Hi everybody - Searched all over, haven't seen any info on this issue. I apologize if I missed something
Recently, some apps I disabled on my Verizon Galaxy Nexus have begun to automatically reenable themselves after every reboot. The specific apps are Google Books, Google Earth, and Videos.
This did not used to happen. Further, my other disabled apps (the VZ apps, News and Weather, Movie Studio, etc.) stay disabled just like they are supposed to.
I'm not sure exactly when it started happening, so I can't pinpoint any changes or apps that might have caused the issue. If it matters, I'm not rooted.
Any help would be GREATLY appreciated - the ability to disable unused apps was one of the reasons I got the phone. Thank you!
Update
Quick update. After I found my device would not complete a factory reset successfully, I contacted Verizon for a replacement. The replacement device factory resets successfully, unlike my first.
However, after setting up the new device I found that it too has the exact same problem with disabled apps. Google Books, Google Earth, and Videos (but no other disabled apps) all reenable themselves after every reboot. I noticed this before installing any apps or tweaking any settings. It seems there is a problem with these particular apps or in the way the are treated by ICS.
Either way, it's a shame that this major advertising point for the device does not function as advertised.
Interesting. I was wondering why I was seeing updates available for Earth and Video in the Market, seeing as how I had disabled them...
fyi I suspect it's a Verizon thing - I have both disabled and they're staying that way.
Thanks Clancy_s for the info. That's an interesting possibility.
It's also interesting to me that I haven't been able to find much chatter about this. I've posted the issue here, on the Google Mobile help forum, and on the Android Project Issues list (after searching each for previous mentions), and haven't heard much back.
I'm wondering how sporadic the issue might be, or if it might be connected to certain types of accounts since I've seen it on two phones now. I realize it's not a critical issue, but I've certainly seen a lot more concern on Android forums for less.
Just received my 3rd device (original plus 2 replacements, first 2 sent back due to other problems besides this one). The same problem with disabled apps reenabling themselves after a reboot persists. And this is after a factory reset, without adding any apps, changing any settings, without being backed up to my google account, without location services on. Same apps - Google Books, Google Earth, Videos. No other apps affected.
I'm having this problem as well. I disabled Google+, but it becomes enabled again after a reboot. VZ Backup Assistant and Google Talk stay disabled as they should.
Google earth did this for me also, so I just deleted the app. Of course you need root to do it.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus
Same problem with Maps
Title says it all. Really annoying.
Sigh... you're not alone. I disabled the Google search bar and after awhile the phone will automatically reenable anything that was disabled.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk
Not sure what has happened (there haven't been any OTA updates), but my device crashes anytime I open things like Phone, Messenger, Contacts, and a few apps that integrate with those services and some that do not. I am on official with no root and changed nothing since my last time using it. Is anyone else having these random issues? Really not wanting to factory reset this thing.
My Fire Phone has the same issue. It start doing it a few weeks ago. It seemed like it was only apps that have some relationship to Contact data. WhatsApp, all contact apps, all phone apps, dialer apps, etc.
I ended up reseting the phone and starting from scratch. The issue seemed to be fixed. Today I use the phone in the morning, and it was fine. I pick it up to use some hours later, and the default launcher (Arrow Launcher) would crash every two seconds. I had to uninstall it from the OS Settings, and then pick another launcher. The other launchers are fine, but it was back to the same old story... opening any app that has a relationship to contacts data crashes.
Did you ever find a solution or a cause?
I never found a solution. My phone is sitting on my desk waiting to be used again. I thought that I would for sure be able to reinstall a non-damaged APK for the contacts application on the fire phone, but I haven't found a way. There has to be a way of fixing this issue without doing a clean install.
How to fix Crashing System Apps on your Amazon Fire Phone
I figured out how to fix this issue with the help of the amazon customer support team. I created a short video on youtube which should be able to help. Video can be found by googling "How to fix Crashing System Apps on your Amazon Fire Phone" or by copying and pasting the following link without quotes "bit.ly/2vSKcYn"
AndroidWelcome said:
My Fire Phone has the same issue. It start doing it a few weeks ago. It seemed like it was only apps that have some relationship to Contact data. WhatsApp, all contact apps, all phone apps, dialer apps, etc.
I ended up reseting the phone and starting from scratch. The issue seemed to be fixed. Today I use the phone in the morning, and it was fine. I pick it up to use some hours later, and the default launcher (Arrow Launcher) would crash every two seconds. I had to uninstall it from the OS Settings, and then pick another launcher. The other launchers are fine, but it was back to the same old story... opening any app that has a relationship to contacts data crashes.
