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Latest GMail update is flawed and causes boot loop in S4

rossmcm

rossmcm

Newbie
Just a warning that the latest GMail update (4.6 (836823)) as at 9 Oct 2013) introduces a new setting "Auto Sync" and it is displayed when GMail starts up after the update.

DON'T TURN IT ON.

If you do your phone will start boot-looping. My S4 is currently unusable. I would appreciate any suggestions for unbricking it. I've tried in vain to quickly disable the app or disable syncing. The phone is not rooted.

What pisses me off is that there seem to be reports dating from over a week ago about this and the bastards didn't have the sense to pull the update.

The problem isn't confined to S4 phones so it must be an epidemic.

R
 
If, like me, you had your phone put into a boot loop by the GMail update of early October 2013, here is how I recovered mine.

The main problem is that you need to disable sync in the short time between when the phone finishes startup and before it reboots again.

On the occasion I tried this the phone was starting from cold and I don't know if it would work when it was between boot loops.

I'm not game to re-brick my phone and try.

  • As soon as the home screen displays, swipe down from the top of the screen to display the quick settings buttons (WiFi, Airplane Mode, etc).
  • As soon as it is displayed, swipe horizontally to bring the "Sync" icon into view (the arrangement of these buttons is configurable so you might not need to swipe to see the "Sync" button).
  • The sync button will be lit, indicating that Sync is on. Tap it to turn it off.

If you are fast enough, the problem should be gone (you might need one more reboot cycle).
 
You must have some bad download or some other app (maybe from your provider) that collides with it.


I have this exact version since Sept 26th and till today, none of my S4, Note2 and S3 had any problem whatsoever. And we are all a very active gmail users.
 
I am also using the same version with no issues on my GS4. I have 2 gmail accounts and in order to view one or the other, have to change the primary gmail account in the app to see the other one.

Under Gmail general settings I don't see anything about sync. Under the individual gmail account, I see a checkbox for Gmail sync... which is checked. I don't see anything about autosync. Where is that found?

When I long press the sync button in quick settings, I don't even see gmail in the list.
 
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