How to turn off Game Tools on Android?

dulcificum · 8 Aug 2019 at 11:14

Some phones come pre-bundled with something called Game Tools which is annoying because it overlays on top of the soft navigation buttons.

My S10e has version 2.5.06.2 already installed but there doesn't seem to be any way to turn it off.

There's nothing in Android settings. If you go directly to Game Tool settings there's no disable option. If you go to app info there's no Disable or uninstall button.

How do I get rid of this (rooting unfortunately not an option)?

L33 · 9 Aug 2019 at 13:28

You could disable it via ADB:
Game tools would be

Code:

adb shell pm disable-user 0 com.samsung.android.game.gametools

dulcificum · 9 Aug 2019 at 14:11

L33 said:
You could disable it via ADB:
Game tools would be

Code:

adb shell pm disable-user 0 com.samsung.android.game.gametools

Thanks. So if the app doesn't have it in its options and the settings > apps has greyed out disable, the only way is a hard adb disable?

It beggars belief that if Samsung are going to force this on you that they wouldn't provide an option to disable it. But then I guess it's Samsung...

mrgubby · 9 Aug 2019 at 14:17

I just turned everything of on my S10

dulcificum · 9 Aug 2019 at 14:33

mrgubby said:
I just turned everything of on my S10

Care to elaborate how?

mrgubby · 9 Aug 2019 at 15:30

dulcificum said:
Care to elaborate how?

I turned of all permissions etc in the App settings, I get nothing appearing in the screen

dulcificum · 9 Aug 2019 at 15:34

mrgubby said:
I turned of all permissions etc in the App settings, I get nothing appearing in the screen

That makes absolutely no difference at all. You're saying Game Tools still doesn't come up during games?

mrgubby · 9 Aug 2019 at 18:35

dulcificum said:
That makes absolutely no difference at all. You're saying gametools still doesn't come up during games?

You never mentioned it appearing during games, I thought you were just having problems with it

*I don't game on my phone

james.miller · 9 Aug 2019 at 18:44

Disabling the permissions should be enough to stop it appearing, specifically disabling the ability for the app to appear on top. If that doesnt work, ADB it as mentioned previously.

dulcificum · 9 Aug 2019 at 19:00

mrgubby said:
You never mentioned it appearing during games, I thought you were just having problems with it

*I don't game on my phone

It only appears during games. It should be impossible to activate it outside of games.

Are you saying you encounter it in normal use?!

MissChief · 9 Aug 2019 at 19:17

If you drag it to the top of the screen you can make it disappear.

dulcificum · 9 Aug 2019 at 20:21

MissChief said:
If you drag it to the top of the screen you can make it disappear.

Erm, you definitely can't drag it. Are we talking about the same Samsung Game Tools that's an overlay over the bottom of the screen?

From the comments so far I'm not convinced many of us are talking about Game Tools...

james.miller · 9 Aug 2019 at 20:42

Well, game tools is supposed to put an extra button on the nav bar, it shouldnt be overlaying it. maybe a screenshot would help. And i was talking about game tools, btw.

dulcificum · 9 Aug 2019 at 20:49

james.miller said:
Well, game tools is supposed to put an extra button on the nav bar, it shouldnt be overlaying it. maybe a screenshot would help. And i was talking about game tools, btw.

No it definitely overlays it and is a while set of buttons on top of the normal soft buttons.

james.miller · 9 Aug 2019 at 21:01

Not sure exactly what you mean, i just see the game tools button next to two of the usual nav buttons in that screen shot. Unless you mean you're using gesture navigation and it's displaying the nav bar as well? That would be odd, havent seen that before. Either way, turning off 'appear on top' in the app settings would stop it appearing. or again go for the ADB option if it doesnt.

MissChief · 9 Aug 2019 at 21:19

dulcificum said:
Erm, you definitely can't drag it. Are we talking about the same Samsung Game Tools that's an overlay over the bottom of the screen?

From the comments so far I'm not convinced many of us are talking about Game Tools...

On my S7 I can move it around the screen or drag it to the top where there’s an option to hide it.

dulcificum · 10 Aug 2019 at 10:01

james.miller said:
Not sure exactly what you mean, i just see the game tools button next to two of the usual nav buttons in that screen shot. Unless you mean you're using gesture navigation and it's displaying the nav bar as well? That would be odd, havent seen that before. Either way, turning off 'appear on top' in the app settings would stop it appearing. or again go for the ADB option if it doesnt.

Sorry I should have said it appears on top of the game navigation buttons. So every time I click menu it pops up on top and "steals" the click and starts recording instead then I have to wait a couple of seconds for it to retract again.