S3 factory reset 4.3

[Snooshie]

I got my S3 over a year ago, last week I figured it was time to do a mass purge and do a factory reset to clear all the deleted apps and junk that accumulated over the year. I backed up my contacts and what have you. Did the reset and did the setup process again. Everything went fine except I was missing a few things from the previously installed 4.3

I was missing the new UI features like the more apps icon in the middle of the quickbar, lens flares on the lock screen ect. I was also missing all the apps included in 4.3 like Paper Artist and Knox (not a big deal on that one) I check the version number of my OS and it said 4.3...odd I was in the process of redownloading my apps when I was notified of a OS update. I did the update and re-re-setup my phone again. I got the missing apps and the new boat lockscreen photo but no lens flares or new touchwiz UI I had before my initial wipe

Obviously downgrading the OS and starting over is a huge hassle, any advice would really be appreciated

 

[GSDer]

Obviously downgrading the OS and starting over is a huge hassle

And if your phone is really on 4.3 it's also not possible. With the inclusion of the Knox component in the bootloader you can no longer downgrade to a previous ROM.

Regarding your other issues - I don't know; something strange is going on.

Sent from my rooted, debloated, deodexed Sinclair ZX-80 running CM -0.001 using Tapatalk Pro

 

[Snooshie]

Figured it out. By chance I was going through my flipboard and realized I used the Kit Kat launcher to get the UI changes for 4.4

The lens flares are in a display setting so that is working now too.

Side question since you mentioned it. Knox, even if I haven't run it or opened the app would it still not be possible to downgrade the IS?

Posted via Android Central App

 

[meyerweb#CB]

Bear with me. What carrier is your S3 on? If on Verizon, I believe there is currently no way to go back at all, but I'm not an expert on Verizon so I could be wrong.

Once the 4.3 kernel, with Knox bootloader, is installed, it seems that attempting to load an earlier kernel will hard brick the device. Once person has claimed to do that on a Note 2, but something doesn't seem to add up. To the best of my knowledge, no one has successfully gone back on an S3 or S4.

Note that I said "kernel," and not "ROM." What Samsung provides in it's official ROM update really consists of three parts: The kernel, the modem, and the ROM. If you attempt to use Odin or Kies to flash a complete, official Samsung ROM, in .tar format, you're installing all three, and installing a 4.1.2 kernel over 4.3 will, by all accounts, brick your phone.

If you're on Sprint, and if you root your device, you can install the ROM and the modem separately from the kernel. So you could flash an older ROM and modem, as long as you never try to flash and older or custom kernel that doesn't contain knox.

I'm not sure what the situation is on other carrier versions, or the international version.