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Android 4.4.2 Problems Plague Galaxy S4 & Galaxy S3 Users

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For weeks, Samsung and its carrier partners have been pushing out Android 4.4.2 KitKat updates for the Galaxy S4, Galaxy S3, Galaxy Note 3, and Galaxy Note 2. And while the updates were aimed at delivering enhancements and fixing Android 4.3 Jelly Bean problems, it appears that Galaxy S4, Galaxy S3, Galaxy Note 3, and Galaxy Note 2 users are dealing with an assortment of Android 4.4.2 KitKat problems.

Back in January, Samsung started pushing out its Galaxy Note 3 Android 4.4.2 KitKat update, the company’s first Android 4.4 KitKat update. The update, as expected, delivered a number of big time features and fixes aimed at improving the experience on the company’s current Galaxy Note flagship. Since then, Samsung has made a strong Android 4.4 KitKat push and the update is now rolling out to all four of the company’s biggest names.

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Galaxy S4, Galaxy S3 and Galaxy Note 2 owners in the United States and elsewhere are currently in the midst of a full blown Android 4.4.2 KitKat update roll out. And as we’ve learned, these updates deliver much more than just Google’s Android 4.4.2 KitKat features. Instead, they come loaded with unique enhancements, bug fixes and unfortunately, from the look things, some problems of their own.

Samsung’s Android 4.4.2 KitKat updates in the United States were aimed at fixing problems left behind by last year’s Android 4.3 Jelly Bean update but it appears that many Galaxy S4, Galaxy S3, Galaxy Note 2, and Galaxy Note 3 users are experiencing Android 4.4.2 KitKat problems.

Galaxy users across all four major U.S. carriers are complaining about a variety of Android 4.4.2 KitKat issues that they say are plaguing their devices after the upgrade. Some of these issues are minor but it looks like some of them are to the point where they are having a big impact on the overall integrity of the smartphone.

Galaxy S4 owners are complaining about a number of issues including missed calls and texts, various connection problems after installing Android 4.4.2 particularly on the T-Mobile version of the Galaxy S4, apps seemingly opening and closing for no apparent reason, flaky data issues, the usual complaints about Wi-Fi, texting issues on the Verizon Galaxy S4, and issues so severe that one owner claims that the KitKat update destroyed his Galaxy S4. These are just the tip of the iceberg for the Galaxy S4.

While some users offer temporary fixes, many of these issues don’t have a one-stop fix. Galaxy S4 users that can’t find a fix can try one of two things in an attempt to solve the issues plaguing the device after Android 4.4 KitKat.

Booting the phone into safe mode can help to isolate issues with faulty applications. Often times, applications will behave badly after a major update like Android 4.4.2 KitKat and safe mode will help to narrow things down. If that doesn’t work Galaxy S4 owners can try a factory reset. Users will just want to make sure that their info is backed up.

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Of course, the Galaxy S4 users aren’t the only ones enduring Android 4.4.2 KitKat issues. Galaxy S3 users are also complaining about Android 4.4.2 problems which are said to include battery drain, issues with Wi-Fi, reception troubles, signal strength issues, problems with Sprint Zone and random reboots, and Verizon Galaxy S3 owners are complaining about charging issues that popped up after the update.

Again, those are just a few of the complaints about Android 4.4.2 KitKat for the Galaxy S3. Those threads contain possible fixes for the issues though again, nothing is guaranteed to work. Booting into safe mode or performing a factory reset could help but they aren’t guaranteed fixes either.

Galaxy Note 3 and Galaxy Note 2 owners haven’t got off easy either. Galaxy Note 3 owners are complaining about several Android 4.4.2 KitKat problems including battery life issues (T-Mobile owners in particular are complaining about this but others are seeing it too), call quality problems of varying degrees, bad Wi-Fi connectivity, and more.

As for the Galaxy Note 2, we’re seeing complaints about lag, random reboots, problems with S Note, battery life issues that are so severe that some owners want to revert back to Android 4.3 Jelly Bean, problems with charging, email issues, streaming headaches, and more. There are possible fixes in those threads that Galaxy Note 2 owners will want to check out.

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We are pointing these Android 4.4.2 KitKat issues out for a few reasons. First, we want to shed light on these problems so that Samsung and its carrier partners can get an idea about the problems plaguing the software. We also want to help point Galaxy S4, Galaxy S3, Galaxy Note 3, and Galaxy Note 2 owners in the right direction and generate discussion that could lead to fixes for users dealing with problems.

We’re also aware that there are many Galaxy S4, Galaxy Note 3, Galaxy S3, and Galaxy Note 2 owners who made flawless transitions from Android 4.3 Jelly Bean to Android 4.4.2 KitKat. However, it’s clear that there are plenty of people struggling with Android 4.4.2 KitKat problems and they should not get left behind.

