacts are imported from BB 10 OS, and some have pictures from the BBM.
Does anyone else have this problem, and is there a fix for this? I've searched the forum, seems like some have this issue, but I can't find any real fix for this.
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I noticed that the lag goes off when I disable sync. Try doing that bro, do a two two finger swipe and disable sync from the notification panel and Try launching the contacts application again
Surely if that is the workaround. Its easier to wait 3 seconds! Lol
Sent from my SM-N9005 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
u r note is infected with ..contact virus

[Q] Homescreen widgets not updating/freezing

Any idea what would cause ALL of my homescreen widgets to stop updating i.e. freeze for no obvious reason? I'm completely stock & un-rooted, and when this issue first came up I did a factory reset but the problem still comes up out of nowhere. Everything will be working fine and then out of nowhere they all stop updating. Here are the widgets I use:
Fancy Widget
Switch Pro
Android Pro Widgets
BattStatt Pro
I've been using these same widgets for at least three years, and over three different devices, and this has never been a problem, which makes me think it's something weird with KitKat. At this point I'm removing widgets one by one to see if I can narrow it down, but it is so f-ing frustrating because everything will be fine for a day or two and then WHAM all of my homescreen widgets just lock up and the only way to get them to update again is to reboot the device which is a pain in my ass. It's worth mentioning that even after all the widgets freeze the stock 'Weather' widget still works fine...
Help!
Nova launcher much better than touched just use that?
Sent from my SM-G900I using XDA Free mobile app
Thanks, I'll give it a try to see if I still have the issue. I used to run LauncherPro back in the day - even paid for the plus version - but then the dev promptly stopped releasing updates, and I felt somewhat ripped off. . . From then on I've stayed with whatever launcher came stock on the device.
How did you manage to put widgets on lock screen?
I had it on my S4 but I couldn't find that settings in the S5.
Guzmantis said:
Any idea what would cause ALL of my homescreen widgets to stop updating i.e. freeze for no obvious reason? I'm completely stock & un-rooted, and when this issue first came up I did a factory reset but the problem still comes up out of nowhere. Everything will be working fine and then out of nowhere they all stop updating. Here are the widgets I use:
Fancy Widget
Switch Pro
Android Pro Widgets
BattStatt Pro
I've been using these same widgets for at least three years, and over three different devices, and this has never been a problem, which makes me think it's something weird with KitKat. At this point I'm removing widgets one by one to see if I can narrow it down, but it is so f-ing frustrating because everything will be fine for a day or two and then WHAM all of my homescreen widgets just lock up and the only way to get them to update again is to reboot the device which is a pain in my ass. It's worth mentioning that even after all the widgets freeze the stock 'Weather' widget still works fine...
Help!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I posted about the same issue in the Verizon GS5 forums: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2738912. Hopefully one of us will get an answer. My weather widgets were stopping the refresh (BeWeather and Beautiful Widgets), and I use Go Launcher and Apex. And my interval between requiring a launcher restart drops - initially its a couple days, but as time progresses, I need to reset more and more frequently.
Not sure its a KitKat specific issue - my Nexus 7 (2012) running KitKat runs all widgets fine.
Rlin5741 said:
I posted about the same issue in the Verizon GS5 forums: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2738912. Hopefully one of us will get an answer. My weather widgets were stopping the refresh (BeWeather and Beautiful Widgets), and I use Go Launcher and Apex. And my interval between requiring a launcher restart drops - initially its a couple days, but as time progresses, I need to reset more and more frequently.
Not sure its a KitKat specific issue - my Nexus 7 (2012) running KitKat runs all widgets fine.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So, I'm NOT the only one after all. And you have this issue even on Apex? Not good - I was hoping that would be a solution for me.
In searching around online I found the following info on another forum:
"this issue occurs because kitkat has changed the way it manages background alarms. most widgets that update frequently use "alarmmanager" to trigger each update. but in kitkat, the trigger event is intentionally delayed so that android can group processes together, saving battery life and data use. so, for all those clock and weather widgets, the developers have to write a bunch of new code for kitkat devices, so that their widgets update at the intended time."
After reading this I tested a theory and set my alarm to go off in 2 minutes. The alarm went off, and sure enough all widgets were frozen . . . I figured it must be the 'Timely Alarm Clock' app causing the issue, so I uninstalled and went back to stock alarm. This didn't work however, because two days later everything froze up again . . . I'm wondering now if it might be one of the other apps I'm using in the background, but there are so many possibilities and the issue is so intermittent. I never use 'task killers' or battery monitoring apps, so that isn't it. I could spend weeks trying to narrow it down, and it's always possible that more than one app could be causing the problem.
Guzmantis said:
So, I'm NOT the only one after all. And you have this issue even on Apex? Not good - I was hoping that would be a solution for me.
In searching around online I found the following info on another forum:
"this issue occurs because kitkat has changed the way it manages background alarms. most widgets that update frequently use "alarmmanager" to trigger each update. but in kitkat, the trigger event is intentionally delayed so that android can group processes together, saving battery life and data use. so, for all those clock and weather widgets, the developers have to write a bunch of new code for kitkat devices, so that their widgets update at the intended time."
After reading this I tested a theory and set my alarm to go off in 2 minutes. The alarm went off, and sure enough all widgets were frozen . . . I figured it must be the 'Timely Alarm Clock' app causing the issue, so I uninstalled and went back to stock alarm. This didn't work however, because two days later everything froze up again . . . I'm wondering now if it might be one of the other apps I'm using in the background, but there are so many possibilities and the issue is so intermittent. I never use 'task killers' or battery monitoring apps, so that isn't it. I could spend weeks trying to narrow it down, and it's always possible that more than one app could be causing the problem.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can't speak for the author, but I believe he was referring to "alarms" from a programming sense. I.e. the alarm is what "wakes up" the phone to tell it to go on the internet, fine the latest weather info, and update the widget.
Widgets are working fine on my Nexus 7 (2012) that runs KitKat. I think I had a similar issue on my SGS3 when I first got it, and I posted to those forums a couple years ago, but now for the life of me I cannot remember what the solution was...it may have been to move to Apex!
Interestingly enough, the problem seems to have fixed itself. There were updates to Apex in the meantime, perhaps its that.
My friend with Go Launcher is also seeing the same impact - the issue is gone.
Has your issue gone away?
Sent from my SM-G900V using XDA Free mobile app
Rlin5741 said:
Interestingly enough, the problem seems to have fixed itself. There were updates to Apex in the meantime, perhaps its that.
My friend with Go Launcher is also seeing the same impact - the issue is gone.
Has your issue gone away?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I hesitate to respond for fear of tempting fate . . . But since installing Nova launcher two weeks ago I haven't had a single issue with home screen widgets freezing. I am also experiencing truly great battery life now, but I'm not sure if Nova had anything to do with that since I made a number of other tweaks I'd done trying to fix the widget issue. In any case, I finally feel like my S5 is glitch free and functioning as a next-gen device should.
Guzmantis said:
I hesitate to respond for fear of tempting fate . . . But since installing Nova launcher two weeks ago I haven't had a single issue with home screen widgets freezing. I am also experiencing truly great battery life now, but I'm not sure if Nova had anything to do with that since I made a number of other tweaks I'd done trying to fix the widget issue. In any case, I finally feel like my S5 is glitch free and functioning as a next-gen device should.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Mine is still working good - only a few sporadic widget hangs. There must have been an update that fixed the issue - I just did two factory resets and my widgets still update fine.
Sent from my SM-G900V using XDA Free mobile app
I have had this happen with many widgets. It's been pretty annoying.

