yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] :
You are sim locked to att, but can flash roms after you have a custom recovery. Easiest way after rooted is to get goo manager from playstore and use it to flash twrp. recommend 2.5.0.2. Believe you open goo manager/open menu and tap on "Install Open Script Recovery"

Also, Highly Recommend reviewing Ax's and BeerDroid's Guides and How To's before doing anything.

Do a nandroid right after getting a recovery on phone, put a copy of it to pc also. Likewise with an sdcard backup. Internal and Exteranl--:)
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] dpt2014:
So just to be clear, updating will kill root on my S4 and it is not yet possible to (re)root after updating - correct?
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] Thermalwolf:
Clear as brand new gorilla glass :)
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] joeybear23:
If you are still stock with root and have not deleted system apps (freeze is okay) you can update and retain root with voodoo ota root keeper.

I would link you to my thread but can't do that from the xda mobile app.

It is in this forum though.

SGS4 non stock
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] igotroot:
I just read about voodoo ota root keeper...looks interesting indeed, but I havent found any S4 owners who have vouched for its functionality...Also, the google play location for voodoo states that SuperSU (with $2.49 pro key purchase) also has an OTA root keeper. #Nice
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] jeffreii:
http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=2360494

There you go ^
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] Solange82200:
But you lose custom recovery right? Thanks!
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] rayb1966:
Question

Has anyone tried Google wallet?
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] norbarb:
Still not working
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] Thermalwolf:
I wouldn't honestly trust the Voodoo OTA root keeper. It's quite a risky move and you lose custom recovery. It's just not worth updating to MF3 at all. Plenty of custom ROM's that offer what it offers and if it's a connectivity issue you're trying to fix, just download the modem and you're set. Apps2SD is a joke...
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] artisticcheese:
I still don't see any update for my phone. I unfroze all apps and got to Settings and use "Check Updates" and it says my phone is up to date even though I"m still on MDL
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] MattMJB0188:
Does the new update remove all the lag and stutter with the animations?

How is performance in the browser, keyboard and gallery with this new update?
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] LingBo:
Thanks for advice! I got CWRP and flushed a google play edition rom into my S4... Everything is fine unless all those "air gesture" functions missing which I think is normal.:fingers-crossed:

Do you know If I get any OTA from google? Should I forbid something like system updating in case that the future update crashed the flushed rom?

---------- Post added at 10:05 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:59 AM ----------

I gave up fixing....Just installed CWRP and flushed a google edition rom for S4 rom;)
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] budh99:
Same here. No update available. Tried KIES also. No update?
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] dpt2014:
I'll echo this. I've unfrozen everything and my phone says it's up to date.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] rfb813:
I know that many would like to update, but is the potential loss of root and custom recovery worth it? A number of rooms are available that give all the benefits of mf3, and developers are working to get this available without the problems of losing root.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] artisticcheese:
You are not losing root, only custom recovery according to other threads
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] andrawer:
Well...for me it certainly did remove lag/stutter with animations...couldn't be more happier with the smoothness of my S4 finally. I did the unroot/odin to stock thing...then upgrade. I can still disable the majority of the unwanted ATT / Samsung apps via app manager AND as a bonus tethering still works w/a few tricks via ES File Manager for the 2/times a month I need it.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] dmunjal:
How did you get ES to still enable tethering? Most say it doesn't work with the new upgrade.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] ImDonly1:
Can you link me how you got tethering to work?
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] andrawer:
Sorry I can't find the original author or link...and not an ideal method but for my casual use it works great.

ES File Explorer : Fast access settings (top left button) : Tools : Net Manager : Create a hotspot network : Wait for the "Please wait while verifying" popup then press the S4's HOME button.

You will still get a notification that "Mobile hotspot in unavail..." but in the Ongoing notification you'll see the message "Tethering or hotspot active" and walla...it works.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] jeffreii:
To be clear, you can preserve your root with Voodoo OTA Rootkeeper when doing the OTA.

However, you will not be able to regain root if you lose it for some reason. You will not be able to downgrade and you will not be able to get a custom recovery and/or flash roms.