At the moment, these temporary fixes are all that Galaxy S and Galaxy Note owners have to work with. It’s still not clear if Android 4.4.3 KitKat or Android 4.4.4 KitKat and their bug fixes will be coming to these four devices and it’s possible that the Galaxy S3 and Galaxy Note 2 may get left behind on Android 4.4 KitKat. The Galaxy S4 and Galaxy Note 3 will almost certainly get Google’s new update, Android L, an update that could deliver fixes, and perhaps, some new bugs of its own.

91 Comments

91 Comments

  1. Dave

    06/26/2014 at 11:24 am

    I have T Mobile Note 3 and the Kit Kat update has been horrible. Connectivity is intermitent while using 4G, screen freezes, phone sometimes does not connect to calls and sometimes it runs hot. This is in the San Francisco area where service should be good.

  2. shane

    06/26/2014 at 2:33 pm

    I have sprint in tye columbus,ga area and i also have the same problems as Dave my phone lags all the time service sucks where it used to be great and yeah everything Dave said by the way this is me second note 3 and my wife also has one

  3. mivhaek

    06/26/2014 at 2:38 pm

    I like the note 3 email delete key random cursor movement bug. Tap to move the cursor to the middle of a word, delete, cursor sometimes randomly moves to a new location the text. Very special :-D

  4. arthaberland

    06/26/2014 at 4:34 pm

    I have the S4 mini and today the update was pushed on me. now the camera will not shut off and even comes on after a hard reboot (battery removal). I am seriously thinking going back to Sprint and asking them to take back this phone and give me something that works.. on their dime

  5. sea

    06/26/2014 at 7:05 pm

    I have Samsung Galaxy 3 and received this horrible update yesterday. As soon as the udpate completed my phone went from 100% to 73% ….from there it declined all the way down and only reached 13% max yesterday…it took my 8 hours to charge to 100% while I was sleep. My phone literally acts as if it has a virus. Today i called Verizon this morning and they act as if they have no clue what is going on with this update. My phone’s battery life drained, messages won’t send, internet won’t work in the car, calls won’t connect, phone wont charge on the USB unless its turned off and apps won’t close or open when touched. I’ve rebooted twice, cleared cashe from reboot, and removed Skype <—these are all suggestions I found on the web to try ….but it still acts terrible. Im at my witts end!!!

    • toriii12

      07/05/2014 at 8:05 am

      I have had all the same problems, I got my s3 in October, so it’s still relatively new. I started having problems back in January with the charging (some days it takes up to 12 hours to fully charge when I use the charger that my phone came with. If I use the s4 charger, it charges in the normal amount of time it should take) Also since the update, my battery life has been awful too- I need to charge it everyday, but since it takes so long to be 100% full, I almost never charge it full and it dies so fast. I recently had an update probably last week or so (4.4.2) and it made my phone even worse- I haven’t noticed a difference in the charging, but it lags in everything- to type a text takes almost 15 minutes, when I go to close out of apps and clear memory it says theres nothing open (even when there is) messages won’t send, calls don’t go through all the time…it’s terrible. I removed a lot of apps as well thinking maybe I had a virus, but after reading this, I’m confident its the update!

      • Melissa

        07/05/2014 at 1:57 pm

        It is the update. My phone now turns off and back on by itself. It happened 3 times within 5 minutes. This started happening right after the system update was installed. Verizon said to reset my phone back to the factory setting. I haven’t done that yet because I have to download everything on my phone. As I was typing this response my phone turned off and back on again…aaahhhh

        • toriii12

          07/09/2014 at 5:18 am

          Thats what verizon told me to do too…but my friend who works at verizon said that reseting it isn’t really going to work, like you’re not going to get the old software that way, you know? I guess we’re just going to have to wait until they correct everything, and release the new software so then our phones won’t have this problem either. When I had my iPhone last year, around August I have an update, and it caused all the same problems for me in my previous post, and it just so happened that I had an upgrade so instead of waiting for the new software release, I got a new phone. I don’t want to do that again because I don’t have an upgrade….and I love my galaxy…but this is really annoying…I want to be able to use my phone no problem.

  6. Shawn

    06/27/2014 at 8:58 am

    2 issues that we have come up with on Note 2s after the update. We have one out of 6 Notes that started random rebooting. We got a warranty exchange and it still did it, we changed out the battery and that seems to have solved that issue. All of our Note 2s have not been able save anything to the MicroSD card and we have not found any kind of resolution for this yet.

  7. Chad

    06/27/2014 at 10:38 am

    Thank you for highlighting this issue. I’ve missed important calls and texts ever since the 4.4.2 KitKat update on my Galaxy S4, and my co-worker has experienced similar issues. How is it that Samsung can ignore such a blatant flaw in their update that cripples our devices?

  8. Ardy

    06/28/2014 at 3:28 am

    My galaxy note 3 does not have problems. My phone have been using kitkat 4.4.2 OS and It’s no problem at all like those issues.

  9. Terri Ehrlich

    06/29/2014 at 9:37 am

    I have a Verizon S3, and no longer can receive email on the phone. Charging is a problem, too. What the heck is going on?

