I have a Samsung S9. My phone just did a system update and I HATE it. How do I undo it?

[Gayle Lynn]

Then do a factory reset. Setup as new without restore. Then judge it. And gradually install apps you need.

Clearing cache partition seems to always help to point where system update should do it on its own automatically.

Pie on Samsung is still young and they may make changes once they have months of user experience beyond what a few months of beta testing. It is “dot zero” in ways but had to be ready for S10 rollout.

 

[John Polanco]

For All those looking to "Roll-Back" from this crappy firmware update, A good idea is to find someone with an S9, (preferably a friend) that has Not yet done this idiotic firmware update, and make a copy of that 8.0 Oreo OS (operating system) so that you can revert or as some call it, "Roll-back" to its original. Have it backed up and then save it onto a PC, from which you will copy it to you cells . To do this, you would have to follow the procedure as IF you were going to Flash the ROM. The principle is to get inside I missed my opportunity with my wife's S9. I bought mine with the update already done. But her's took place as I was setting it up, and was fooled into accepting it bcuz it did not indicate it was a Firmware update. To safely check this for yourself, turn off your phone, then press and hold the vol down, bixby button and power button at same time. (bixby button is under the vol butt.). Next you will see a screen with a warning sign (no worries as nothing is being done). Then press vol up. Here you should see the options available. Now you can scroll down to Restart phone. This is only for those who can manage computer tasks. Its entirely up to you. I know I will be trying to locate a copy of 8.0 Oreo OS.

 

[Deepcuts]

Was in the same boat.
My problem with Pie is the blocking of call recording.
How I downgraded to Oreo official without loosing warranty: https://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=78923346&postcount=13

 

[Android Central Question]

My Oreo8 is in grave danger...please save this damsel in distress

@John Polanco ..if you save my Oreo8 from being raped and pillaged by unwanted Pie9, you have unlimited lifetime Oreo8 ... Daily fear of losing my Oreo8 via force ... Still fighting !!!

 

[B. Diddy]

I merged the above post into this thread.

 

[Douglas Drake]

I too hate this turd pie. Please stop changing stuff trying to keep your software engineers employed. Whomever authorized this update without user consent should certainly be terminated... if there is viable option to go back to what never needed updating in the first place you will lose customers guaranteed. I really hate this phone now, after 1.5 yeats of it being simply the best phone i ever owned. Please stop shooting yourself in the head and give your customers the ability to choose what works best for them. This is so apple like i may as well have stayed there... please help. How do we go back and dump this garbage OS?

 

[B. Diddy]

Welcome to Android Central! It might be more productive to describe what it is about the update that you dislike or are having problems with, and perhaps the members of this community can suggest solutions or workarounds. Sometimes problems that users perceive about updates are due to unawareness of where a feature went, or what may have taken its place. There are also plenty of 3rd party solutions that can make things better -- e.g., if you hate the UI, then give a 3rd party launcher a try, like Nova.

UI changes and additional or modified features are a fact of life when it comes to major system updates. If you're really averse to this, then instead of getting the latest and greatest phone, I suggest getting a 2-3 year old flagship phone instead, because then you're pretty much assured it won't get any more system updates. But then, you'll also be left behind when it comes to security patches.

BTW, be aware that this is an independent community forum, without any direct affiliation with Google or any other company. Samsung's engineers aren't "our" software engineers.

 

[Douglas Drake]

I apologize for the inference that your group was associated with samsung/android. I stand corrected. For the items i hate i will start assembling a list, but it really isnt about each thing that sucks, its more about the absolute reduction in user experience (in my experience anyway) and the fact i never consented to being blessed with the opportunity to have to relearn how to use an iten i bought with the expectation i would be able to keep it how i bought it (because it truly was the best phone experience i have ever had) . This is now so frustrating to work with on a daily basis i just want to smash it against a wall. One item that pops out is the change in icons from distinguishable items to silly squares, all in new colors and ugly as sin. I literally have to stop everything im doing and try to pick an icon that might do what i want. To make a phone call i now look for a green cube with a letter C on it. I realize it is supposed to look like a phone receiver but seriously i havet seen a real phone receiver looking like that since my grandmother died 15 years ago... so dumb. Then there is the keyboard i now fight just to get out a text... the shortened battery life... the fact it takes 2x the actions to go from the lock screen to anything... the way it locks the screen and stays dark no matter what button i push about 30% of the time... the constant but dialing and sending of photos to random people in text messages (yeah either the lock is fighting me or not doing anything, cant win)...half the time i can pound the home button until i think the glass will break, but the phone just sits there... trying to back out of an app or google search is a friggin joke and i end up with the phone at the restart menu by the time it actually closes the app... the spelling suggestions are spot on maybe 5% of the time though usually the only option thats even close is the delete option, just stupid... i cant dismiss alarms or reminders by tapping on the dismiss button as all it does is flash a little and thats it... i have been jacking with every setting under the sun and still cant get the lock screen notifications go work like they used too..i could go on but why even bother. If i have to fix or work around each of these items then i should be getting a check from android for fixing their trash system

