Question Can anyone tell me whats going on with my phone? List of new symptoms...

[debdefender]

1. It's always been a Samsung Galaxy showing as A515G now showing as SM A516U. I can see both but cannot get into A515G

2. I changed ringtones, now both ring at the same time and intermittent beep at start of calls.

3. I am receiving two of every notification and message.

4. All my apps and registered sites think I am on a new device.

5. I'm getting lots of high data usage warnings.

6. My Google account keeps showing a Linux device as mine, it's not, it's unknown. I sign out it gets back in.

7. I have new apps I didn't download, I also have apps that did not come from Google or Samsung.

8. I get notifications of voice mail with no record of any calls and the voice mail noted shows hours of duration.

9. On occasion, my pages/screen shakes. Zooms in and out by itself. Changes pages by itself. Types by itsef.

There's more but at the moment those are the highlights.

 

[B. Diddy]

Welcome to Android Central!

1. The model number SM-A516U represents the Galaxy A51 5G (it's not "A515G"). So they're one and the same.

2. Do you have any 3rd party dialer apps or call screening apps (like TrueCaller) installed? That kind of thing might cause duplicated ringtones.

3. When you get a duplicate notification, swipe down the notification panel and take a screenshot, then post it here. http://forums.androidcentral.com/ge...ide-how-post-screenshots-android-central.html. Make sure not to include any identifying info in the screenshot.

4. Did you recently do a factory reset of the phone and set it back up? Or do you have multiple profiles set up on the phone?

5. The high data usage warning is something you can adjust yourself. Look in the system settings under the Network menu and you should be able to find it (or you can search the system settings for it).

6. Sometimes one of your devices will show up in your Google account as something generic, like "Linux." It could be something like a car stereo system that allows you to log into your Google account, or a smart display, or a TV. It can be tricky to figure out what it is sometimes, but it typically isn't a worry.

7. What apps are you concerned about? It's not unusual for certain carriers to preinstall bloatware, or include additional bloatware in a system update. In addition, carriers can also install annoying software that will offer to install "helpful" apps -- examples are T-Mobile's AppSelector and Verizon's App Manager. What carrier are you on?

8. When you call in to check your voicemail, there's nothing? Do you have Visual Voicemail, and if so, is that also empty?

9. If you have a screen protector on, try taking it off. A poorly designed or applied screen protector can cause ghost touches.

 

[debdefender]

1. They are one in the same, it's just never been shown as A516U before all of these other oddities began. Had it for over a year so these new behaviors and such stand out.

2. I keep a text now number and app. It stays off 99.5%. It's a back up number in case of.

3. Will do. That's where I see the duplication.

4. Never factory reset and only have myself set up. However, I noted when I put some apps into Secure Folder they would show twice in the apps list with one sporting the lock in the icon corner. Now I see 3 of some apps and the third has two gold rings in the corner. That's new along with this problem.

5. Except I am oddly using nearly 4x my norm in data and doing nothing different.

6. At home I would have thought the same but I'm working since Oct of 22 away from home and other devices.

7. I'm on Metro PCS. I'm finding apps that say they came from places like device manager, Samsung cloud. One says to check galaxy store for details, then I get an error from there. I'll post screen shots.

8. I got rid of visual voice-mail long ago. There's nothing in voice-mail, nor any record of a missed call. This happens right in front of me when using apps for other things. Then I see call durations of 9 hours, 5 hours and such. 10 mins is most I'm ever on.

9. My screen protector is like a big slab of tape made for it. It's holding the glass together at the moment. New phone in te plans. I just want to solve this first because similar going on with cheap crappy tablet I have. Started same time.

 

[debdefender]

This is in my apps list

 

[debdefender]

 

[debdefender]

This shows some of the duplicated apps with the gold rings in the corner of the icon.

 

[debdefender]

AR Doodle
Shows no permissions
Tap all permissions and it's quite the list
Tap Galaxy Store where it supposedly came from and the error is odd.

 

[B. Diddy]

This is just too much of an avalanche of items. Let's handle things one by one.

Where are you seeing the model number (A516U) where you were used to seeing the model name (A51 5G)?

 

[debdefender]

This is just too much of an avalanche of items. Let's handle things one by one.

Where are you seeing the model number (A516U) where you were used to seeing the model name (A51 5G)?