  10. jonnypye

    06/29/2014 at 4:55 pm

    So how do we fix this? It was too late for me as I had already upgraded but I’ve advised my friends not to.

  11. Amanda Justice

    06/29/2014 at 8:09 pm

    I have the S4 Mini, and for the most part the update has not been an issue as I am on wifi the majority of the time. HOWEVER, and this is big when I am out, data completely shuts off after 5 seconds. In order to get it back, I have to turn off mobile data and turn it back on so it can work for another 5-20 seconds and then it grays back out. Is anyone else experiencing these issues? It doesn’t seem to effect calls, which I’m lucky with that I suppose. But I don’t know if I’m missing calls and texts now, based on what everyone else is experiencing and that has me worried. I hope that this gets fixed soon because now while I’m out I feel like I no longer have a “smartphone” as I can’t access anything that requires data without it timing out after 5-20 seconds.

    • Laur

      07/17/2014 at 10:03 am

      I am having the same issue with my Verizon S3 since I updated two weeks ago. When I try to turn data on, it shuts off immediately. I used to get great 4G signal everywhere around here with this phone. The problem only arose as soon as I updated to 4.4, and has remained that way since. This is the only problem I have noticed so far since the update, but obviously it is a big deal. I brought my phone to a Verizon store yesterday, and the rep had no additional suggestions except to try a factory reset. I’m going to attempt that now I guess, as annoying as it is.

  12. Brett

    06/30/2014 at 12:19 am

    GN II here & this CORUPT-GRADE is the worst this to happen to me since the last CORUPT-GRADE in January. I had my phone for over a year at that time & I had ZERO problems until the OTA CORUPT-GRADE failure ruined my phone. A FDR at the Samsung station at Best Buy got me back up & running but I lost MONTHS of configuration tweaks!!! The last 6 month’s

  13. Brett

    06/30/2014 at 12:31 am

    have been miserable, and just when I had it functional again KIT-KRAP comes along to RUIN IT ROYALLY! WON’T CHARGE, DROPS WiFi, LAGS, after 8 hrs & just 71% charge the BATTERY DRAINS faster than a busted up Iron Man suit’s does, the monochrome info bar is now borderline USLESS!! DON’T INSTALL!!!!!!!!

    • Nagel

      07/08/2014 at 3:53 pm

      I am having similar issues. Really wishing I had not updated.

  14. Cam

    06/30/2014 at 10:52 am

    On my Galaxy S3, since the update whenever I try to play an album the volume resets to zero after every song making the phone unusable for playing music. PLEASE FIX THIS!!!!

  15. Mark

    06/30/2014 at 4:11 pm

    Not sure if this problem is related since I haven’t seens these kind of problems listed anywhere else but a few of my apps like Facebook and Tweetcaster stopped refreshing once I went on WiFi. Youtube, the browser and most other apps still connect just fine though.

  16. shawn

    06/30/2014 at 7:26 pm

    My S3 won’t get email anymore and phone just rebooted for no reason

  17. Teddy Bess

    07/01/2014 at 6:33 am

    My phone reboots for no reason now and I can’t seem to use google maps. My GPS signal keeps getting lost. Which never happened before the update

    • Megan

      07/22/2014 at 5:51 pm

      I have EXACTLY the same problem!! I’m training for a marathon and use Run Keeper to track my runs. But it’s impossible since it takes 15 minutes for the GPS signal to start working. My phone reboots randomly and it says my battery is at 1% even though I can see it’s actually at 50%! And Verizon just wants me to buy a new device!? So frustrating!

  18. James Henderson

    07/01/2014 at 3:31 pm

    I updated my phone 2days ago and the only problem I’ve had so far is my camera keeps crashing when I open it….

    I’m looking for a fix.

  19. Sarah Burns

    07/02/2014 at 4:20 am

    Grrrrr…..I hate updates! I held off as long as I could but it forced me to update now I am not receiving my emails from any of my addresses and I am missing calls and texts. I have restarted and it did help. Anyone have any ideas on how to fix this. I am traveling and I need to get my emails for work.

  20. Martha

    07/02/2014 at 4:38 am

    I have never updated my S3 beyond 4.1.2. However my phone has had trouble with Verizon 4G dropping in and out recently. Perhaps not everything is the update to Kitkat?
    Waiting to see if I should update yet.

  21. CJ

    07/02/2014 at 8:20 am

    I have 4.3 on my S3 and it has the freezing, rebooting, horrible lag on sending text and reciving issues. My battery drains like crazy always plugged in if I can so seeing that 4.4.2 has tje same issues plus more makes me hate my phone. A part of me wonders if the phone carriers are doing it on purpose to make us force to upgrade our phones lose unlimited data plans to not deal with the bugs. I want to toss my phone out the window 80% of the time but I refuse to upgrade my phone and lose my data plan.

