Is the Google App important? What does it do?

@PlacidPenguin It’s a Samsung Galaxy Tab A, and the Samsung keyboard. I did go ahead and DL a Go Keyboard from the play store in case of future problems, but when I toyed with selecting it I got dire warnings about keystroke recording and quailed. I checked the Play Store and the Google App is fully updated, the update appears to have caused the problem.

Thanks.

@moondrake

Google does slow update rollouts for most of their apps.

Could you get me the version number of the Google app which you are using?

@moondrake @PlacidPenguin

If you feel comfortable with it, you might try using the “Google keyboard” or “gboard” (from Google, obviously).

Perhaps that keyboard will be less crashy.

(Google already had the opportunity to record everything you do from your use of the pixel)

It is true that a rogue keyboard can record what you use it for. So only use keyboards from companies your are willing to trust to some degree.

@f00l

Google Keyboard is the precessor of GBoard. The 6.0.65.141378828 brought the rebrand to Android.

@f00l @PlacidPenguin The Samsung guy wanted me to do gboard which we couldn’t do without the keyboard, so I’ll ditch Goboard and get Gboard.

The Google App is version 8.6.6.21.arm

I downloaded the Gboard just in time, it killed the Samsung keyboard again. It’s constantly flashing the crash report. I force stopped it again and its only crash reporting occasionally now.

@moondrake

Ah. You’re running the beta version of the app.

For what it’s worth, it works fine for me.

And yeah, not having a functional keyboard to be able to get a functional keyboard is a roadblock.

@PlacidPenguin @f00l I emailed the app’s support address, hopefully they’ll reply. Hate this keyboard, no navigation buttons. Crashes continue at random intervals, but I have noticed that selecting the voice to text button always generates a crash and it doesn’t work on either keyboard. I guess that’s a Google assistant ability. I want my Samsung keyboard back.

@moondrake

I just looked up Go Keyboard.

Possible privacy concerns aside, having a keyboard offer IAPS is laughable.

@PlacidPenguin What is IAPS? BTW, I didn’t pick Go Keyboard for any features, it had a good rating, didn’t say it had ads, and the thumbnail didn’t look too “noisy”.

@moondrake

What if you revert from the beta version of the Google App to a stable one?

@PlacidPenguin I assume that would be accomplished by uninstalling the current Google app, restarting, then installing the regular one? Do you need a reboot between installs like with a pc?

@moondrake

If you go to the Play Store page, you can unenroll from the beta.

@PlacidPenguin Thanks. I didn’ even know I was on beta till you pointed it out.

@PlacidPenguin Okay, I think I successfully switched. I switched back to my Samsung keyboard, much better. Hopefully problem solved. Thanks so much for your help.

@moondrake

You’re welcome.

@elfle ahh…

@moondrake my 1-1/2 year old Samsung Tab A 8 has become so buggy I almost want to go back to my still bulletproof (but now slow as hell, 2nd gen) iPad 2!

And it’s running the highest OS Samsung has released for it, 7.1.1.

Not running anything unusual on it. Randomnly reboots when battery falls below 50% and sometimes even when at 70%.

The auto-correcting is so crappy I sometimes disable it. But I need it! It far too often offers to misspell words.

And it insists on “autocorrecting” to full caps all the time even tho I rarely type that way except for acronyms. Especially at the end of sentences. Wonky as hell.

Using my iPhone is a relief except for the smaller screen.

Watching for iPad deals and have almost jumped on those $249 last gen iPads several times.

@RedOak I’m sticking with Samsung as I often use this tablet to cast to my Samsung tv. Although recently it’s decided it likes Roku better. Go figure. So maybe any tablet that can cast will work. But I know Samsung tablets will perform this important task, So I’ll probably stick with them. I also liked that I got 2 hours of tech support and a Geek Squad free ticket out of Samsung on this way out of warranty device. They weren’t all that helpful but I like a company that backs their product.

@moondrake not that I’ve had to use it much, but a few iPhones ago I had issues. Nothing like local face to face support at the Apple Store with Apple support folks using dedicated Apple diagonistic tools to sleuth the device.

And on the spot virtually new (better than “refurb”) replacement devices should they be needed.

@moondrake for a cheap solution, the fire 8 from Amazon goes down to 59 bucks every so often. Screen is pretty impressive and mine seems to function well even when playing games. I bought it on a whim just to have a cheap tablet laying around and I’ve been happy with it. As it comes you are stuck with The amazon app store but there are workarounds for sideloading if you need. It’s certainly not the greatest thing ever, but for dirt cheap it’s a neat little toy. And because it’s so cheap i won’t be terribly pissed off when someday somebody hits a ridiculous shot in golf clash and I destroy it in a fit of rage.

@dashcloud That is very helpful. There are apps that cannot be disabled, but are a nuisance. Even if this doesn’t remove them from cache, it uninstalls them for “user 0” which is better than disabled, because I have had the system re-enable apps which I disabled.

Thank you.