Almost every place I used to. Under my devices in my Google account, my Chime app shows it as a device that has successfully logged in. All of the apps and websites that suddenly acted like it was my first visit from a new device, once I got logged in via codes and email security checks, now show my device as A516U. The only place still showing it A515G is my Samsung account, that may be only because it's registered there.

Any current or recent sessions anywhere show as A516U.

I have a suspicion about what's happened, I just want to see someone with phone smarts arrive at it as well before mentioning it.

 

[B. Diddy]

This really doesn't seem suspicious to me. It might have something to do with a recent system update. If you recently did a reset of the phone and set it back up, that might also contribute.

Regarding issue #2 -- TextNow might very well lead to double rings/notifications. You could try uninstalling it temporarily to see if that goes away.

 

[debdefender]

I didn't do a factory reset on this phone, ever. These same issues began at the same time on my TCL Tablet. It changed it's name to its model and was identified as a new device on all my apps and regular websites. Pretty much the same quirks as the phone is having.

 

[debdefender]

Also forgot to mention Engineer Mode was set up and shows in my apps. I didn't however, set them up. I did open them on both devices to see what they were involved with. Both had permissions set for "Nearby Devices".

 

[debdefender]

My text now app ring tone is completely different from the two my phone is currently tag teaming me with. I deactivated Text Now just to eliminate the possibility. No change.

 

[B. Diddy]

Engineer Mode requires a USSD code to be entered into the dialer. Did you or anyone else ever do that? https://androidguide.medium.com/wha...and-use-on-different-smartphones-aa316df88a84

I looked through a few of your other screenshots. AppHub is definitely bloatware that can automatically install other junk. Get rid of it. https://us.community.samsung.com/t5...hub-and-do-I-need-it-on-my-phone/td-p/2765506

AR Doodle is a Samsung app. It's nothing to worry about, but I'm not sure if you can get rid of it, since it's Samsung bloat.

 

[debdefender]

Engineer Mode requires a USSD code to be entered into the dialer. Did you or anyone else ever do that? https://androidguide.medium.com/wha...and-use-on-different-smartphones-aa316df88a84

I looked through a few of your other screenshots. AppHub is definitely bloatware that can automatically install other junk. Get rid of it. https://us.community.samsung.com/t5...hub-and-do-I-need-it-on-my-phone/td-p/2765506

AR Doodle is a Samsung app. It's nothing to worry about, but I'm not sure if you can get rid of it, since it's Samsung bloat.

I read up on Engineer Mode after I saw it running on my b/fs device. Amazingly it mysteriously turned up on both of mine.

I had gotten rid of apphub and the Samsung bloatware but it all turned back up when these issues started.

 

[debdefender]

Today I was using the Sheet App and adding photos to a presentation. The app kept asking if I wanted to switch to "work" a showed a briefcase. I never set the work profile up on this phone and have never been asked this before.

Is it possible that at the base of these issues, my b/f got into the phone, set up the work profile as A515G and the personal A516U?

If so how do I access the work profile. I tapped yes to switch earlier and got a message that my business does not allow. Integration use of personal apps.

 

[B. Diddy]

It's difficult to tell if AppHub is being automatically installed by Metro, Samsung, or some other app you might have installed. It might keep getting reinstalled, according to experience in this thread:

https://www.reddit.com/r/GalaxyS22/comments/ynsvqv

. So you might have to look for it from time to time to see if it's back and needs to be uninstalled again.

It would not be surprising for Samsung bloatware to reappear, typically after a system update.

Are you using this phone for work? If so, does it connect to a company Microsoft Exchange email on Outlook, or a company intranet? Some companies will require certain security policies to be installed in order to be approved for use, and that kind of thing might be related to what's going on.

You can also see if an Android Work Profile has been set up on your phone: https://support.google.com/work/android/answer/6191949?hl=en

You would have to ask your boyfriend if he was tinkering with your phone.

 

[Daniel Detkowski]

You need to secure your Gmail and Samsung account

 

[debdefender]

I get rid of the same apps everyday, fix my settings the way I ike them. Next day it's all back as it was and my efforts are undone.

 

[B. Diddy]

Are you actually able to uninstall AppHub? If so, are you saying that specific app keeps reinstalling?