    • Ben

      07/09/2014 at 5:03 pm

      I think you’re on to something. Let’s start a class action lawsuit. (Serious)

  22. dave t

    07/02/2014 at 7:59 pm

    S3 with no wifi. Been using WPA/WPA2 encryption for some time with no issues until KitKat.

    • Carl

      08/15/2015 at 8:48 am

      I updated yesterday. When I turn WiFi on, I don’t get email. Turn WiFI off and email is updated. Since I can’t get WiFi, my data usage has gone up. Anyone have any suggestions.

  23. Holly

    07/03/2014 at 12:08 am

    My biggest complaint on my Verizon S3 has been intermittent 4G connection since the update. It only lasts a second or two before it cuts out. Why pay for a data plan I can’t use!?

    • Debbie

      07/05/2014 at 5:41 am

      Me too two phones later same problem. Frustrating.

  24. Gary T

    07/03/2014 at 8:22 am

    My verizon Galaxy S3 is connecting and disconnecting like crazy for no reason in areas I always had solid connections befor the kitkat update….it’s really pissing me off at verizon for allowing this update before knowing what it would do to our phones!

  25. Rick B

    07/04/2014 at 2:01 pm

    My S3 has had worse connectivity, random reboots and lag issues since the 4.4.2 push. Also had a message the next day starting my phones memory was corrupt and I had to do a factory reset. F that. I yanked the battery, put the battery back in and it’s been working, though with the above mentioned issues.

  26. Nagel

    07/08/2014 at 3:50 pm

    I have a Verizon Galaxy Note 3. I just did the update and am already having issues. I can no longer charge via the USB on my laptop, the battery indicator has lost all colors, and apps are still draining the battery after they have been closed and subsequently “force stopped.”

  27. Bob

    07/08/2014 at 3:56 pm

    I updated to 4.4.2 today on my Galaxy S3…still have the problem with connecting to my WIFI on my network…..however… when I goto More Networks –>Mobile networks –> Disable Mobile Data I connect with no problems….so I guess this is what I have to do!!

  28. Ron

    07/09/2014 at 4:44 am

    Same issues. I have an S4 and this new update makes the phone randomly switch to no signal. When this happens, no calls or texts arrive. I have to reboot to fix it. Frustrated to say the least.

  29. khoa

    07/09/2014 at 8:39 am

    My S4 randomly restarts itself after the 4.4.2 update,and the gruop texting function didnt work. Went to tmobile and i was told to call samsung at 888 987 4357. Gave samsung a call and they said i can mail my S4 to them and have it fix. Samsung will pay for shipping fees. If u only have 1 phone,like the majority of us, samsung said to ask ue carrier for a loaner. Good luck to u all. I feel ur pain and frustration.

  30. Lance

    07/13/2014 at 7:16 am

    Can I just not upgrade and avoid it iv been post poning the update for weeks can I just not do it?

  31. Courtney

    07/14/2014 at 8:13 pm

    I have an at&t galaxy s3..I just updaated the other day. first it took all day of doing numerous updates, then I have been all kinds of problems. The “screen mirroring” keeps turning on by itself and then i get random image downloads going constantly, but it is my own pictures, then the wi-fi keeps turning on by itself… my battery is just constantly draining.. barely makes it six hours. Any help would be appreciated.. I don’t even know what update it was.. :(

  32. Khoybs

    07/16/2014 at 12:01 am

    Same problems on my S3. Battery drains immediately and I haven’t received any email since the update. Any solutions to the email problem?

  33. Tammy

    07/16/2014 at 8:24 am

    My verizon S3 won’t update my email! I can’t get any email. I have deleted the email and reinstalled it to no avail. This stinks! Makes me want to go back to Apple!!! Didn’t have this much trouble with the Iphone…. and I really love android!

  34. Dan

    07/17/2014 at 2:50 pm

    Verizon S3: Since “upgrading” to 4.4.2: High battery drain (wasn’t great before, but worse now). Biggest problem: PC (Win7 Pro) no longer recognizes the phone. Get “MTB USB Device – Failed” message. Tried many different solutions (Kies, Kies upgrade, delete and reload drivers in various ways, etc., etc.) to no avail. Many hours invested (WASTED). However, the phone will sync with “Android Sync” program, but this will not give me access to my files or photos.

  35. Tania

    07/19/2014 at 4:09 am

    I thought my Samsung Galaxy S4 was the best thing ever. After upgrading to 4.4.2 I feel like throwing my phone away. :-(

  36. Randall Dean

    07/19/2014 at 3:57 pm

    I have the S3. When I updated to the new KitKat version, I immediately had a drain on my battery and have had to refresh my browser several times before I can get an internet connection. I stopped by a Verizon dealer yesterday and were told of these problems with the KitKat update. I couldn’t tolerate still having these issues so I left with purchasing the s5 before my contract was up it cost me $599. I wish I warned of this before I accepted the update.

