• After 15+ years, we've made a big change: Android Forums is now Early Bird Club. Learn more here.

Help being nagged to update S4 to Kitkat

nickdalzell

nickdalzell

Extreme Android User
I know this isn't the proper forum but the forum for the S4 appears rather dead lately.

I keep getting this pop-up to update to KitKat on my S4. i am not a fan of KitKat on the S5 (seen it in store) and not a fan of all-white icons, and any other changes that may cause issues later on. as of now i am happy with the TouchWiz Nature UX UI which seems the best balance between flat design and skeumorphic design, and the bonus of a nature theme/sounds that i appreciate given my love of nature.

I also prefer the organic earthy colors of the notification icons as well as the organized email alert notification icons, with not only 3-d looks, but each one goes by account. i get icons that have a little Y! symbol for Yahoo! mail, or a gmail icon for Gmail, and so on (i use the stock Sammy email app for the multi account support among others) and it looks better than three icons that look exactly alike.

My issue is i have no way to permenantly dismiss the notification. i can clear out the pop-up, but the icon on the notification shade is persistent and never allows me to swipe it away, so it is up there all the time, and the pop-up comes back if i unlock my device.

Let me make this clear. i am often set in my ways, and when i finally get a device to do as i want, look like i prefer, and work perfectly, i don't want it to change. i like the UI as it is, and want the choice to REFUSE the update. i am not one to assume that updates are the be-all end-all of Android. i really don't care. i hardly even update my apps unless i need new features or if it fixes a current bug. when things work, i leave it alone. i really don't want to root this phone as it would involve unlocking the bootloader in ODIN which means wiping it, and with it all my music and such. i have it configured exactly as i like.

to be blunt, i don't WANT kitkat. ever. my phone works fine. i don't need change or take chances it won't screw up my reception or render things to a laggy state. i remember when my S3 got the OTA and i never liked it since. currently i'm on 4.3 in my S4, which it came with. i want it to stay that way.

I can work around the update nag by using S-Voice to unlock the phone and launch apps, which i do anyway. but if this is anything like the iOS 7 update which brought me to Android/Samsung, i am guessing eventually my phone will go ahead and update anyway, and i hear that like iOS 7, there is no way to downgrade from KitKat back to Jelly Bean. i tried going to the Verizon store, where they tried to disable the SDM.apk on their end to keep the notification at bay, but it never 'stuck' and came back after a few minutes. i cannot disable it in app info, and the checkmark to disable notifications is greyed out.

Am i screwed? is my phone going to update on its own whether i like it or not? what happened to the choice that Android used to give regarding just about anything?

when i unlock my phone, i get presented with a large dialog asking me to 'install now' or 'install later'. i did disable the Samsung 'software update' but somehow it downloaded it anyway i am guessing and is waiting to install. i have been dismissing it by hitting the capacitive 'back' button or the home key. i am leery about hitting 'install later' as to me that might just dismiss it for a few hours or days, only to actually install on its own the next time. unless someone can confirm that hitting 'install later' clears it for good, and doesn't make it auto-install next time, i'll do it. i just don't want KitKat. if it ain't broke, don't fix it. i can understand why some might like updates, but not everyone is alike. not everyone upgrades their device every two years. not everyone needs change for the sake of change. not everyone needs the latest and greatest version. everyone is different. i can live with the same UI for decades so long as it works and does what i want it to reliably and fluidly. some might think something gets stale after a year, some after a few days, some after 5 years. i am not going to live by the standard that everyone needs the latest OS.
 
Lmao mate I know you far too well as a friend to even attempt to persuade you to take the update ;)

There must be a system app that can be frozen to prevent the nags surely?

I only scanned your post (tl;dr) but is it rooted?
 
everything i find online assumes i'm rooted. since i upgraded to the most recent Samsung stuff (Tab 3 7.0, Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 Edition, Galaxy S4) i made it a note to never root. root i think causes more problems than i feel it solves. i lost interest in custom ROMs, like TouchWiz (i know it sounds odd but i do) and the devices work so well i no longer need root solutions to lag. in fact Android has been great as of version 4.3 and my most recent products.

i just hate to have that change. Google already leaves a bad taste in my mouth but at least i can disable Google Play. i tried going into settings--apps, all and the option to 'disable' as well as the check to disable or enable notifications are greyed out. rooting would mean ODIN which factory resets after a bootloader unlock which means all my work to make it work as my S3 did, with my widgets and such the way i like would go away, back to an out of box state, and i really don't need to spend an all-nighter reconfiguring everything.

the app in question is called 'SDM.apk'. if i force quit it, the notification vanishes. but it quickly returns a few minutes after. Verizon worked with me to disable 'SDM Updater Remote Query' but it did nothing. still get the notification. that's the app that needs to be disabled but those options are greyed out.

