Countless Samsung Email users, myself included, have been dealing with an annoying bug for over a month and counting. And unfortunately, Samsung doesn't seem to be in a rush to fix the issue. Worse still, one of the more popular solutions offered by Samsung Community Managers doesn't quite help against the problem and, ironically enough, highlights one of the most disliked changes introduced by One UI 6.1.
So, here's the story so far. One of the recent Samsung Email updates (version 6.1.91.13, if I'm not mistaken) causes the app to work in the background without interruption, sometimes for days. In some cases, the problem seemingly leads to excessive heating, and some users have also complained that it affects battery life. Personally, I may have experienced some overheating, especially after hourse of background activity, but no battery life issues.
In addition, this behavior causes a persistent “Syncing emails…” notification that users can't get rid of with ease. Once cleared, it usually reappears seconds or minutes later.
Users can try to stop the Email app from working in the background via the “background activity” menu in the Recent Apps screen, but the app will (re)start working endlessly in the background soon enough. Just give it a few minutes at most.
Seemingly, since the last update, Samsung's Email app has been stuck in this never-ending loop of background syncing.
One official solution suggested by a Community Manager was to ignore the issue and hide the “Syncing emails…” notification through the Notification Categories feature. This is a feature Samsung inexplicably hid in One UI 6.1, much to my concern.
However, this procedure merely hides the “Syncing emails…” notification rather than stopping the Email app from running in the background for hours and even days on end.
On a personal note, I must admit I find it ironic that Samsung would offer such a solution based on a feature they almost got rid of entirely in One UI 6.1. I can only hope this recent Email bug further validates why we need Notification Categories and why this feature should never be removed or hidden.
It's beginning to look like bloatware
Now, back to the Email syncing problem Samsung hasn't addressed in one and a half months and counting.
I'm among those who dislike using the term “bloatware” when describing Samsung apps. I honestly believe most Samsung apps serve a good purpose, aren't bloatware, and are a big part of the Galaxy user experience. I use many Samsung apps daily and weekly and wouldn't replace them with Google's alternatives or third-party solutions.
But even though Samsung's slow and lackluster response to this recent Email app bug isn't enough to change my mind on the bloatware matter, I also have to keep in mind that I am a relatively seasoned Galaxy device user with more reasons to stick to the Samsung ecosystem than the average Galaxy customer. For one, I also use Samsung wearables, tablets, and TVs, and usually, you get more features when you use multiple Samsung devices and embrace the brand's app ecosystem.
But what about the average Galaxy phone users who may have only recently joined the Samsung community? I can't shake the feeling that if someone bases their first impressions about Samsung Email on an experience like the one I'm having right now, they'll hate the app and feel justified to use the term “bloatware” to describe it moving forward. And it won't be easy to change their mind, either.
As far as Samsung firmware and app updates go, this kind of slow response and negligence is usually a thing of the past. But for whatever reason, Samsung Email users got the short end of the stick in recent weeks. The whole thing reminds me why people ended up hating the TouchWiz era, and I wish it hadn't.
The story continues after the video…
I temporarily switched to Google Gmail to avoid this never-ending syncing issue. On the other hand, I remembered why I don't particularly like using the Gmail mobile app in the first place. For one, unlike Samsung Email, Gmail doesn't let you mark emails as “read” via the notification panel. And I find the archiving feature borderline useless. So, after a couple of days of using Gmail, I went back to using the Samsung Email app, bugged as it is, and I'm waiting for an official fix.
Meanwhile, some users worked around Samsung's issue by installing an older Email version. However, in an era when mobile security is a growing concern, Galaxy device users shouldn't have to risk installing APKs from third parties to get their apps working as they should.
In the end, this chain of events served to strengthen my view that if Samsung wants to continue building a viable and trusted app ecosystem that people won't label “bloatware” in a rush, it must be able to address these sorts of problems quicker and respond to error reports appropriately. The Samsung app experience is usually premium, and I do like it for the most part, but these sorts of 1.5-month (and counting) hiccups on a critical app like Email are not ideal.