    • Dan

      07/20/2014 at 8:35 am

      I have the S3, “upgraded” to 4.4.2 recently. Phone now won’t connect to computer except, as mentioned previously, will connect through “Android Sync” program. Tried to connect on Win 7 Pro and Win XP computers, using many different approaches with no luck. Phone itself works OK – all apps good, makes calls, texts, connects to internet. Using a work around to get files and photos on and off computer and phone. Transfer to SD card to and from phone and computer. A large pain as you have to remove / replace card in phone, but only way to do it for now. If there is a class action I’M IN.

  37. Nick Nace

    07/20/2014 at 3:26 am

    Battery drain problems most infuriating on my Verizon Galaxy S3. It’s beyond ludicrous that you would need to spend another $600 to get a fix that a software upgrade cost. This is unacceptable. I’m in with the class action suit. I haven’t heard that Samsung is even working to fix it.

  38. J P

    07/21/2014 at 5:03 pm

    I have a S4 Mini with Verizon and the KitKat 4.4 over the air update. Since then, my Messaging (text app) locks up intermittently when I press the Back button while in a text message window. Meaning, if I try to go back to my list of texts, it freezes and I have to kill it using Task manager.

    I didn’t even have a choice to deny the OTA update.

    STUPID VERIZON AND SAMSUNG.

  39. mr

    07/21/2014 at 7:51 pm

    I upgraded my att s3 and like it! I had battery drain issues and hot phone before. When returning from work it would usually start and only reboot would help. Not anymore (so far), I have more than 50% left when getting home. Also the interface is faster and applications seem to open more quickly. No wifi problems or reception issues so far. Love it

  40. Jack T

    07/22/2014 at 5:10 am

    I upgraded my Galaxy S3 and now the phone gets very hot and has bad battery drain whenever I am trying to connect to wifi or have bad mobile data signals. Went from 70% battery to almost dead in about 2 hours in a place with a bad signal. This is totally unacceptable.

  41. Zachary Wong (@planetzinc)

    07/23/2014 at 7:29 am

    I have given up on my Samsung Note II after upgrading from 4.3 to 4.4.2. In any situation where an update should be better, Samsung made this upgrade miserable. It wasn’t thoroughly tested and quickly released for public. I would grade this misery by showing Sammy one of my finger on my hand. Take a guess which one?

  42. chris

    07/23/2014 at 1:25 pm

    I had the Galaxy S3 and I had very bad data connection after the update. I went to Verizon and they couldn’t figure it out so I just ended up upgrading to the S5. As I got home and started playing with my new phone I noticed it was doing the same thing. I finally figured out it was the app Onovo that was no longer working after the update and was causing my data connection to be lost. All is well now.

  43. chris

    07/23/2014 at 1:29 pm

    I had to delete the app.

  44. Doug Verret

    07/23/2014 at 3:05 pm

    I have a Sprint S3 and recently upgraded to KitKat. If your JB phone works I strongly recommend that you NOT upgrade to KitKat. Multiple functions that used to work no longer work. I have problems with texting, connecting to WIFI, continual and random reboots, loss of ability to tether when phone is on 3G, loss of ability to tether with USB when phone is on WIFI, dropped calls, battery drain and who knows what else yet to come. Both Sprint and Samsung techs unable to fix anything. Did all of the usual stuff…reflash, battery in and out, updates etc etc etc

  45. Joey Smith

    07/25/2014 at 2:51 pm

    Let’s leave Samsung, they don’t respect their customers. When it comes to updates, they’re really very slow. I’ve had the same experience that many of you explain above, my T Mobile S4 is a piece of crap after it was updated to kitkat 4.4.2, I hate the phone and I’m willing to update it to 4.4.3 or 4.4.4 in order to see if it improves. I wish I could downgrade it to the oldest android version it had when I bought it. We have to move to Motorola, Nexus, HTC or whatever other phones where customers are important, but Samsung SUCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!

  46. Whoop

    07/27/2014 at 8:45 pm

    I just got my wife’s S3 email app working again by this:

    Go to Settings > Application Manager > All tab > Email > Force Close, Clear Cache, and Clear Data. You may lose your settings as well as messages saved in your phone but for now, it seems you don’t have a choice but to clear cache and data.

    (found on another web site)

  47. Rachel Scott Allen

    07/28/2014 at 2:12 pm

    I have the s3 and my camera keeps crashing. Any idea what to do? I can only fix it by restarting the phone and then it works for maybe two or three pics. Ugh!

  48. Crystal

    07/29/2014 at 7:58 pm

    I may not have most of these problems after updating, but I do have a rather unique one that I do not see mentioned. I have a S3, and it has a selectively deadspot on the right edge of my screen, half way down. When I rotate my phone to which ever way, it will half way down the screen and on the right edge of which ever way I’m holding it. When I say selectively, I mean that it does not register taps on that specific spot, but if you slide your finger across the spot, say in the memo app using the paintbrush, starting from the top of the edge to the bottom, it is registered and the line is not disturbed.

