Samsung setup routine changed - mystery app added

[Burpee]

I was using a Samsung A21 for over six months. It was activated with Android 10 and had received several major security patches while I've used it.

I noticed that it was losing mobile service for some reason and I would have to reboot to fix the connection. For no good reason I decided I would go ahead and perform a factory reset.

After the reset, I discovered that the initial setup routine was altered to script in the installations of many apps that were never present in the previous (original) setup routine.

Apps like Til tok - Chime - candy crush and a many more were being installed. These apps were not present in the original setup routine.

One app known as MMI Group is now installed at startup and cannot be disabled nor uninstalled. It has full permission over the entire phone. (and it does not provide app store origin)

All my web searching has got no more than a couple of other posts like this one. Samsung support is completely useless and clueless.

Is this a real hack -

 

[Dannydet]

You're fine, no hacking.
Many manufacturers add crap apps to their devices on a regular basis.

 

[mikedt]

Is it a carrier customised variant A21 you've got, especially with things like TikTok and Candy Crush as bloatware. No idea what MMIGroup is, my Samsungs don't have that.

EDIT:

I did read that Samsung does have partnerships with Bytedance(Tiktok) and King(Candy Crush), although neither of which were pre-installed or pushed to my phone.

 

[2tryagain]

I would go to Samsung members and ask them. I do not see that on my phone but I have a security update pending.

 

[puppykickr]

This is exactly why I despise updates.

Has anyone ever gotten anything good out of a system or security update?

As in, I have never heard anyone say, "Boy am I super glad that my device just got updated! Everything is working so fine and smooth now! I just don't know how I could have possibly survived without this utterly super fabulous update that I love so much!"

No, it seems that it is always something like, "Well, I got screwed by yet another worthless update. What was simple and worked fine yesterday is now a convoluted mess and nothing is working at all today."

 

[mikedt]

Is it a carrier customised variant A21 you've got, especially with things like TikTok and Candy Crush as bloatware. No idea what MMIGroup is, my Samsungs don't have that.

This is exactly why I despise updates.

Has anyone ever gotten anything good out of a system or security update?

As in, I have never heard anyone say, "Boy am I super glad that my device just got updated! Everything is working so fine and smooth now! I just don't know how I could have possibly survived without this utterly super fabulous update that I love so much!"

No, it seems that it is always something like, "Well, I got screwed by yet another worthless update. What was simple and worked fine yesterday is now a convoluted mess and nothing is working at all today."

Because there's nothing really to say or post about, they're like real non-events most of the time IME.

So I will say anyway. A couple of days ago my Galaxy Note 20Ultra had an update, which was for the July 2021 Security patch level, and that was it. Phone is still working fine, and I'm super glad!

 

[2tryagain]

This is exactly why I despise updates.

Has anyone ever gotten anything good out of a system or security update?

As in, I have never heard anyone say, "Boy am I super glad that my device just got updated! Everything is working so fine and smooth now! I just don't know how I could have possibly survived without this utterly super fabulous update that I love so much!"

No, it seems that it is always something like, "Well, I got screwed by yet another worthless update. What was simple and worked fine yesterday is now a convoluted mess and nothing is working at all today."

You are right. Its not only security updates but Android version updates. they should not be allowed to force user's to download new apps as that is why samsung has a Galaxy store.

 

[puppykickr]

Because there's nothing really to say or post about, they're like real non-events most of the time IME.

So I will say anyway. A couple of days ago my Galaxy Note 20Ultra had an update, which was for the July 2021 Security patch level, and that was it. Phone is still working fine, and I'm super glad!

Well, a security patch is something quite different, ie. a backdoor is discovered and then fixed.

This typically causes no great changes as far as the user is concerned.

What I am talking about mostly is what was called a 'security update' which turned out to be nothing more than Google forcing updates to any app that had an update available and screwing up the device in general.
There was nothing to do with security, other than Google deciding that even though I had disabled the PlayStore they still wanted to update all my apps.

Screw Google.
It's my damn device, not theirs.

That is why I dashed that phone into the driveway and bought an unlocked device.

Only one more Google app to go and they will be all disabled or eliminated.

Google Play Services.
The only reason it is still active is because for some reason the Wi-Fi won't stay on without it.

Once I figure out how to get around that, this device will be as Google free as you can get without changing ROM or rooting it.

I am actually amazed at the total lack of bloatware on this device.

Of course, that may have something to do with how I set it up.

I put the vast majority of apps I wanted onto an SD card, and refused to allow internet connection until I had a firewall set up and active.

It is funny, because in the app list of the firewall there are apps that show up that I cannot find on the device- anywhere.

Crap like Amazon and such.
I can only assume that if I had entered a Google account and been online during the setup that there would have been bloatware downloaded onto the device.

As it is now, only the typical Google crap exists, and like I said before, Google Play Services is all that is still enabled- and I refused to update it. It is at its lowest level.

 

[Burpee]

Thanks for the comments. Just to clarify - I am a novice at Android devices. I just find it suspicious that any company can modify the basic setup routine of a device that it no longer owns and do it without notifying the consumer and "owner" of the device.

Scripting unwanted bloat ware into a device routine without consumer acknowledgement is the very essence of software piracy.

And since these software scripts are inserted and running before any Google account is even created on the phone, I assume that Samsung and or Tracfone must be complicit to these acts.