Until someone finds a way to do the above post-update, there is a certain finality to it. Usually you can just downgrade via ODIN back to the previous build, but right now there is no going back.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] sholsten:
Does anyone know if a new exploit is being worked on yet or if one will be?
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] Tremulant1:
I'm pretty sure it's being worked on...but seeing as we haven't seen any news it hasn't been accomplished yet. We all need to remember to be patient.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] sholsten:
I remember one was made last time but he held it till all versions were released. We all knew it was in the oven. Haven't heard anything on this one.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] shadowfiber:
This doesn't work for me. It says Mobile hotspot unvail then turns off ES Hotspot.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] Tremulant1:
Pretty weird....im stock rooted, I got OTA Rootkeeper and backed up root and "temp un-rooted" my phone. When I went to check for update...it said my phone is up to date. I'm currently running MDL. Anyone else get this? or know why it's doing it? Also my Device Status says "Official".
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] oddspec:
Supposedly the updates r random and can take up to 3 weeks to hit every device ( or so that's what I have read ) so keep checking if u really want it
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] Tremulant1:
Interesting....thanks! I don't care for custom recovery or custom firmware...but I do care about root. Thanks for the info!
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] :
There is no exploits so nothing is being worked on. As far as we know this cannot be cracked. They blew a qfuse (look it up)
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] sholsten:
I looked all over Google. Can't make heads or tails out of it. Did they physically blow this qfuse?
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] oddspec:
Yes they used code In the upgrade to blow the qfuse permanently from what I read this means after its blown there is not way to downgrade the to mbd or MDL making impossible to get the old bootloader with the by passable aboot hence why djbliss waited to post the Loki hack til the verizon s4 came out he saw this coming from a mile away was only a matter of time before att and Verizon patch it
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] jeffreii:
"Nothing is being worked on" ?

You don't think any devs are looking for a new exploit?

Certainly people are trying. When and if they have success is the question.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] artisticcheese:
Does burning qfuse also means it will be impossible even for AT&T to unlock bootloader even if they want to?
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] REEFERKIEF:
Update not showing up on my unlocked AT&T S4

So i unlocked the phone since i live in canada, I have a Bell sim in there with absolutely no problems, except i am not getting this update. I have checked on the phone and even changed the date ahead with no luck. Kies is saying MDL is the latest.

Is my phone not getting the update because i am not using a AT&T sim or do i just need to wait?
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] joeybear23:
It is an at&t update... you are not on at&t. How would they get it to you?

SGS4 non stock
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] Fusoya_:
Looks like CleanROM 1.5 has patched this functionality in if anyone is interested.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] REEFERKIEF:
Alternate update method

This OTA update can be applied from stock recovery if it is put on a microSD. That way you don't have to root and you won't lose your data.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] jeboo:
No, they can release a signed, unlocked version at any time.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] Aou:
Nothing is "uncrackable", people. There might be some misunderstanding here about what it means to blow a qfuse/efuse. It's been stated around the forums plenty of times before, but usually only deep within Dev conversations about hacking bootloaders, etc.

If I'm wrong in any of this, please feel free to correct me (that's what the internet is for, right?).

It's simple - an e-fuse is designed to do one thing: increment. When the bootloader is flashed to a new major version (often correcting numerous exploits, along with some bug fixing or improvements), the manufacturer or carrier will often decide they don't want anyone going back to earlier versions. In the case of the S4 with KNOX expectations of security, this makes total sense (how could a government agency or large corporation guarantee that their employees are not rooting their phones and bypassing security measures set in place by the company? Or even malware that applies the root exploit for itself?).

When the newer firmware is flashed, the e-fuse gets incremented (to a "2" in this case, it appears). Any firmware with a "1" will be refused by Odin on the phone. These e-fuses are again designed to only increment, never decrement - meaning if you're at a "2", there's no hope that you can ever get your e-fuse back to a "1" again.

In terms of hacking, bootloaders, root, etc.: This just means that whatever exploits and bug fixes have been made are now permanent. That doesn't mean that new exploits cannot be made.

One of the biggest questions I will have: Does the refusal to apply an older firmware (through Odin) also imply the refusal to boot said firmware (if somehow loaded by another means - via dd or JTAG for example)?

I'm hoping to find out sometime this week.

EDIT/ADD:

And yes, jeboo is correct. They could always release a new firmware, and increment the e-fuse again to a "3" whilst still unlocking the bootloaders. The bootloaders are only "locked" because they are currently programmed not to load "whatever we want". Just remember the chain:

PBL -> SBL1 -> SBL2 -> SBL3 -> ABOOT. The PBL is physical and can't be changed without hardware modification. But the rest of those can be changed. Usually custom bootloaders would be loaded in the later stages (aboot for example). But with sbl2 and sbl3 checking for signatures and such, there's no hope to do this without bricking instantly. If AT&T were to push an unlocked version of SBL2 and SBL3 in a future patch, these new pieces of the bootloader could be designed to be successfully loaded by PBL/SB1, but also not check for signatures on ABOOT.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] danny39:
A lot of people should be donating to you. These kind of contributions are greatly appreciated and deserve money for an adult alcoholic beverage :cool:

Anyway is there any way we could fake a signature from AT&T (like the signed update jeebo was talking about) in order to unlock the bootloader?
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] Aou:
I'll have to do some digging on AdamOutler's thread. I would imagine that this has been discussed in his bootloader thread, but I haven't looked into that theory yet. I'm not sure exactly what the each stage of the bootloader is "looking for" when it loads and verifies the next stage, but it's probably something very difficult to spoof. However, now that we've had MDL and MF3 both updating SBL2, SBL3 and ABOOT, it might be slightly easier to deduce this information (i.e. look for patterns/similarities). Afterall, MDL did update these bootloader parts just the same. It just didn't intentionally trip the efuses on its way through (or patch any exploits).