Did you ever find a solution or a cause?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I figured out how to fix this issue with the help of the amazon customer support team. I created a short video on youtube which should be able to help. Video can be found by googling "How to fix Crashing System Apps on your Amazon Fire Phone" or by copying and pasting the following link without quotes "bit.ly/2vSKcYn"
In the settings menu in manage applications switch to all applications and look for content management services application. Open ot and clear the cache and the data. I think the problem will be solved.
Found a solution ??
Ztcc said:
Not sure what has happened (there haven't been any OTA updates), but my device crashes anytime I open things like Phone, Messenger, Contacts, and a few apps that integrate with those services and some that do not. I am on official with no root and changed nothing since my last time using it. Is anyone else having these random issues? Really not wanting to factory reset this thing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Dear... I had same issue....
But finally I have found a crazy solution.... that is "uninstall all Fire Phone Updates" and at the end clear and clear data and force stop " content management services"
Hold power button for at least 40 sec.... after rebooting you phone gonna be fixed...
Sorry for bad English....?
100% smoothly working... let's kick the problems???
Doesn't work. I'm having the exact same issue. Tried all solutions here but they did not work. On the last solution though, how do you uninstall all fire phone updates?? Thanks!
Anyhuman86 said:
Doesn't work. I'm having the exact same issue. Tried all solutions here but they did not work. On the last solution though, how do you uninstall all fire phone updates?? Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Dude.. Simply go the settings . Click on application then manage applications, select filter "downloaded".. then you will see system downloaded applications... click on every single system app nd uninstall updates... After all, being system uninstalled updates, again chose filter to "All" then search for "content management services" click on it... do clear cache, clear data, and force stop... now hold power+vol down button for at least 40 seconds... problem fixed
That fix didn't work for me. Anyone else have any ideas?
Maybe it is DIGITS? or iCloud sync?
I had the same problem, and the instructions above did not fix the situation for me, either, at least after just a couple of tries. However, I have 2 Fire Phones, and the other one was fine when I booted it from a month-long (or more) slumber. Then I did a few things to update it a bit and then it was also not fine, so something recent is causing the problem. But I do not know which of the "few things" messed up the 2nd phone. Maybe just being connected to the internet for a few minutes after a new boot from having been off for a while. I did not try to fix Phone 2 because clearing the data for Content Management Service will mess up all my app organization, removing them from folders, which is a huge pain to reorganize (well over 100 apps).
UPDATE: I shortened my long post. I had suspected either T-Mobile DIGITS or iCloud CardDav sync issue, or some other process that writes to the content management cache/data with each boot (since those processes launch with each boot), which I thought was why the fix did not immediately work on my phone. But now I think I figured it out. I made a new post since I can't edit the title of this one. But neither DIGITS nor iCloud was causing the issue. Sorry for so many "trouble-shooting" posts. I was thinking maybe others with crashes are using the same apps I suspected.
Android bug is the issue; need to delete a few apps
I think I figured out one issue which can cause this problem, which is not really a Fire Phone problem but an Android problem, at least with older version of Android and its Fire OS derivative. If you google the issue without restricting to Fire Phone, you'll see this is a common problem.
The issue is having too many apps installed -- even if you have plenty of space for them. I'm going from memory (too lazy to search again) but it seems android has a numbering system for the services within apps, but the numbering system has finite available numbers, so if you have too many apps (say, over 100 like I did), especially ones that use numerous services (and therefore numerous spots within the numbering system), then the OS can't handle that. So the solution is to delete some of your apps. Some apps will have a bigger impact than others.
So, this was the reason why one of the earlier posters said it fixed the issue when deleting "updates" to system apps. These updates are usually new installs that are used instead of the app that came with the phone which is "inactivated," so they take up spots within the numbering system just like any new install. But it actually does not matter which particular app you delete, so just delete ones you don't use.
Also, this was the reason why my Fire Phone 2, like my Fire Phone 1, went bad shortly after I booted it and did some stuff to it. That stuff was to "sync" my setup with Fire Phone 1, since I keep the two almost the same. I install almost the same apps and organize them the same way, so if a phone breaks or I don't have time to charge the battery, I can just swap in my SIM to a working phone and it is up-to-date and ready to go. Perfect backup system. But this means they were both similarly maxed out with apps, and when I added a few more to Phone 2, it developed the same issue. I believe I updated Outlook from Amazon App Store, and OneDrive from Google Play Store (I think I had installed OneDrive from Amazon store but it is no longer available there). And I added a couple of other apps in addition, like Microsoft Translator; nothing with contact links. So, not major changes.
