Can I prevent Android 9 Pie auto-install without rooting?

[Android Central Question]

Hello,
Three friends of mine (who also own Samsung S8s) have recently noticed their phones are slower, uglier, have less battery life and in some aspects just don't work. It turns out that they have been infected with malware/upgraded with software known as Android 9 (Pie). I'm new to the world of non-rooted phones (I had a rooted Samsung S4 for years running Cyanogenmod) and wondered if there's anything I should do to stop Samsung forcibly damaging my phone, like has happened to my friends.

I already have Settings > Software Update set to NOT download updates automatically and also Schedule software updates is OFF. So far I have managed to avoid this nasty slice of pie being forced upon my phone.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions!

~ Paul

 

[SpookDroid]

If the update is mandatory, nope, that setting won't override it either, so for that you do need root and OS modification. If the update is flagged as optional, then your setting will do for now.

As for the phones being slower, have your friends tried clearing the phone's cache? While recommended to actually do a factory reset after a major upgrade like this, clearing the cache actually solves a lot of issues.

The 'uglier' part, well, that's all personal preference. I've gone from an Oreo Note 9 to a Pie S10, and really have no issues with using it or how it looks.

 

[This is Paul]

Thanks - I'll suggest to my friends that the clear their caches. And I'll probably root my phone when I have some free time.