  49. waterflaws

    07/30/2014 at 8:12 am

    My S-III will qietly, and unexpectedly, turn off when I am taking pictures. Once I’ve figured out that it wasn’t something like a screen time-out, I have to turn the phone back on again – and that takes a lot of time, and seems to drain the battery more quickly. I’d really like to roll back to the previous version.

  50. pg94

    07/31/2014 at 8:28 pm

    I also have the s3 and after the horrible kit Kat update my phone kept shutting off and turning on like 5-6 times a day..I found out that the SD storage card was causing the problem. Since I removed it everything is working just fine. Found the info. Off a website that the kit Kat update didn’t support the SD storage cards in these devices. Hope this helps some of you.

  51. cj

    08/01/2014 at 4:33 pm

    I’m on the line with a Samsung tech rep and read to him all these issues. He acted surprised. Surprised? They are remotely accessing my phone via Smart tutor and trying to modify my phone remotely. My phone has been stuck in factory setting mode since the ridiculous update with a big ugly black box with yellow letters in the middle of my screen. I can’t see my app icons and the box will not go away. Verizon tried wiping my phone and factory resetting it, but they said that the update wouldn’t let it happen, contact Samsung. Unbelievable waste of 2 hours. Like others, my wifi goes in and out now, my battery indicator light is white, and my sd card is unusable. I’m thinking that if this doesn’t work, a class action lawsuit is a great idea. These companies can’t keep forcing regular folks to buy new crap when our not so old crap was working just fine until they messed with them. Big brother gone wild…. Any lawyers out there impacted by this?

    • Dan

      08/01/2014 at 4:37 pm

      I’m in on a class action!!

  52. cj

    08/01/2014 at 4:49 pm

    I forgot to mention that I have a Note 2. It’s been 54 minutes on the line and still no fix.

  53. cj

    08/01/2014 at 5:13 pm

    1-888-987-4357 Is their customer service number. They will make you repeat yourself even with a ticket #. Has anyone found any fixes for the Note2?

  54. Barb

    08/01/2014 at 5:54 pm

    After reading all of these complaints and issues with your phones and the new update, I have noticed not one tried this or seems it wasn’t suggested by the carrier. I have the note 3 as well. I’ve seen a dramatic decrease in battery since the update and the phone just wasn’t responding. I went onto a BEST BUY which had Samsung associates. What they did was flash my phone. Which took the update off my phone and redid it. I did not lose anything and everything was the same except the fact I now have better battery life. As I did b4 the update.
    My niece has the s3, & same problems as everyone explains with theirs. Again took it to BEST BUY & Samsung associate flashes her phone, & although it still has some minor issues but runs better than it did and battery is a lot better. Minor issues were: did seem to still run slow. However, we realized what apps were involved and got rid of them. So now her phone is running smoothly.
    I recommend if capable, to take it to best buy near the cell phones, & should be a sign for a Samsung rep. They do it free of charge. other types of phones that aren’t samsung, I’m sry I do not know what to say. Hope this helped everyone.

  55. joachim

    08/02/2014 at 9:55 am

    Hello.
    I updated my Galaxy note 3 yesterday 1st august. This resulted in many programs crashing.
    When i connect my charger, nothing happens.
    I have tried two diffrent batteries, 5 different samsung chargers and both micro usb and original usb3, tried connecting to computer, nothing works.

    When i turn off the phone and put the charger in, the phone vibrates and the picture of a battery comes up on the screen.
    the battery picture is suppose to “show charging” with green colour and the circle in the picture (battery) is suppouse to spinn. It does not.
    The picture goes away, and 10-12 secounds later it comes back and the phone wibrates again. so it goes on and on.
    The battery charges when phone is off, but it’s charging extremly slow.

    When i turn my phone back on, the USB icon pops up in the topp corner and it tells me my phone is connected with usb. this shows even when the cable is not connected to the phone.

    I tried rebooting my phone back to factory settings, but that didn’t help eighter.
    I see the latest firmware update still is installed on the phone even after i reboot back to factory settings.
    i also tried to clean the usb connection on the phone with a toothbrush and the battery connection.
    Anyone have a clue what i can do?

  56. danjoeee

    08/03/2014 at 5:35 pm

    I had severe issues with my Samsung Galaxy Note 2 after the update (4.4.2) lots of freezing data not working unable to send pictures and so forth however my girlfriend has same phone and did update no issues after trying everything and even thinking about downgrading. Did a few troubleshoots and finally came up with a solution. I came to find out it was the SD Card and the old data from the old OS, I like most upgraded my firmware with my SD still in my phone and after rebooting was having problems due to old information on my SD card. I fixed my problem by removing the SD card updating all stock apps and saved and backed up info from my SD to my computer and then reformatting the SD card. I hope this helps some very frustrated people. Thanks for reading.