Although my OCD makes the persistent notification annoy the living crap out of me just being there taking up space in my already full notification bar, i can live with it so long as i can be assured that it won't just up and install after a few weeks. i hear that Google or Samsung is pulling an Apple in that regard, in that after so many dismissals, it just ups and installs eventually.

compared with my S3, while it looks exactly like the S3, the Galaxy S4 works so well and is much faster, no lag at all, is reliable, great battery life, and gets 4G LTE at my home. it's stable, reliable. i just don't want to chance that for the sake of change. plus i can't stand the white icons in KitKat.

I do know Android 4.3 has 'app ops' which allows you to set permissions (???) which means i might be able to disable permissions to SDM.apk or to something it requires, forcing it to crash. and taking the notification with it. but i cannot find app ops anywhere in dev options.

EDIT: discovered how to enable 'app ops' and disabled notification permissions for sdm.apk, and it did make the checkmark, previously greyed out in settings for it, vanish. now the notifications are disabled, but we'll see if it returns in five minutes. for now it's gone though.

EDIT AGAIN: Well apparently it knows how to get around permission limits too. even App Ops can't stop the notification from rearing its ugly little head. even going to about phone, software update, where i would expect to find a checkmark to disable 'check automatically' is now spawning the 'install now' or 'install later' prompt, and not letting me in further. just for kicks, i hit 'install later' but all that does is prompt me for a time to make it install on its own, which i cancelled. there seems to be zero way to refuse this update. how very, Apple, of you, Android. just when i thought i found an OS that gave me a CHOICE about the UI and software i choose to run. now it pulls an Apple and tries forcing updates down my throat. i no longer have the option to keep TouchWiz the way i like.

I really shouldn't have to root for this. but the only options i seem to have are 1) keep dismissing the pop-up every time i unlock my device, 2) update it whether i like it or not, and live with any problems that comes with it, or 3) root, unlock my bootloader, wipe my device, and spend six or seven hours getting everything back the way it was.

Unless you know of any app i can get that can disable or freeze sdm.apk without root. i am not sure any exists.
 
Yet another tl;dr mate but I don't think I've ever read of a non root way.
Personally I'd have that thing rooted and rommed straight out the box as you know lol :D
 
well that's your choice. my choice is to maintain my nice TouchWiz UI and keep consistency and my preferences the way they are across all my devices. i did manage to find a root tutorial that doesn't mean a data wipe, but rooting has caused issues with stability even on stock ROMs and i really don't want to go that route just to refuse an OTA update. but if i can go to root explorer and remove SDM.apk and done, why not?

currently to me Vanilla Android is boring. too flat, the camera app pales in comparison with Samsung's, the whole UI is too simple, too sterile, too B&W. in addition, i tried tacking on TW Framework, managed to get S Voice and Samsung Apps, S Memo and FlipBoard to work, but that was the limit of it. no Smart Stay, Smart Scroll, no Multi-Window, S Voice used Google Now's voice, crashed a lot, and just never gave me the experience i liked.

also, Google Now is no replacement to S Voice. S Voice can control device functions like toggling wifi and bluetooth without me making a nasty fingerprint smudge doing it by touch. Google Now can't even control that! it's a simple thing that even the worst Play Store voice app can do. it's too limited. and Google Now doesn't even know when i'm home because my address is so remote it does not exist in Maps, so all it does is think i live 15 miles away at cell tower.

Bottom line, i didn't just pay the full, unsubsidized $699 price to get the Galaxy S4 to have someone force me to update on their terms. that's Apple and Microsoft territory.
 
Have you turned off the auto-update stuff in settings? Not sure in your case because it already knows there is a new version, but it's one of the first things I disable when getting a new phone. It won't nag you of an update then. It's in About Device>Software Update
 
i did actually go into settings--apps--all-- and where it has 'software update' i did 'turn off' and disable notificaitons.

