What happened to Kies (post 4.4 update)?

[Dustin DeWinn]

Hello,

My S4 was recently updated to 4.4.2 from 4.2.2. I'm on ATT. It's not rooted. I never used Kies but I noticed the other day it was gone. IF I were to do a factory reset, which is something I am hesitant to do, I'd want to back up everything obviously. I DID download Samsung Smart Switch from the Play store, but Kies seems to be gone from my phone. When I plug it into my computer via USB I don't really see the ability to do anything but view photos.

How do I get Kies back?

Second question, and this is probably stupid, but from the download link: Kies | SUPPORT | SAMSUNG

Do I get Kies or Kies 3? I ask because Kies says it's for the S4 but Kies 3 says it's for 4.3+

So....what do I do?

 

[Smpwojcik]

Pre 4.4 you'd use kies. 4.4 and after you'd use kies 3. So in your case, kies 3.

I dont believe kies is something the installs on your phone. I've used kies many times and have never had any sort of app installed on the phone. It's all on the PC. If you run kies 3 and then plug your phone in and nothing shows up, it's more than likely a driver issue on your pc. If it doesn't prompt you to download a driver, reinstall the driver by following this
1. closing kies completely (close it in the far right of your task bar if still there)
2. unplug your phone
3. uninstalling the current driver in the windows software uninstall window. It should be labelled as Samsung device driver or similar.
4. reopen kies 3 and plug phone in via USB. Use a USB port at the rear of the computer instead of the front(if in desktop. On laptop any port is fine)

Post how it goes.

 

[Dustin DeWinn]

Thanls for the reply. I remember under my accounts in the settings menu Kies was there. I always ignored it but it was there. I never pressed it though, so maybe it is just for syncing more easily to the computer...

And to confirm, you're saying downlaod Kies 3?

Thanks

 

[Smpwojcik]

Yeeeuup. Kies 3 is correct.

Thinking a bit more, just a theory, but kies in the accounts menu may have meant that sync over wifi was turned on. After following the previous steps, in the kies software look for the option to sync over with, enable it and see if it's added to the account menu again.

If I've helped you to your satisfaction, please like or thank or whatever this site uses. That would be awesome.

 

[Dustin DeWinn]

I'll THANKS! you because I'm a nice guy, but I don't quite yet know if everything is to my satisfaction.

 

[kb0sdq]

Howdy folks,
Just a quickie. I have the metro S4 (sgh-m919n) it has kies air installed
never used it cause it says it is not compatible for firmware upgrades.
But that is another story...