Regardless, attempting such a thing would be extremely risky, without a way out (JTAG or even QPST if we had a signed .hex file). If it rejects a stage, it flips out and goes into Emergency boot, which we have no current solution for on this particular MSM8960 (besides JTAG afaik).

EDIT/ADD: And before anyone tries to give the suggestion, I've already tried flashing the MSM8960.hex file from this thread. It didn't cause any more damage, but it seems the device refuses to take it (causes some brief strange behavior, but otherwise results in the same state it seems).
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] Ricardo Cheing:
Forgive me everyone, but there is 49 pages to read through which I tried but I am reading mixed responses.

So basically, is this AT&T update safe to apply? I am stock rooted with TWRP recovery and would love to have the ability to move apps to sdcard.

I read in this thread that it will blow the custom recovery and keep root. Then if I lose root for some reason, I can't root again and I will also not be able to install a custom recovery.

Is this true?

Thanks in advance.:good:
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] byte8086:
TWRP?

Could this be flashed using TWRP?
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] Roadk1ng:
It is hit or miss. I flashed the clean rom and have new modem loaded and it is great. I would go that way.:D
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] Mrkqql143:
You upgrade.. You lose root and custom recovery. Stay away!
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] sholsten:
http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=2360494
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] Ricardo Cheing:
Thank you guys. It seems the update is not worth it to me. I will wait until this update is investigated further and a way to apply it comes up that will not blow away any custom recoveries or root.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] Aou:
Mixed reports of this. Some say it works, some say it wipes your /data if it finds you're rooted. Others say it just fails. In theory, the update checks every file that it needs to update before attempting to update them (checks the hash on them). If different, it fails and aborts.

Regardless, if you patched it this way, you'd likely lose root, and it would probably mess up your recovery. As noted on this last page of posts, there are ways to possibly retain root, but it's still very risky.

Lastly, there are some alternatives rising, such as MF3-stock-based roms that you could flash without risking losing root, or flashing new bootloaders.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] danny39:
Did Adam discover anything that could possibly be an exploit?
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] Aou:
Nothing great that was publicly posted. At one point, he was looking into flashing a whole bootloader chain from another carrier, but then seemed to shy away from that idea quickly - no word on it. I might try it myself, we'll see.

Basically, one of the main things that he was looking into was the Samsung KNOX - with the theoretical possibility of loading a secondary (or alternative) certificate, chain of trust, and completely secondary (or alternative) environment - one for play, one for work. We haven't seen much of anything public about what Samsung was really wanting to do with KNOX, unfortunately (that I know of).

This thread is worth reading, all the way up until page 13 or so, when a bunch of people hijack it to talk about Dan's exploit, etc. It seems that after that point, Adam sort of gave up on the idea (at least he hasn't mentioned much else in that thread). I don't blame him for being frustrated with these people. I'll see what I can do to get in contact with him. I worked with him briefly in the past, trying to apply his "unbrickable mod" (really cool concept and hardware hack, btw) to the Infuse 4G. Good times.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] MattMJB0188:
I'm actually tempted to update simply because I can never make up my mind on which rom to run lol. Many claim the phone is very smooth and runs very well. I was at the AT&T store and played with the S4 running this update. Seemed better, but not as good as a custom rom. Of course the store phones have even more bloat on them.

Wondering how fast/smooth this update will run with most of the bloat disabled?
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] joshuadjohnson22:
Don't do it... just flash clean rom and get all the features... Locking the door permanently is a bad idea.. one that may not be reversed.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] Aou:
Probably pretty well, I'd imagine. I was pretty happy with running stock MDL, but I did remove a good chunk of the bloatware. What I paid attention to the most were the items that were always showing up in the "Running". Otherwise, I didn't completely "debloat" the stock ROM; I didn't want to lose some of the extra goodies that came with my S4.

Otherwise, there are some reports of slightly improved performance on the MF3 rom. Whether that would make up for not having root would be up to you. ;)
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] CAG-man:
In regards to mf3 every time I read permanently locked or can never be rooted I wonder if people understand what this site is. I've been trying to figure a root method out.

This is a developers site. A developer finds a way to make it work even if we break it.

My motto is never say never, if I can't do it them someone else with a little more skill can.