That seems to be the system updater or Samsung's update tool, not sure which. the source for this pop-up and persistent notification is called 'SDM.apk'. if i force stop it, or kill it in a task manager, the notification vanishes as does the pop-up. but it will return a few minutes later. i tried going into settings--about phone and 'software update' (i think there's supposed to be both a check for updates as well as a way to disable automatic updates) but all that does now is make the pop-up appear, where i have little choice.

going under 'software update' now just produces the 'install now/install later' dialog. hitting 'install later' just makes where i can schedule an auto-update or do it right away. the only other option is to install it now. hitting 'back' just goes back to about device. there seems to be no way to disable it at all.

what doesn't make any sense is that i disabled all the permissions for SDM.apk under App Ops but it seems to get around those permissions even when i turned them off. how is that even possible?

all this reminds me of when my iPhone 4 was updated to iOS 7. at first it just had downloaded the update and waited for me to go into settings--general--software update and install it. a little red 1 badge would persist but i could ignore it.

eventually i woke up and my iPhone had installed iOS 7 and was going through the setup wizard. i had no say in the matter.

Now, my Galaxy S4 seems to have downloaded the update file, and is waiting for me to install it like my iPhone did. this really irks me to no end. and here i thought i had a choice with Android

just irks me also that i'm required to jailbreak or root my device to stop this from happening. that's the Apple way--jailbreak to keep Apple from either nagging you or limiting your choices. now i'm required to do that to Android as well. i really don't want to root. it introduces more problems that i was finally away from. my Galaxy S4 was the most reliable device i had since my S3 died. i would really like to keep it that way.
 
Well that's indeed weird. On all devices I have with differing versions of TouchWiz (2.2, 2.3, 4.1.2 and 4.3) this is what I get in the Software Update section.

 
It has indeed already downloaded the update, and will nag you to install it constantly, every three hours at the most if you hit "install later". The same thing happened to me until I accidentally hit the wrong button and it installed. Fortunately it wasn't the horrible Kitkat with it's asinine SD card restrictions. I don't think there's any way around it without rooting. Unrooted won't let you get to the file to delete it (and it is huge!) Not sure if a factory reset would work but I doubt it.
I disabled Software Update in the application manager, and it hasn't downloaded any more updates. I know there are at least two more available for my phone, so that has worked for me.
 
does anyone know how to format an SD Card 'EXfat?' the root tutorial requires that to work and it's the only one that doesn't require a data wipe. but none of my Linux boxes or my WinXP computer has that option. it's either FAT, ext2, or NTFS. i cannot find any help online and no, i'm not shelling out $69 for a 64GB MicroSD card just to root this damn phone to deny a stupid update. all this trouble, been up for hours past when i should be sleeping, what a way to ruin a weekend.

I mean why is it this freaking hard to tell folks NO i do NOT want the damn update? is it really so damn important that i get nagged constantly about it? my phone works fine as-is. why can't companies accept that?! if this is the direction Android is going, i can assure you this will be my last Android device. this is just ridiculous.
 
when i click 'software update' under 'about phone' it pops up the dialog saying 'install now' or 'install later'. i have no submenu that you posted chanchan, i know it *should* show up but the dialog comes up instead. backing out of the dialog just boots me back to 'about phone'. it's as if it is forcing me to update. i refuse. if it updates, the phone goes in the trash. i am not about to relive the crap that was iOS 7 and certainly not going to live Android's take on it. or take chances it won't break things as the 4.3 update did on my S3. i refuse to be forced this way. i'll update if and when i find it worthy, and if it has a feature i really want to use. so far, that is not the case. my phone does exactly what i want and does it well. there is literally nothing i am missing. why should i be forced to update regardless? doesn't anyone know that change for the sake of change is BAD POLICY?

I apologize for my sour mood but i just spent the better half of my evening when i could be catching up on housework or better yet, some nice episodes of M*A*S*H and have gotten nowhere with rooting my phone in order to fix this problem. i am currently stuck at formatting the MicroSD card to exFat. that ExFat is not an option on any of my laptops, old or new. not in Vector Linux, not OpenSUSE, not OS X, not WinXP. it's either Fat, Fat32, NTFS, EXT2, EXT4 and that's it.
 