Problem is, even if you uninstall a bunch of software, you'll still need to clear the data from Content Management Services, following the instructions in the YouTube vid posted earlier. Which is a pain if you have a lot of apps, because you have to organize them fresh.
UPDATE: My issue was not yet really fixed. While trouble shooting, I disabled Contacts Storage, and that actually prevents crashes even before deleting the excess apps. (It then seems to disappear from the list of apps but actually it is there: Need to scroll to the very bottom of the long applications list.) Re-enabling Contacts Storage brings back the crashes. But then I cleared its cash/data and force quit, and cleared just the cache (not data) in Content Management Services, and did the long press on the power button. Now it seems to be fixed.
So, it seems Contacts Storage was an important culprit.
I still love the Fire Phone but I'm stunned at how buggy Android is (or was, back in 4.4).
Maybe a Telegram or Vonage update initiated the problem
I was able to fix my 2nd Fire Phone without clearing data from Content Management Services (I did clear cache and force quit, then long press power). And before that I also cleared Contacts Storage and force quit. This was super nice because I did not have to organize all my apps from scratch.
However, my first try of the above did not fix. I then deleted Telegram and Vonage, and then repeated the above procedures, and now my 2nd phone is fixed too.
I had also deleted Telegram and Vonage from Fire 1 when I was culling apps, so now I'm wondering if one of those was the issue that messed things up. I've had them on my phones for a long time but did recent updates on Google Play Store. I do not use these apps but have them just in case an acquaintance prefers them for messaging, but maybe an initial launch and setup has some associated process launch on each boot.
So now I'm not sure what caused my problem; an app update or too many apps or a combination of the two??
I'm thinking it is not a good idea to install calling apps on the Fire. It had its own version of Skype and so maybe calling apps need to be somehow adjusted for Fire OS. (And Skype on Fire Phone is no longer officially supported, even though Android 4.4 is.)
UPDATE: Reinstalling Telegram does not reproduce the issue. And in addition to Telegram and Vonage, I had removed some other apps. I did not retest with Vonage but Telegram is definitely NOT the issue. At least the version that's in Play Store as of this Edit, which is July 8 2018.
It is Microsoft OneDrive that's causing the issue
I figured out the issue, at least in my case. The newest version of Microsoft OneDrive from Google Play Store is causing the problem. It is version 4.15, from Sept 2017, but I take a while to update apps from Play Store sometimes, and so it wasn't causing an issue until I recently updated it. I can reproduce the issue. The app has other weird problems like its icon disappearing. Also, the version from Amazon App Store no longer shows up (but it tries to "update" my Google Play version since the version numbers don't match). That version now fails to install, so it is probably missing from Amazon servers. Anyway, if I download latest from Google Play, it does not cause the issue until I launch and sign in. Then Contacts and Phone will crash. Then when I first clear all its data and then uninstall, the Phone and Contacts no longer crash. OneDrive permissions includes contacts, so it does something to contacts data that causes Contacts and stuff using it to crash. I hope Microsoft will fix this and put OneDrive back in Amazon Store, because OneNote needs it. I had both OneNote and OneDrive from Play Store because the Amazon App Store versions were both older. But both are now missing when I search the Amazon App Store with my phone. So these Microsoft apps are no good on Fire Phone (and maybe other Fire OS?) for the time being.
It' enough to disable Contact Storage app to stop Dialer from crashing. So now we have dialer with no contacts and history I Hope someone will resolve this issue.
Luca7007 said:
It' enough to disable Contact Storage app to stop Dialer from crashing. So now we have dialer with no contacts and history I Hope someone will resolve this issue.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think the issue is in part too many apps for this version of Android, especially bigger ones with numerous processes. AND communication apps from Google Play Store that launch automatically upon reboot and write to contacts.
I finally have both phones working nicely. I just backed up and then deleted a bunch of apps that I was not using. But that alone may not have been my biggest issue. It seems that at least the newest versions of communication apps from Google Play Store cause this problem, even after I had culled my apps. For example Signal seems to have caused the problem, but for some reason only if I was using the CardDav-sync app (to sync my iCloud contacts). Once I uninstalled Signal, all is working fine. I have my contacts synced from iCloud now, and nothing is crashing. So it is not simply a high app count issue, though maybe it is a combination of problems.
Anyway, you do not have to disable Contacts Storage to use your phone. I did not even need to long-press (soft reset) or clear cache for Content Management Services. I just uninstalled Signal, then cleared cache and data for Contacts Storage and then did a regular restart, and the Phone app and Contacts are no longer crashing.