Samsung Says It Will Release An Update To Address App Throttling Issues

In a statement to TechCrunch, a Samsung spokesperson said the company will release a software update to allow users to have more control over throttling. "Samsung has not provided details about when the update will roll out to users," notes the report. From the report: "Our priority is to deliver the best mobile experience for consumers. We value the feedback we receive about our products and after careful consideration, we plan to roll out a software update soon so users can control the performance while running game apps," a spokesperson from Samsung said in an email.

Samsung's promise follows reports that the tech giant's phones are throttling the performance of around 10,000 apps, as first reported by Android Authority, and via Twitter complaints, plus Samsung's Korean community forums. The company's Game Optimizing Service (GOS) software, which optimizes the performance of CPU and GPU to prevent excessive heating when playing a game for a long time, appeared to be at the core of the issue, but the list of affected apps wasn't limited to games. However, Samsung has disputed claims that Game Optimizing Service was throttling non-gaming apps. "The Game Optimizing Service (GOS) has been designed to help game apps achieve a great performance while managing device temperature effectively. GOS does not manage the performance of non-gaming apps," the spokesperson said.

In Soviet Russia

[Anonymouse Cowtard]

In Soviet Russia - app throttles YOU!

Re:Amazing shit

[Sarusa]

Totally untrue. A quick search reveals tons of posts from people going back years asking how to disable the Game Optimization Service / Game Boost, and entire pages and youtube videos dedicated to it.

In particular, I noticed my fancy new Galaxy Tab S7 had stuttering in apps and games. Even while high speed charging where battery isn't a problem. At first I figured 'eh, it's just android', but then why wasn't this happening on my cheaper, less powerful off brand Android tablet? I went down the rabbit hole and eventually used ADB to disable those services and the stuttering went away. And I've had no problems with battery or temperature.

So yes, people have complained for years. And the people who haven't complained haven't done so because they didn't know that was the problem or they never do anything strenuous with it.

Re:

[gTsiros]

ah. So it _can_ be removed. The "gaming optimization" thing.

It causes the notification bar (you know, with the clock and signal icons) to reappear randomly, which isn't an issue, but it's distracting and, to be honest, quite annoying, considering "little alchemy" is barely a "game"

Re:

[Sarusa]

You can't actually remove it without rooting your device, but disabling it to keep it from running seems to be sufficient... for now.

Re:

[gTsiros]

sounds good enough. I have disabled the bixby thing with adb. What a garbage not-feature.

and who puts the power button directly opposite the volume buttons? you can't press the power button with two fingers, (thumb and any other one) when the phone is lying down. Best compromise is left hand, thumb on the power button and two other digits on either side of the volume button. Bigger stretch to clear the bixby button, if it isn't disabled.

Re:

[TheDarkMaster]

Same here. I spent a long time with weird delays in every app I used, until I removed this game optimizer service and presto! the cell phone suddenly started to respond better. Almost certain that the AC is some Samsung employee

Re:

[drinkypoo]

That's interesting, thanks, however stuttering is extremely unlikely to have been caused by this service.

Multiple people reported that it stopped when they removed it. It sounds extremely likely to have been caused by this service to me, even if I didn't know what I know about Android app performance. And what I know of it is that small changes to scheduler settings can have massive effects on app performance on your device. I know that because I have been in the habit of fucking with those settings on unlocked devices.

If you don't think that stuttering was likely to have been caused by a service that delibera

Re:

[mobby_6kl]

My Note9 has the Game Optimizing Service.I've literally only ran one game on this phone when I first got it (Need For Speed of some sort) which ran fine so I never looked into it.

GOS makes sense in theory, depending on the game you might want to throttle the CPU and/or GPU to achieve the best performance without running pointlessly at 1000fps like some games do. The lack of transparency here is sketchy but I'd really want to see some serious analysis of the impact on specific games. Most seem to be just run

Re:

[Otis B. Dilroy III]

Posting under AC not to fuck with my karma. Latest byline for paid shills

Re:

[drinkypoo]

Posting under AC not to fuck with my karma. Latest byline for paid shills

Yep. If you can't play the game well, then play it anonymously so nobody knows what a fuckup you are! Whee! I've been committed to saying unpopular things here for many years now, and I'm still standing.

Software updates don't always slow things down!

[Yo,dog!]

Great job, Sammy. /s

Re:

[Rockoon]

"Its time to start killing battery life. People need to upgrade!"

Re:

[Yo,dog!]

Pretty funny how few comments are here, given the magnitude of this fraud.

got to be a contrarian on this one

[RhettLivingston]

Any phone designed to be able to run full out all the time is either going to be a slow phone because it is using components that don't produce much heat (or performance) or a bulky phone with some type of crazy cooling mechanism. Any phone capable of high performance has to have a throttling mechanism for multiple reasons including not cooking the battery, not cooking components, not causing burns on consumers, not draining the battery too fast, etc. The implementation of that throttling is an art lying so

Every phone has its speed

[gnasher719]

You have the components, CPUs, GPUs, SAD speed, cache size, RAM size, that make the device fast. Thereâ(TM)s the question how close you can go to the limits, and for how long. How it affects your battery and how it even affects battery and device.

Itâ(TM)s entirely possible to have design decisions that make the device run faster or not. A more powerful CPU can be made to run faster, causing more wear and tear, or run at some limited speed, making the phone last longer. As a customer you decide