Saturday, July 28, 2012

Suggested cure for phone problems

Updated: 4/3/2013

Sometimes you may notice something odd happening on your phone or tablet, and our app may not be operating like it was before.  Sometimes a simple reboot of the phone or tablet will clear up the problem, but sometimes it doesn't.

Problems very often arise after the Android OS has been updated.  Also be aware that while an upgrade to the next new shiny Android OS such as Jelly Bean may be an improvement, many times there might still be a few bugs that remain.

You should also make sure that you have all the latest updates for your phone or tablet.  If you have an option to send error reports to the manufacturer, I highly recommend you turn it on and keep it turned on.  I previously had mine turned off.  After I turned it on, and it sent an error report to HTC, it detected the problem with my phone not reading 100% when fully charged, downloaded a "battery level update" from HTC, and ever since my phone has been working fine.

If you have upgraded to a new Android OS, our app will need to be reinstalled.  But even if you haven't updated the Android OS, when problems arise, taking the steps below can often get things working the way they were before.

Doing a clean install:

1) Uninstall our app, and before you uninstall, clear data, clear cache, and anything else you can clear before uninstalling.
2) Check for an option in your settings (it might be under"privacy" or "Backup and reset") and called "Automatic restore" or something similar. This puts back the settings you had when reinstalling an app. To do a clean install you must make sure this option (if you have it), is unchecked first. Then later when you have reinstalled our app and things are working properly, you can go back and check it again.
3) Go to "Developer Options" under Settings, scroll to "Apps" and make sure "Limit background processes" is set to the default "Standard Limit".
4) Do a soft reset of you phone or tablet instead of just a reboot. If your battery is removable, to do this shut off the phone and take out the battery for about 30 seconds before putting it back in and turning it back on. If your battery can't be removed, an alternate way to do a soft reset that many phones have, is to hold down the power button for 10 seconds. (Check the manual for your device.)
5) Reinstall our app from Google Play.

People who e-mail me usually have a wide variety of different problems with their phones.  Sometimes the problem is difficult to narrow down.  But we need to remember that we are all carrying around little computers these days.  And while taking the above steps certainly isn't a cure-all for everything, it does seem to clear up a great many problems and get our app back to working as it should.