Nick - It's been awhile since I had a Touchwiz device with an OTA notice, so please forgive me if this method no longer works.

Once your phone has downloaded the software update in the background, it will continue to pester you to run the update. So, there is a two-step approach to handling this.

  1. Delete the update (can you do this without root?)
  2. block future OTAs

There is an easy, non-root method for this, but it's time consuming. Here's the process (and again, please forgive me if you go through this and it no longer works):

  1. factory reset device
  2. upon initial configuration, do NOT set up a Samsung account (if you use one, set it up later)
  3. immediately after setup, go to your settings and disable automatic update to prevent the OTA from downloading (might be a good idea to skip wifi setup during initial configuration to delay the OTA download)
  4. go to settings --> apps and disable the app called "Samsung Update."

By doing this, you'll disable all potential sources of the OTA. I remember it working on my device, but again, it's been awhile.

I also just wanted to throw in that we're similar in our loathing to root. With my HTC Droid Incredible, I not only rooted and ran custom ROMs, but developed my own custom ROM to make the phone do what I wanted. I promised myself I'd upgrade to a device that did what I wanted out of the box to prevent needed to put this much effort into it. With my Galaxy S II, I never rooted nor ran a custom ROM. I did, however, use ODIN to get updates faster and to avoid KIES. So to rectify this, my next device was a Google Play Edition - all the hardware features I needed (removable battery, home button, microSD) with timely automatic software updates :)
 
Next time the notification pops up, long press on it and go into App Manager on it. Then uncheck the notification box. That should stop it.
 
Jellybean was always laggy on the Galaxy S4 so just upgrade already, the Kitkat upgrade is a lot smoother and any minor changes you will just get used to.

Don't think about too much, just update!

The only reason not to update is knox, but there are stock roms available with Knox removed so that shouldn't stop you.
 
shmn said:
How's that for peer pressure...just do it, everyone else did. Hmm.
Click to expand...

But that's not what I said, he should update because the the update addresses lag issues.

The Galaxy S4 has never been smooth with jellybean roms, it's disgusting it took Samsung this long to fix the interface lag.

They still have that stupid delay when starting the phone applications though, they still need to address that.
 
"If this is the direction Android is going, i can assure you this will be my last Android device"

Am curious as to where you're going to go...ios or windows?
 
My s4 never lags. My S3 did but my S4 works perfectly fine. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

When i said it would be my 'last Android device' i meant i wont upgrade after the S4. The S5 UI is taking too many flat design cues inspired by Google Play and iOS 7. It looks hideous. The S4 has a beautiful nature themed UI that i prefer. In fact i prefer Samsung's take on Android enough to give up all my previous Apple products. I have tons of Samsung Android devices. But if they let Google get all jealous, enough to use a Nexus/iOS 7 inspired UI forget it. The S5 UI removes almost all the alternative Samsung offerings i prefer to use, essentially replacing them with Google's buggy, unreliable Play versions. I refuse to use Hangouts or Play Store.

It was never intended to imply i would toss my Android stuff that still works into the garbage.
 
nickdalzell said:
My s4 never lags. My S3 did but my S4 works perfectly fine. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

When i said it would be my 'last Android device' i meant i wont upgrade after the S4. The S5 UI is taking too many flat design cues inspired by Google Play and iOS 7. It looks hideous. The S4 has a beautiful nature themed UI that i prefer. In fact i prefer Samsung's take on Android enough to give up all my previous Apple products. I have tons of Samsung Android devices. But if they let Google get all jealous, enough to use a Nexus/iOS 7 inspired UI forget it. The S5 UI removes almost all the alternative Samsung offerings i prefer to use, essentially replacing them with Google's buggy, unreliable Play versions. I refuse to use Hangouts or Play Store.

It was never intended to imply i would toss my Android stuff that still works into the garbage.
Click to expand...

Err, you do know that you can just use other apps, change the icons and use other widgets right? I mean I personally like flat simple icons (contrasts nicely with a multiple color mix wallpaper) and even if I use some of the samsung apps I just changed the icons.

There's a nice Samsung S3 theme for Nova that uses the Samsung icons and design.
 
You know, all that time you spent trying to get rid of the notifacation... you could have just done the update and it would have been done right away XD
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom