This is frustrating. I was thinking I was having trouble with my text messaging, so I upgraded by Texting app (Textra) from 4.76 to 4.80. I also updated Google messages, and rebooted the phone. No other changes were made One of those upgrades made the entire phone painful to use. I uninstalled Textra 4.80 and downloaded a 4.76 APK bundle and installed that, no help at all. I uninstalled the google Messages update, no change at all. I 10x checked all my display settings were unchanged, they are al lthe same they have been for the past 2 years. 50% brightness, vison setting all the same, Developer Settings and Disable HW Overlays is checked, it's all the same, but the phone still hurts me. I downgraded to Textra 4.29 and that seems a little better, but how could a messaging app update change an entire device? Like, the calculator app is now brutal for me and I didn't touch that at all

@"ensete"#p43110 Maybe something else changed and it's just a correlation? It doesn't make any sense to me unless the phone did an update during reboot and that update contained a change that made it the phone problematic. Seems rather improbable.

Upgrade one app, phone is ruined, even after rollback?

Sunspark

It doesn't do that. Display drivers are with OS updates.. look at the about in your phone and see when the last patch was applied.

Would also suggest powering off the device completely here.

simplex

I also think, phone got updated

Ensete got cumulatuve effect with external reason (another device, LED lamps, medicine etc). Sometimes I got same and blame "nearfield objects". My last object I found is allergy pills - with it, I can use some bad devices %)

Staycalmsyndrome

ensete Some 'traces' still remain. You can try to:
-acces the phones recovery menu and delete both cache and dalvik cache partition
-search for Google Play Services in the app menu and clear all data(not only cache)
-search for Android System Webview in the app menu and clear data

ensete

Seems like I may have found the problem, the latest Google Messages Update does a "stealth install" of two additional apps with zero notice to the user. They are "Android System Key Verifier" and "Android System SafetyCore"

I looked them up, SafetyCore is a "security" (yeah right) feature that says it scans your device for "unwanted content" (in reality it just scans your device for more personal data to link to your profile so Google can charge more $$ selling it to ad companies) and Key Verifier is some service that lets apps verify a message contacts public keys.

For whatever reason, either one or both of these apps drastically turn up the brightness, gamma, and contrast on the screen leading to searing eye strain. Blacks are WAY deeper, white text on a black background is drastically brighter, and the overall gamma is cranked way up. I found both the apps in my app list, cleared their cache, deleted their data, removed the apps, rebooted the device, and it SEEMS to be fixed now. I can't tell if it is 100% back to where it was since I have been in constant pain triggered by this damn phone for 3 days straight so my facial muscles are all jacked up, but it's at least 80% better and it may get back to 100% after a few days eye rest. I am also prepping the device and backing up all my data and APK's and version lists in the event I need to do a factory reset to completely get me back to stock.

So just a heads up, be very careful before updating Google Messages if you use that app. My overall worry is that since these are "system" features, Google is likely to roll them up into Android itself in the future and there will be no removing them without rooting the device which is getting harder and harder to do. But I guess that's a problem for another day

Edit: to the other folks replying, the phone was not updated, I have Developer Options enabled, Auto Install Updates disabled, I disabled the System Update app, and confirmed the system version was the same it has always been on the device. I took a screenshot of the system version the day it came out of the box so I can always verify.

JTL

Beat me to it.

Google Play (and related Google applications) are a system component that can be updated outside of Android OS updates, and while it doesn't touch the kernel or GPU drivers I wouldn't be surprised if something it could be doing could impact rendering in unrelated contexts either.

ensete

Phone seems to be iffy now, it randomly will hurt my eyes, and randomly won't.

So I'm going through the odious process of backing up everything and then I'm going to factory restore it. I know enough about Android programming to know that a app upgrade running in User Mode cannot access the system ROM to touch the Factory Restoration image, so no matter what got upgraded a Factory Restore should get it back to stock.

Wish me luck

Sunspark

It doesn't make sense though.. I do have Google Messages (albeit I sideload the Samsung themed version).. all I can think of is an issue years ago involving old versions of google play books where the brightness got "stuck", and people had to go back into the app to toggle it again. But Messages doesn't have any brightness controls.. maybe the qr app, but if you weren't using it, it wouldn't have turned up the brightness.

floydian

Let me share with you my esperience (please note that I am unable to use any modern app, even on Safe Android device and am stuck on ancient Brave browser from 2022 - for example currently working Google Maps, Youtube, Signal, Teams are giving me huge symptoms, even on safe phone. Basically my phone is clean Android 10 from 04.2021 with only ancient Brave browser installed - using everything through this browser).

I had similiar experience as yours - installing some apps ruined safe phone to the point when I had to erase it and set up from the very beginning. It wasn't the case with all the apps, but after updating MS Teams to "unsafe" version in 09.2022 or installing Slack in 05.2022, even if I uninstall the apps, previously fine phone was straining my head. I don;t have any logical explanation for that, however, that's my reality.

When it comes to mentioned Google Apps, which were installed recently in the background (Android System Key Verifier, SafetyCore) - I have them on the phone I use and they do not interfere with my eyes/brain. However, everyone is different. Please note that they were silently installed even though I have all Google Apps uninstalled or disabled on my phone (only Google Play Services are left, others were introducing strain when not disabled/uninstalled).

Best Regards,

Tom

Sunspark

Try Samsung Internet Browser. I've been using it for years. It's Chromium and will install on non-Samsung devices. Firefox is worth considering as a mobile app as well.

floydian

Sunspark Thank you for the advice, I'll try it (however I really hate it's UI - but it won't be a problem if this browser allows me to use modern version and view the websites I need without symptoms). Already tried recent Firefox on Android and it wasn't a solution for me unfortunately.

Best Regards,

Tom

Sunspark

Really? You hate the UI? I rather like it.. the menu at the bottom right is convenient, etc. Give it a chance.

Install AdGuard in it for the ad blocking.

floydian

Sunspark I gave Samsung Internet Browser a chance and indeed it seemed better than recent Brave versions. Still introducing some symptoms, but not as bad as Brave. Interesting.

Best Regards,

Tom