My S10e (SM-G970F, up to date OS and apps) got bricked today the moment I updated AR Emoji Sticker from the Galaxy Store. It didn't happen a day or an hour after the update -- it literally happened while the update was underway, I watched it happen in front of my eyes.
By "bricked" I mean the phone is bootlooping. Hard reset (maybe dozens of times), wiping cache partition, disconnecting and reconnecting the battery, replacing the battery -- all of it doesn't work.
Samsung Kies doesn't recognize the phone while in Download Mode (although it does recognize something is being connected).
The only thing I haven't tried is to factory reset but I'm trying to avoid that as much as possible.
Few important notes:
1. I'm aware that in October 2024 there was a VERY similar issue but that was when the SmartThings Framework app got updated:
This makes me wonder if this could be similar to that.
2. The AR Emoji Sticker app is not auto-updatable, you have to update it manually. I did it as I'm an update freak, and it came back to bite me. This makes me fear that this could be a widespread issue, but almost no one will encounter this as the user has to search for the app and update it, and it even doesn't (and never) appear in the Updates section in the Galaxy Store app.
3. I rarely do this manual update process for Samsung apps from the Galaxy Store, and don't remember when was the last time I updated this app (but I did it numerous times already in the past), so I don't know how long this update was pending.
4. I've contacted Samsung phone tech support and was directed to a service center. Spoke with a rep from a Samsung service center and asked to service the phone with the details mentioned here, and asked to diagnose but WITHOUT wiping the phone. I was told this is not a human decision but this is something that could be done automatically via the center's diagnostic utilities. Not sure how true that is but I didn't want to risk it so I didn't leave it there to be serviced.
Please, is there anything else I can try?
Since this could be an actual issue that not many (if any) user may encounter (see #2 above), local Samsung phone and service centers can't help me as this isn't officially acknowledged by Samsung. Is there any way an official Samsung rep could comment on this, and maybe confirm this by doing the same update on a similar phone, or something?
A friend of mine is also thinking this is done consciously, but I don't buy it. They could have pushed an update to a more widely used app. Also the same thing happened 4 months ago and they addressed this issue then.
I think this was simply not tested on old devices as you said.
As for the GW7, I have no idea what it is or if this is related, but please try to update all of the system apps (aside from AR Emoji Stickers of course) through the Galaxy Store., and the rest of the apps from the Google Play store, and then try again. Good luck.
Thanks for reaching out. Support for US products is the focus of this forum. As your device is a non-US model information is severely limited. We kindly suggest that you use this link to look for a support team in the area your product was manufactured in: https://www.samsung.com/visitcountry/
Did you know? Your region more than likely has a community of it's very own!! Check out the following link and join the community in your region: https://r2.community.samsung.com/
If these steps do not help, service is recommended. You can use the following link to find a list of service centers in the U.S. that can do the repair: http://www.samsung.com/us/support/service/location or by calling customer support at 1-800-726-7864.
Please, the product I own being a non-US model has NOTHING to do with this. I posted this in this forum simply because it's in English, and would likely get more eyes than if I were to post it in my region's forum.
Read the comments here, there are other users here who are (likely) US-based, with the same problem as mine.
This is a legitimate concern about Samsung bricking their own devices. Quite honestly this should have already been escalated to the relevant parties, and I'm surprised it didn't yet.
I just spent more than 2 hours (!) chatting with my region's Samsung chat service via WhatsApp, begged them just to forward my request onwards so that this claim will be confirmed, tested and maybe fixed.
It took them that long (after denying my request a few times, saying I should contact the service center to fix my issue [which I said I don't need and can fix this on my own, though temporarily]) to offer me to write them formally via a similar form as the one you pasted here.
I have the feeling I will be contacted back by the same party that I chatted with.. but we'll see.
I should be getting a reply within the next business day; I'll post here any updates I may get. Fingers crossed.
