[KNOWN ISSUE] Sporadic Facer freeze on Samsung smartwatches

#1

Hi all,

We’ve been receiving reports from Samsung smartwatch users that Facer is sporadically freezing for them since a few weeks. We are starting this post here to centralize al discussions about the issue and provide official updates.

What is happening?
Since the release of Tizen 4.0.0.7 for Samsung Watches, Facer may become frozen when coming out of ambient mode. The issue appears sporadic but definitely happening to quite a few of you. The workaround for now is to select a different face and come back to Facer.

How can you help?

If you have been experiencing this issue, please comment here and add the following info:

  • Steps to reproduce the issue
  • Which watch face was running
  • Settings on the watch (e.g. location, always-on mode)
  • Device model number (available in Settings > About Watch)
  • Tizen and Software version (available in Settings > About Watch)

If you are tech-savvy, it would be extremely helpful if you could send us a “log dump” from your device. This will give us more visibility into what is happening. Here are instructions for running a log dump:

  1. Go to Settings > About Watch and tap x5 on “Serial Number”
  2. Enter *#9900# on the dial pad to bring up the log dump menu
  3. Set “Debug Mode Setting” to “On” (watch will reboot)
  4. When the freeze happens, go to Step 5
  5. Enter *#9900# on the dial pad to bring up the log dump menu
  6. Select Run LOG_DUMP
  7. After it finishes, select Extract LOG_DUMP - this will store a copy of the log dump in your phone’s internal storage in this folder Pictures > Watch
  8. Send the log dump .zip file to facer-support@little-labs.com with the title Tizen Freeze Log Dump

We are actively working on fixing this in conjunction with Samsung and are hoping to fix it asap. We will be providing updates as they come via this thread.

Thank you!
-The Facer Team

2 Likes
#2
#3

This problem occurs daily. It will simply freeze up. I have uninstalled Facer on both phone and watch without success. I never use always on mode and I always have it set to display with wrist gesture. Sometimes changing to a Samsung face then changing back resolves it temporarily. Sometimes the face is just black like the watch is turned off. You have to change to a face not from facer to recover. The time till it works is variable. It may be unrelated but faces often stall while downloading from phone and requires repeated attempts. This is not a new issue but it is more frequent now.

3 Likes
#4

Same here, not only that but restart the screen and not been able to do nothing with the watch, until it fully completes the restart mode, it is really aggravating that I have thought of removing it

I’m using a Samsung watch active 2, the design in this moment is a non published design of my own, but it happens with any other designs, mine or someone else’s

1 Like
#5

It only happens when I try to switch Facer faces. I tap 3 times, the watch box activates, but when I click the arrow to select a new Facer face the watch has frozen. I can not go back using the back button and can not select a new Facer face or even the one that I have currently active. The only thing that reacts is a long press to switch to another Galaxy watch face. After switching and then returning to Facer everything is fine again.

The face I am using is an unpublished face at Private 7 trying to switch to my unpublished face at Private 9, BUT it will happen with any face switching to any other face. It normally happens once in every 24 hour period. It does not happen with the same faces using my Galaxy S3 Frontier watch. (I alternate watches and shut down each watch before charging so that they are restarted fresh for each use cycle.)

Settings on my watch are location on, AOD mode off, heart rate detect every 10 minutes, background apps like listening, Samsung pay, music etc all off/disabled. I only turn on what is needed to run the watch type functions along with notifications

Model # SM-R820 Galaxy Active 2 (0468)

Tizen version 5.5.0.1 Software ver R820XXU1CT14

#6

My issues are eerily similar. I’m using a Galaxy Watch with a Galaxy S20. Up until this past March, I was using a Galaxy S9+. When I speak of the app, it’s on my phone.

Here are the issues that I wrote in about. These issues are all intermittent and random but have started and gotten more frequent in the past couple of months.

  1. Having to frequently log back into the app.
  2. Nothing happens when I press the blue button to transfer a selected face from the Watchbox to my phone.
  3. Watch faces freezing. I will turn my wrist to activate the time but the watch face is frozen.
  4. App quitting unexpectedly.
  5. When previewing new watch faces, some don’t load properly and the app just quits.

Here is what I’ve tried to resolve the issues.

  1. Uninstall and reinstall the Facer app.
  2. Power off my Galaxy watch and restart.
  3. Close the Facer app and re-launch.
  4. Go to the Galaxy store, select one of the faces there, and load it onto my watch. Then, re-select Facer’s face from the Galaxy store and then go back to the Facer app and select the face that I wanted in the first place. That always takes care of the issue of not beeing able to transfer a face from the app to the watch.

Not sure if anyone else experiences this issue but when I am previewing new watch faces and come back to the list, it takes me back to the top so I have to scroll down to where I left off.

#7

Greetings,

I started using Facer a few days ago, and after the consistence hangs, and non responsive issues while using the app I decided to uninstalled the app from my watch and phone. I do still want to use this app so hopefully once this issue are resolved I’ll come back, and possible try my shot at being a creator.

