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What does Firefox/Mozilla know about Android 8 that Adobe, Chrome, DuckDuckGo, Google, and Samsung do not?

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  • Last reply by ArlosDad

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This is kind of an inverse support question. I have a Samsung Galaxy Tab A tablet running Android 8.1, no System software updates in years. All good until this past week. Suddenly most, but not all, of the apps are crashing. The first one I noticed NOT crashing was Firefox. Another is a ViHealth app which just released a major re-write a few weeks ago. Adobe Acrobat, Chrome, DuckDuckGo browser, "Google", Samsung Memo and Galaxy Store, and others all crash immediately upon opening. All but Memo have been updated in December '22 or January '23.

Why DOES Firefox work when these others don't? Do we know of changes to commonly used source-code libraries that are for Android 13, but not compatible with Android 8? Revisions to permission structures? Anything? Beuhler? Thanks! Puzzled in PA

This is kind of an inverse support question. I have a Samsung Galaxy Tab A tablet running Android 8.1, no System software updates in years. All good until this past week. Suddenly most, but not all, of the apps are crashing. The first one I noticed NOT crashing was Firefox. Another is a ViHealth app which just released a major re-write a few weeks ago. Adobe Acrobat, Chrome, DuckDuckGo browser, "Google", Samsung Memo and Galaxy Store, and others all crash immediately upon opening. All but Memo have been updated in December '22 or January '23. Why DOES Firefox work when these others don't? Do we know of changes to commonly used source-code libraries that are for Android 13, but not compatible with Android 8? Revisions to permission structures? Anything? Beuhler? Thanks! Puzzled in PA

Chosen solution

My Solution: Factory Reset. Root Cause: Unknown.

Fortunately, there was enough functionality remaining for me to back up my data to a PC. A Windows Explorer connection let me copy personal files, and Samsung Smart Switch worked without crashing to back up some apps with data. After resetting and restoring, all is working well - so far.

Note that the last thing I tried as a fix was to uninstall Norton Security, since that touches most everything that goes on. Did not help, so went for the sledge hammer.

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Hi

I am not sure that we are going to be able to answer your question about Android 8, but we might be able to help with the crashing apps.

As a first step, make sure that you phone and apps are up to date.

Further to this, open the Android Settings app, select Applications and open each app in turn. For each app you have installed, under Storage, clear the cache (not data!). Once done, restart your device.

I hope that this helps.

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Thanks for your quick response. I should have mentioned that I searched this up, down, and sideways, and tried all the updating, cache-clearing and restarting suggestions. But, I had not tried them as systematically as you suggest, so I just did that now. Sadly, no change.

It seems like it must be higher up the food chain than individual apps, since it affects so many, and started so suddenly. I am trying to avoid a factory reset, but it may come to that. Fortunately, it is a wi-fi tablet, not a phone.

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Chosen Solution

My Solution: Factory Reset. Root Cause: Unknown.

Fortunately, there was enough functionality remaining for me to back up my data to a PC. A Windows Explorer connection let me copy personal files, and Samsung Smart Switch worked without crashing to back up some apps with data. After resetting and restoring, all is working well - so far.

Note that the last thing I tried as a fix was to uninstall Norton Security, since that touches most everything that goes on. Did not help, so went for the sledge hammer.