Hopefully that person can look at my work and see what might be missing. Within legal means of course....
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] AndroidLonghorn:
I can verify that this works. It did factory reset my phone after the update installed, but I downloaded Vodoo Rootkeeper, and my root was restored. Thanks for posting this!
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] MattMJB0188:
Nothing is permanent in the world of rooting lol. It's only a matter of time before another hack is discovered. ;)
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] joshuadjohnson22:
but if you have the choice why in the world would you do it. You can get every feature from a rom...
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] MattMJB0188:
You're right. That's why I won't. At least not until there is a new way to hack the new update.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] sholsten:
I actually think & feel the same. I would've already done it if it wasn't such a finality. We take it & we're done.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] tsjazzguitar:
delete update

My s4 which was rooted and patched already downloaded the OTA update and is trying to schedule installation on its own...is there a way to prevent it from happening?
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] rcdizon:
This is an AT&T thread so I am asuming that you are with AT&T. Use Titanium Backup. Look up AT&T Software Update. Then Freeze it. Thats it
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] shadowfiber:
I can vouch for the smoothness of the update. I was one of the unfortunet few that attempted the Voodoo OTA rootkeeper technique and had it fail. I restored back to stock and it really hasn't been that bad. Other than losing root obviously (I wasn't changing ROMs).

It's much more smooth on window changes, more snappy to open apps; not bad at all.

Worth it to lose freedom? I'm not sure. Smooth, much better.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] oldblue910:
I love the update. Then again, I wansn't rooted pre-update so I had nothing to lose.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] juvi77:
Haven't been able to download the update over here on the phones me and my Wife have. Her's is 100% stock and is saying no update is available with her still on MDL. Is AT&T rolling it out in phases or have they pulled it from the server?
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] oldblue910:
When it says "Your Software Is Up to Date" does it say "Software Update Interrupted" above it?
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] artisticcheese:
For me it takes long time to check for update and then tells "your software up to date"with no errors
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] juvi77:
That's exactly what I'm getting also. Happens on both my Wife's phone and mine.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] oldblue910:
That's really weird. As far as I know this want a staged rollout. Everyone seems to have had access to it right off the bat.

Does anyone know if MF3 is available via Kies yet? If so, you can just do the update that way.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] jeffreii:
If you updated, you lost the ability to gain root in the future (until further notice)!
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] oldblue910:
I know. It's immaterial to me. :)
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] juvi77:
Hadn't thought of trying to update via Kies. Out of curiosity I'll see if that gets me anywhere later when I get home.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] artisticcheese:
Kies did not work either for me
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] Camboteav:
I'm stock with no root and I can't update. Always says update interrupted and check back in 24 hrs and when I do same thing. Any suggestions? I want apps to sd!
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] sholsten:
Everyone was getting the update till their servers were overloaded. Now, it's being rolled out in phases.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] oldblue910:
Have you done anything to your phone in the past or are you running it exactly as it was out of the box?
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] captivated1971:
Plain and simply put I didnt take the update so I could have the phone how I want it . Not how att says it should be. After all I paid for it . Its mine.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] Camboteav:
Just nova launcher and disabled some stock apps but I un-disabled them and ran stock launcher too to see if those were it.. Same thing happens
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] oldblue910:
So you have never flashed a custom recovery, a custom ROM or anything like that, then restored back to stock later?
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] Camboteav:
Never. Don't even know how to do that
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] oldblue910:
OK then you have a defective phone. That normally only happens when someone is playing with ROMs and tries to flash back to stock. Did you buy the phone brand new from an AT&T store or did you but it used? If you got it new, exchange it. There is no known way to fix it.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] Camboteav:
I got it new with adding a line. I don't feel like switching it out. Might be too much of a hassle you think? Do you think they really will exchange it bc it won't update? Everything else works fine. I also read online that the servers for the update was bombarded so now they are rolling out the update in phases. Maybe that's why?
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] Downey51:
Quick Question

this may sound really dumb but how do i know if im on the latest firmware. i just unrooted too btw
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] oldblue910:
No. The "software update interrupted" message combined with it saying there is no update available is an OS error. You won't be able to fix it yourself. The only choices you have are:

1. Exchange the phone if you can.

2. Wait for the update to be available via Kies and use that to update your phone.

I wish there was another way, but right now there just isn't. :(

---------- Post added at 12:48 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:46 AM ----------

Go to Settings - About Phone. Your build number should be JDQ39.I337UCUAMF3.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] Downey51:
Thanks for the fast response! it looks like im on an older build, now when i click on check for updates it tells me that my software is up to date and to check back in 24hrs. any ideas?
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] Tremulant1:
Apparently AT&T is doing the update in waves because their update servers got over loaded. Mine does the same thing.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] Downey51:
Thank you for the heads up I appreciate it!
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 General] Tremulant1:
No problem! :D glad I could help.