Android 4.3 on S4 gives bogus security message from Samsung hidden app Knox. How to remove?

Hello, LogicSmith!

Thanks for posting. I'm sorry to hear that you're having trouble with Knox. If you don't mind, please send us  a private message by clicking here so we can investigate further.

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The issue is not Knox per-se.  It is that the build of 4.3 that AT&T pushed to the Note 3 and the S4 attempts to hide Knox and did not update it to v3 or higher.  I have an S4 on VZW.  It has been updated and it does not get that error message.

Now, I have gotten two different security profile updates over the weekend and it looks like the message has stopped showing up on my Note 3.  But, I doubt the issue is actually resolved.

AT&T needs to update the software build for both the Note 3 and the S4 so that Knox is available to the user and is updated to it's latest version.  Do I think that will happen?  I certainly hope so.

Hi LogicSmith,

We received your private message, and one of our managers will be reaching out to you soon.

Thanks,

Jenn S.

I have the exact same issue.

Update: The problem is not Knox so much as it is Lookout. Lookout cannot be removed, nor can it be run without "signing up" and paying a recurring fee. It purports to be a beneficial privacy utility. According to the tech support people at Lookout, their contract was with AT&T, not Samsung, not Google. 

I had emails with the folks who support these forums, and they wanted me to do a backup and factory reset, but couldn't say if that would return me to Android 4.2.2 or 4.3. In the meantime, apparently the 4.3 update (for the S4) has been pulled from distribution. We have been told to wait until 4.4 comes out this quarter.

This update should go down in the books as one of the most poorly managed updates ever.

I switched in May from an iPhone 5 to the Samsung S4.  Screen size, camera, SD card, removeable battery - all great.  The iPhone 5S is still a few years behind the more flexible Android hardware/software that is avaialble today.

However Samsung is a complete mess - and AT&T seems to be a mess as well.

1st there was the denail about the headphone issue.  No headphones with less than 30 Ohms would produce music that did not snap, crackle and pop.  Samsung jokingly said "headphones are not compatible" - sadly I don't think 90% of the consumer headphones out there should not be "audio" compatible.  That's just poor software and hardware on their part.  Luckily the July firmware fixed it - but at a cost of sound quality.

4.2x to 4.3 upgrade.  Wow - what a mess. Samsung & AT&T tried to roll this out several times - each time making more of a mess.  Do they test anything? Do they really not have their best software people working on the most popular phone of 2013?

-Removing buttons frustrates users - and drives profits for AT&T - we are not stupid.

-Battery drain should not be used to drive sales of extra batteries and the forthcoming S5

-Music volume should not randomly go up and down based on what is being downloaded in the background.

Next time:

Google Play edition if I must get another Samsung Device.

Back to iPhone if iPhone 6 has a bigger screen and acceptable battery.

What do you think? 

@ms_unicorn This pop-up we are all getting says: "Prevention Information. An application has been forced to stop for an unauthorised attempt to access system on your device. It may be safe to delete an application obtained from an unauthorised route. Check now?" 

It is a huge issue that affects everyone with 4.3 on the Note 3 & S4 on AT&T. This happens even if you have not installed a single app from the google play store.

This is an AT&T & Samsung issue as this is not happening to the S4's or Note 3's on other carriers.

If you are really interested, check out these threads on the issue:

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2498586

http://forums.androidcentral.com/samsung-galaxy-note-3/326517-samsung-note-3-prevention-information-message.html

http://androidforums.com/samsung-galaxy-note-3/786506-annoying-message-prevention-information.html

The worse part is when you click it, it does not tell you what app is causing the issue. I just hit the "don't show for 30 days and ignore it"

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@LogicSmith if you do a factory reset, you will still be on 4.3. The only way to get back to 4.2.2 is to have the phone flashed back to the old firmware (which will most likely void your warranty).

As for the app causing the issue, when you pull down the notifaction bar, if you long press on the notifcation, you get a pop-up saying app info. Select it, you will see it takes you to KNOX, that is the app posting the notifaction. So KNOX is the issue, not lookout

Another way I know it's not Lookout. If you go into setting, general, application manager, scroll to the right to select all. You can uninstall updates and turn off lookout. This fully disables Lookout as though it was never installed. Even after doing this, I still get the pop-up, telling me it is KNOX and not Lookout.

This issue still occurs on the Note 3 as well, unrooted no crazy stuff. It's just a regular Note 3. If you turn on wifi, you get the message from knox over and over. It looks like it's been occurring on the Note 3 since November, longer for the S4. I've seen some notes that ATT is working on a patch, any word? Or possibvly it will be addressed in kit kat whenever that rolls out. I haven't seen anyone on kit kat having the issue.