[Q] Graphics overlapping issues

Hello,
I have been searching the forums and the web for an answer but no luck, I hope someone could help me figure out what could be the issue.
I'm attaching some pictures so you can see exactly what is going on. At this moment I have this issue, with the play store, facebook and viber...
I have reset the phone multiple times and still the same.
It happens when you start to scroll, with facebook it is actually weird, it doesn't happen all the time, and it overlaps only like the "gray box" where you have the Like, Comment and Share buttons.
Phone is Galaxy S5 SM-G900H.
Thanks for any help!
Mine )
iHackss said:
Mine )
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Saw your thread, mine has never done that, no lagging nor freezing.
Mine actually works fine. In any of the applications I mentioned, if I scroll to the right (viber and facebook) and then go back, the top bar displays fine, the if you start to scroll down or up, it happens again.
I'll continue searching and testing....
You are on the first stage . I think )
Hi I have a Samsung Galaxy S5 900h. I experience the same problem but only on Facebook, I did the screen test (*#0*#0 or something like that) and in my opinion the hardware is working properly. Also If I turn my phone Facebook screen refresh in good shape, so I think It's a refresh problem.
Does anybody has the same issue? How to solve it?
Regards.
overlapping issue
did any one found solution for this i am still facing this issue with facebook,twitter and viber
Hi:
Since yesterday tweeter is overlapping also, when scrolling up at the left corner it disappeared the tweeter icon and overlap the user tweet photo.
The screen works OK it's just a display refresh issue but instead of fix it there are some other apps with the same issue. Today Facebook and Tweeter shows the same problem.
Does Samsung knows about this? I Think they must deploy an operation system fix immediately.
Regards.
Hi:
I am very happy to tell you yesterday my phone receive an update and automatically installed Android 5.0. All screens problems have been disappeared in Facebook and Twitter.
Now my Galaxy S5 is working fine.
Did you already receive the update?
Regards!
Has anyone found a fix for this other than getting an update? I'm on the Straight Talk version of S5, which doesn't have any updates to Lollipop. I'm stuck with this overlapping issue. Maybe if I restore a nandroid backup or something? They never made an ODIN flashable for my version either, so nandroid is the best I can do. Maybe an xposed module could fix it? Idk, just ideas. I realize this thread is from over a year ago, but the problem still exists for some of us who can't update :/
Sent from my SM-S902L using XDA-Developers mobile app

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