  57. T

    08/05/2014 at 2:53 am

    i have GS3 my main problem is my phone shutting off when i plug it in sometimes. the only way that i have found to turn it back on is to take the battery out…which means i have to take my case off which normally wouldn’t be a problem but i have a lifeproof case and its not meant to be taken off so many times, and it’s not easy to get off.(i know i probably shouldn’t be complaining about that since i knew it would be hard to take off when i got it but i wasn’t expecting my phone to mess up on me a few months before my upgrade.)

  58. Karyn

    08/07/2014 at 10:07 am

    My phone won’t receive mail. 4G is almost non – existent. This update is a big fail. We should be offered the opportunity to restore the software to the previous update, removing this current update until they fix it.

  59. Arlene

    08/09/2014 at 6:21 pm

    So apparently I’m not the only one having issues with my GS3. Is Samsung even looking into the issue? I have AT&T so the carrier makes no difference at this point. I think Samsung needs to send every owner a rebate for our inability to properly use our devices.

  60. Gary

    08/10/2014 at 11:41 am

    I’m with At&t. My kit kat upgrade came this week. I didn’t have a choice to download it. It gave me 4 days to postpone the upgrade or it would upload on the 5th day. I should have the choice to upgrade anything. My phone is in poor condition now. Galaxy S3 by the way!

  61. Buster

    08/11/2014 at 3:48 am

    Hello, I upgraded my Samsung galaxy s4 mini to kitkat 4.4.2 and afterwards, I could not get 3G anymore.

    So I decided to do a factory reset going on apps > settings > accounts > backup and reset > tick ‘back up my data’ > tick ‘automatic restore’ > factory data reset > reset device

    It took less than five minutes, restored all my data and now the 3G is working again.

    Hope this is useful!

  62. Debra

    08/15/2014 at 7:31 am

    Yep. Kit knap update killed my phone as well. I have 18 months left of payments on a cr@ppy phone. Bought this phone for long battery life and expanded SD Card. Now I have to go through 6 steps to now save back to the SD card. Hate my Samsung Note 3. Neithwe att nor Samsung takes responsibility. Just let me out of purchase take your cr@p back and let go buy a GITTER BUG.

  63. Debra

    08/15/2014 at 7:58 am

    Loved my Samsung Note 3 on Jelly Bean. Hate this paper weight on Kit kat. Why?
    1. Battery Life is less than half of what it was before kit kat.
    2. Takes me 6 steps to save to SD card now.
    3. Screen keeps freezing.
    4. Battery got fiery hot even after changing.

    Kate my Note 3.

  64. Henry

    08/15/2014 at 8:49 am

    After my “upgrade” on ATT network weeks ago, my Android browser now comes up with a shade of gray that stays there continuously. It goes away only when I click the “return” button to leave the browser. I can see that the gray layer is lifted seconds before the browser closes. It pretty much renders the browser useless now. (I have not visited the ATT store to discuss with them yet.) My workaround is to use Puffin browser!

  65. Angie

    08/17/2014 at 10:47 am

    I am so frustrated with my phone! I have the Note 2 on AT&T. I’ve had it for almost 2 years now and have always loved it but since doing the update I’m ready to throw it against the wall. I swear they do this when you get near the end of your contract so you’ll upgrade to the newest phone. Since the update my phone will no long connect to wifi unless I put it in airplane mode. What is the point in that? It’s very frustrating because I have wifi at work and home so I have never used much data and now this month I’m almost over my data limit. I have read online there is nothing you can do to fix this. The 2nd issue I have is my Bluetooth doesn’t work worth a crap anymore. I use Bluetooth headphones at work and I used to be able to walk all around my office and even across the hall to the copy room with no problems. Now if I even slightly turn my body away from my phone it starts to break up. What is the point of Bluetooth if I now basically have to keep my phone on my body for it to work? Another issue I’m having is charging. It’s using up the battery faster and then it’s taking forever to charge. Some nights I will have it plugged in the entire night (8-9 hours) and when I wake up it’s still not fully charged. It used to charge in 1-2 hours. I have always loved this phone and until the update was planning on hanging on to it for as long as possible. I guess I will upgrade to the Note 4 when it comes out but what if it has the same problems? If anyone knows how to fix any of these problems please let me know!

  66. Monty

    08/18/2014 at 9:45 am

    its crystal clear, its time to leave the android community and I will go back to iOS.

  67. rAj

    08/18/2014 at 11:52 pm

    After the update… i’m having issues with my bluetooth headset that it keeps disconnecting. The moment i move my head in direction away from my phone i totally lost it. I tried my bluetoith headset on an s4 even an iphone and it has no issue, whem i asked another note2 user he got the same problem as me.
    Do we have any fixes on this kind of issue?

    • Angie

      08/19/2014 at 6:59 am

      I’m having the same problem with my Note 2 after the update. It’s driving me crazy because I listen to books at work and I used to be able to walk all around the office with my bluetooth headphones and now I can’t even turn my body away from my phone without it cutting out.

