Torque Pro bricks phone

[JayArr]

Has this happened to anyone else? I have Torque Pro installed, the paid for version, 1.10.120, I also have no data plan, my phone is just a phone and it connects to my wifi while at home. I work from home and rarely leave the house so I don't have any need for a data plan. The only app on the phone, other than what it came with, is Tourque Pro.

On Sunday I took the phone with me while we went on a drive. While away I turn on the phone and it won't finish booting up, it says it wants to update the app or sync or something but I'm guessing that since I have no data plan and there is no wifi it can't. It just sat there with a spinning circle. Once I got home and it connected to wifi it proceeded through and the phone became operational again.

I went into the permissions and can't find a way to turn off it's ability to update itself off, I notice it has permission to "run at startup", "make app always run" and "prevent phone from sleeping" all of which I cannot turn off or adjust.

This could be dangerous, can you imagine being on the side of the road and needing to call AAA and not be able to because Torque Pro won't allow the phone to boot up because it can't get a data connection?

I think I need to look for a different app. I thought I'd post up to warn others. 99% of people probably have a data plan and this won't be a issue but it could be a huge problem for the 1%.

JayArr

 

[Reprise]

Hasn't happened to me (I have paid 1.10.120 as well) but you could try this...
Go to Google Play, access the menu, and deselect 'update all apps'. This is global, but since Torque is your only app, no biggie.

Now, go into your apps on the phone, and do a force stop on Torque.
Then uninstall the app.

Turn off wifi, then restart the phone. If wifi comes on, turn it off again.

Next, reinstall Torque. Before starting it up again, go to your settings, app permissions, and deselect the automatic options.
Back out of there, and restart the app. Assign permissions as desired, when prompted.
Finally, when things appear to be running ok, restart your wi-fi.

I don't guarantee that'll work, but it would be what I would try. And turning off auto-updating is something I maintain on my own phone. Sometimes, a buggy update gets released, and I'd like to control and let the rest of the user community be the test mules.

 

[JayArr]

Hi Reprise

I was with you until you said turn off your wifi. I have no data plan so if I turn off wifi I can't reinstall torque.

I've force stopped it and deleted it.

I'll try one of the others, I wanted to post mostly as a warning to anyone else in my situation that they not be able to use their phone if they don't have wifi.

Cell phones are great when your vehicle dies on the side of the road, it's a shame a $5 app could prevent you from calling for help.

 

[TJBaker57]

Has this happened to anyone else? I have Torque Pro installed, the paid for version, 1.10.120, I also have no data plan, my phone is just a phone and it connects to my wifi while at home. I work from home and rarely leave the house so I don't have any need for a data plan. The only app on the phone, other than what it came with, is Tourque Pro.

On Sunday I took the phone with me while we went on a drive. While away I turn on the phone and it won't finish booting up, it says it wants to update the app or sync or something but I'm guessing that since I have no data plan and there is no wifi it can't. It just sat there with a spinning circle. Once I got home and it connected to wifi it proceeded through and the phone became operational again.

I went into the permissions and can't find a way to turn off it's ability to update itself off, I notice it has permission to "run at startup", "make app always run" and "prevent phone from sleeping" all of which I cannot turn off or adjust.

This could be dangerous, can you imagine being on the side of the road and needing to call AAA and not be able to because Torque Pro won't allow the phone to boot up because it can't get a data connection?

I think I need to look for a different app. I thought I'd post up to warn others. 99% of people probably have a data plan and this won't be a issue but it could be a huge problem for the 1%.

JayArr

So on my phones I go into the Google Playstore App, select 'settings' from the dropdown "3 bars" menu at top left, then disable "auto-update apps".

 

[TJBaker57]

Hi Reprise

I was with you until you said turn off your wifi. I have no data plan so if I turn off wifi I can't reinstall torque.

I've force stopped it and deleted it.

I'll try one of the others, I wanted to post mostly as a warning to anyone else in my situation that they not be able to use their phone if they don't have wifi.

Cell phones are great when your vehicle dies on the side of the road, it's a shame a $5 app could prevent you from calling for help.

What do you want from an app to replace Torque? I have and use...
1) Torque Pro
2) Car Scanner
3) OBD Fusion
4) Car Gauge Pro
5) DashCommand (not used much)

 

[Mooseman]

I doubt Torque has something to do with your phone getting bricked. It's not an app that starts with the OS, even if it got updated in the background.

Sounds more like Android tried to update itself when you were last connected to your wifi and it barfed. Try reconnecting to your home wifi and see if it tries to update again. All else fails, you might have to do a hard reset and restore it to the factory OS.