MY ISSUE
The freezing seems to happen after being on standby for a while “When you don’t pull the watch up to tell the time” I also noticed the facer app would crash when I would be using other apps within the watch “eg checking heart rate, or weather.” The watch would go black, then the facer logo would appear with the ring loading around it. After this would happen the watch face would run normal until it was on standby for a while. The other problem was the watch would not turn on when I would check the time. This was my biggest issue when using the app. I would need to press the watch button to turn it on instead of it activating when bring the watch up to tell the time. After changing the watch face to a non facer one the functions returned to normal.

  • Steps to reproduce the issue? Using apps after being on standby, or checking the time after an hour or more of being on standby
  • Which watch face was running? Heath Dashboard
  • Settings on the watch (e.g. location, always-on mode)? Location turned on, Always on turned off
  • Device model number (available in Settings > About Watch)? SM-R820
  • Tizen and Software version (available in Settings > About Watch)? Tizen Version 5.5.0.1, Software Version R820XXU1CI4

Regards

1 Like
#8

This has happened A LOT lately and seems to be increasing in frequency.

It has occurred on numerous watch faces i have, I have location on, AOD off, I’m using a Galaxy Watch Active 2 (806E) [Model SM-R825U], One UI v 2.0, Tizen 5.5.0.1, Software v R825USQU1BTH9.

#9

Definitely happening on my Galaxy Watch 46mm. It’s been happening since the last two updates of the Facer App for Galaxy Watches. I guess that’s around the timeline of the new Tizen Update. So Facer has been unusable. No matter which face I use, after a few hours the face freezes and I have to switch to a native face. I do have my faces on ambient mode, but before I had it on ambient mode I also experienced freezing of the faces. I am hoping you guys can get a fix on it soon. I am a premium user.

#10

Same issues here. Samsung Active 2 watch and Galaxy Note 10 plus phone. I also paid for a year Facer subscription and hope this gets fixed soon.

#11

Hi @Facer_Official
I have a Galaxy Watch 3 and from time to time even if not very often i’m experimenting the freezing issue.
To exit from this empasse i must load a face from Galaxy store and then go back to facer. In this way, for now, all is working again correctly.
Mostly i use my own faces, but it happens with published faces too.
I have AOD>on
GPS>on
Tizen is the last version and the same for the watch firmware
Cheers

#12

Hi
May be i explained in a bad way the issue that i’m experiencing. I have a freeze when i change face from Facer of my phone (Huawei P10 Lite). I click the blue button, there is a ring spinning around the blue button, then the ring stops spinning. The face should be on my watch, but there is not and if i click again the blue button, nothing happens. No more spinning ring. The only way is to load a native face and go back to facer. In this way all is working again.
FIRMWARE R840XXU1BTG6
ONE UI WATCH 2.0
TIZEN 5.5.0.1
KNOX 2.5.0

#13

I’m unable to use facer from a month because of it. you should refund or extend my subscription for free to compensate

#14

Is there an update guys? This is blocking me to use the app, and many other too. I hope you have it on your P1 items to resolve.

#15

Have the same issue on Galaxy active 2. When I look at my watch seconds hand feels like skipping frame until it come to right place. Any light from the devs?

#16

Hi there - any updates on this issue? I can’t use any of my Facer watchfaces at this point. Amy

#17

@kishu27 @darkojovanoski1986 @auser820 The way to get @Facer_Official attention is to tag them in a post (just like I did there) and also contact them at: Submit a request – How can we help? or email them at: facer-support@little-labs.com . I wish they would get it fixed also because my Active 2 is a pain having to switch between Galaxy faces and Facer to keep if from freezing up. I even went so far as to buy a new Fossil Carlyle gen 5 (on sale) to help out. BTW the WearOS on the Fossil has it’s own set of issues like poor battery performance among others, but that’s beside the point.

#18

@Facer_Official I have a Galaxy Active 2 smartwatch and I’m having more or less the same problems everyone on this thread is having. I sent email to facer-support@little-labs.com last week and started a trouble ticket. But aside from acknowledging that a ticket has started I’ve heard nothing from Facer. Is there any progress on this problem?

#19

Same problem here. I’m on Note 10 Plus and Watch 3 45mm. Freezes every day or so, either when tips come up, or when feedback comes up, and other random freezes. I paid for the NASA watch face through Galaxy Store. Tizen version 5.5.0.1

FYI had the same problem on my Frontier S3 as well before I upgraded to the Watch 3.

#20

That’s interesting. I have both the Active 2 and the S3 Frontier and I only have the issue on my Active 2. My S3 will run for 2½ to 3 days running Facer and never a problem. On my Active 2 I have to switch between Facer and a Galaxy watch face (normally the dashboard) and then back to Facer every 4 or so hours to keep it from freezing up.