I bought a phone to call and text on; at no time did i consent to wasting hours of my life fixing what wasnt broken before the 'update'

If you have suggestions i will listen but it sure seems to a layman like me rolling back to what worked is by far the smart idea here

 

[B. Diddy]

Here are some suggestions:

1. For the icon issue, as I had suggested above, try installing a 3rd party launcher like Nova, which allows you to use one of the multitude of icon packs available on the Play Store (and I'm sure there's at least one that emulates the icons you were used to from Oreo). A 3rd party launcher typically has a ton more customization options that can probably change your experience so that it's closer to what you were used to before.

2. I'm not sure what exactly you mean about fighting to get out a text with the keyboard (is it less accurate now, or have they taken some features away, or something else?), but if you don't like the Samsung keyboard, try any of the many others available on the Play Store, starting with Gboard. Swiftkey is another popular one.

3. Shortened battery life can be due to many many things. Oftentimes, battery drain can increase temporarily after a major system update, which then returns to normal after a few days (i.e., allowing the update to "settle in"). Wiping the cache partition can sometimes help as well: https://support.t-mobile.com/docs/DOC-37180. (This can also help with other various glitches that can occur after an update, so it's definitely worth a try.)

4. Re: the 2x actions to get from the lockscreen -- are you referring to the need to swipe up first to get to the password entry screen? That's a pretty standard feature that's meant to prevent accidental unlock attempts while the phone is in your pocket or in a bag. If the phone were inadvertently turned on in your pocket and the screen came on immediately to the password screen, additional accidental touches might be interpreted as an unsuccessful unlock attempt -- if that happens a few times, you might find that you've locked yourself out of the phone. You can get around this by using the fingerprint sensor to unlock the phone, or by using Smart Lock (if your phone is usually connected via Bluetooth to something on your person, like a headset or a smartwatch).

5. I'm not sure about the screen going dark and not waking up 30% of the time -- we'd need more details about that. Something like that could be due to an app you installed that might not be playing well with the new update. That kind of thing isn't Samsung's or Google's fault -- the app developer needs to test their apps with the new Android version to make sure it works well (and the dev also needs feedback from users who notice problems).

6. Re: the butt-dialing and accidental sending of photos -- again, would need more details about what's happening there. If you did something to try to get around problem #4 above (like selecting no lockscreen at all), then if the phone were accidentally being turned on in your pocket and immediately opening to the homescreen, that makes it much easier to accidentally open apps (like the Phone or Camera app) and do things like butt-dial or take random photos of the inside of your pants.

7. It sounds like your Home and Back buttons aren't always responding -- do you have a screen protector on? If so, see if the problem persists with the screen protector off. A poorly designed or poorly fitting screen protector can cause problems with touch detection. Another possibility is that something is causing the phone to lag, which could be a glitch with the system update, but again, could be due to some app not playing well with the update. It might be helpful to see if a lot of these glitches go away in Safe Mode, which temporarily disables all 3rd party apps: https://support.t-mobile.com/docs/DOC-37190

8. Spelling suggestions are related to the keyboard app. I've heard from others that Samsung Keyboard isn't that great in this respect, so as previously suggested, try a different keyboard app like Gboard.

You might respond, "I shouldn't have to install other apps to do these things", which is understandable -- but this is also one of the strengths of Android, in that you're not limited to what's preinstalled on the phone. Anyway, give those suggestions some consideration. I doubt they'll fix everything to your liking, but hopefully the experience will be a bit more tolerable.

 

[Golurk]

I hate the February 2019 update. I cannot find anything anymore, button icons have been replaced by words (come on Samsung this is going back to the stone age!!!) that I cannot read, I only have one eye and it isn't great. Some words appear in the middle of a full screen - exactly the last place you would expect a button. Underlining a word is hardly better than an icon that disappears. "More Info" is now ridiculous. There are now two or even three levels of questions to make sure that the first time you requested something you really meant it. I could better just hit back if I went wrong. The only time you should double check is for non-reversible changes. I hate the color changes. Why? It isn't better, it's just confusing. I hate the icon changes. Why? It isn't better, it's just confusing. In my car while driving I now can find nothing. I used to be able to navigate quite easily, now I scream at the bloody thing.

Did I just read that correctly? Not sure how to uninstall the update by OneUI seems to be quite popular (less bloat).