  68. Paul

    08/29/2014 at 11:12 am

    I saw that my Samsung Galaxy III Mini was uploading software to it. I couldn’t stop it from doing it. Then, the AT&T name and logo came up and asked me to click the “Continue” button to reboot and complete the process. I did so. My phone has an added encryption because I receive work e-mail on it. So it prompted me to enter my password to get past the encription, as it usually does, so I did and I clicked “Done” on the touch screen which then should have logged me into my phone. Instead, it shut down completely. I performed this three more times…once, also trying to bring up safe mode. Nothing worked.

    I called an AT&T agent at their toll free number. She informed me of the issue with the download problem with Galaxy IIIs and Galaxy III Minis. She scheduled an appointment for me at one of the (only) 3 warranty stores in North Carolina. North Carolina is a big state, but luckily one of the warranty stores happens to be close enough that it is on my way home from work. If there was not one of these stores nearby, I would have had to order a replacement through the agent and be without a phone for the rest of the day today. My appointment is at 5:45pm. They will try, first, to get the phone to work, which I don’t think they will succeed unless maybe they hit the reset button. That’s the only thing I did not do because I wanted the warranty store person to see what I was experiencing and also because I want them to be responsible for it if they do it (reset the phone) and screw it up further.

    If they can’t get it to work, they will replace it under the warranty. But I’m reluctant to replace it with the same phone because what if the software tries to download again, causing the same problem? I’m going to use that logic and ask that they replace the phone with another more reliable phone, but that I still only want to pay the monthly charge through my AT&T Next Plan that I am currently paying for the now defunct phone. Why should I have to pay the difference for an upgrade, or downgrade to another phone for an issue that wasn’t my fault, in order to get a decent working phone?

  69. ty

    09/08/2014 at 5:15 pm

    I have a gs4 and it works just fine of course I’m through u.s. cellular not the big four

  70. Rob

    09/23/2014 at 8:20 pm

    I have the galaxy s4 through at&t. It was OK when i first got it. Then it updated to kitkat. The first update to kitkat wasn’t too bad. Then there was another update that just messed everything up. My phone is really laggy, phone doesn’t ring half the time when some one calls, keyboard messes up real bad, half of my games force close, and just everything is just sooooo laggy! I’ve called at&t and told them about this issue, and what do they do? Ooh, we will just send you a replacement phone. Its going to be the same phone your having issues with, but we are going to send it to you anyways. They refuse to replace it with a different reliable phone. It has a 1.9 ghz quad core processor and it lags like crazy now… i had an LG optimus G with a 1.5 ghz quad core CPU, but it was running jelly bean, and there was absolutely no issues. They just need to take this update and shove it!

  71. Josh

    10/05/2014 at 5:21 am

    Yeah my S3 worked great in every way before KitKat. The only big issue I’m having now is with anything encrypted. For example, when connected thru a VPN, the data connection drops and reconnects (breaking the VPN) every single time you connect to a webpage or email.

  72. cameron

    10/06/2014 at 10:10 pm

    The upgrade is a disater for both my galaxy 3 tablets battery consumed at more than 10 times the rate pre upgrade what is samsung doing to repair the damage?

  73. eriihime

    11/11/2014 at 12:34 pm

    so i am a samsung galaxy tab 3 user and ever since i updated i have had nothing but problems. facebook and messenger keeps crashing that even my entire tab crashes and the screen becomes unresponsive to my murderous taps.and the keyboard wont keep still, i have no idea what else has problems since i got this just 3 days ago but hell, samsung screwed up and i want my jellybeam back.

  74. [email protected]

    11/12/2014 at 5:08 am

    Hey guys ive got solotion on your problem, me also have a desame problem, i cant open my fb it’s automaticaly shshot down if i open it, now i downloaded the PERMISSION MANAGER, it helps me alot, now i can use my fb, if you downloaded it, just click and it well go automatically at the settings, like me my problem is fb, then click fb, and i close those green icons, HOPE THIS MESSAGE HELP alot.

  75. gilmer

    11/28/2014 at 5:23 am

    Well I have figured out its not the os. It is actually a few apps from Samsung that makes the battery drain. If you want a complete list of what I disabled let me know and I will post.

  76. mike

    11/28/2014 at 3:17 pm

    So frustrated with most recent S4 update. I used to enjoy the gps tracking with my running app which is practically useless now. Geez. You get something with high utility and screw it up.

  77. Paul

    06/28/2015 at 9:05 pm

    Since the last update on my S3, Apps will not work when saved on the SD card. Also my phone is burning out SD cards. I have replaced 4 SD cards since the update, 3 SD cards just in the last month. If Samsung doesn’t correct the problem soon, I’ll be switching to an Iphone.

  78. Bill

    08/23/2015 at 2:36 am

    Galaxy S 3. downloaded and installed update. Now by wonderful phone is a brick. Im pissed and I want to find a way to either go back 1 update and hope it works or someone needs to replace my phone. I paid too much money and have taken too good of an care with it for it be bricked due to an update. Any suggestions on who I need to contact to get this taken care of? I need my phone for business purposes and emergencies.

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