Not too long ago, Samsung came out with an innovative idea to prevent Galaxy smartphones from consuming too much battery and overheating when used for HD gaming purposes.
Game Optimizing Service (“GOS”) was installed as a default app in Galaxy S10, S20, S21, and S22 series.
The app for Samsung devices was designed specifically to moderate the phone’s performance and prevent it from overheating.
However, “GOS” instead ended up throttling apps and reducing performance in an effort to minimize battery consumption.
Furthermore (and much to the ire of many Android device owners) this default app cannot be uninstalled!
With that, many were left wondering as to how to disable Game Optimizing Service on their devices.
While it can’t be fully deactivated, you do have the option to prevent it from controlling the phone by denying the app’s permissions.
Another solution would involve using third-party software to disable and stop the GOS app from running on your Samsung phone.
What Is “Game Optimizing Service”, And Do I Need It?
Game Optimizing Service was originally designed to help gamers optimize the performance of their smartphones when playing a game.
The app has been installed as a default part of the Galaxy series S10, S20, S21, and S22.
GOS is activated whenever you open a game, and will continue to manage your device until you exit the gaming app.
GOS apps in general optimize the use of a phone’s RAM, processor, battery, and other resources required for the device to function properly during high-speed gaming.
The main job of the software is to ensure that the phone doesn’t get stuck or overheated when a high-definition, large-memory game is running.
It’s meant to minimize the risk of lagging and interruptions so that you can fully enjoy gaming on your phone.
The app has a simple working process, in theory.
Technically, it’s supposed to work by stopping and aborting all other background apps so that the phone’s resources can be fully focused on the game.
This in turn should increase the performance of the device even when playing high-speed HD games that take up a lot of capacity in a phone’s memory.
Game Optimizing Service also ensures that there is no latency, and temporarily disables all notifications. Some GOS apps also allow for screen sharing with others.
To utilize a phone’s GOS feature, you simply have to choose the game you want to play and the function will be automatically activated to take care of the rest!
There are a few different Game Optimizing Service apps available on the market.
Smart Game Booster, Droid Optimizer, and Game Booster & Launcher are just a few examples of third-party apps that have the ability to control and manage the phone’s resources to enhance your gaming experience.
Issues With The Game Optimizing Service
From a purely technical perspective, Game Optimizing Service is a great concept and useful for gamers.
In fact, it can also be used for apps like Instagram and Twitter to prevent the phone from becoming too hot.
However, the reality is a bit different, as GOS apparently hasn’t been achieving its intended purpose in many cases.
In fact, Twitter user @GrayeonHan posted that the Korean community testing mobile phones and apps found that Samsung’s GOS has been putting performance limits on more than 10,000 apps.
GOS has been found to be throttling apps, when it should have instead been optimizing the use of the phone’s resources to improve the performance of gaming apps.
It limits resources for non-gaming apps in many cases to accommodate the resources for gaming apps.
While the actual concept of GOS is on the same lines, it shouldn’t occur when the gaming apps are closed.
Users have mentioned that apps such as Netflix and even the dialer have slowed down when the function is active!
It wouldn’t necessarily be a problem if Samsung’s GOS could be disabled, turned off, or removed from the phone.
However, none of these options are currently possible (at least not easily).
Can I Force Stop Game Optimizing Service?
The short answer, unfortunately, is no.
Continue reading for a detailed explanation.
Experts have marked Samsung Game Optimizing Service as “bloatware”.
This moniker refers to apps that aren’t of much use, yet cannot be deleted from the phone due to default settings.
Many of us don’t check the pre-installed apps on our phones unless we need to use them or the phone’s memory storage is full.
What usually happens is that we become surprised to realize that some apps cannot be removed when we then attempt to delete unwanted apps and data from the device!
While a few pre-installed apps can be force-stopped and disabled, others cannot be touched.
Unfortunately, Samsung Game Optimizing Service appears to belong to the same category.
Force stopping the app won’t make a difference, and there is no option to disable it.
Naturally, there have been many complaints and much ranting from users due to this.
Samsung has stated that it has taken note of the complaints and will eventually add a toggle option for the GOS app.
This toggle would give users a choice to turn the app off or on at their convenience.
However, since the update is yet to happen, users have little choice but to continue dealing with Samsung’s Game Optimizing Service and its throttling.
There is a possible temporary solution to this:
- Go to the game launcher on the phone, and tap on the three dots at the top right corner of the screen.
- Tap Settings and disable Marketing Information.
These steps supposedly prevent the GOS app from interfering with other apps on your Samsung phone.
How Do I Turn Off Game Optimization?
Do you really want to turn off the Game Optimization Service app on your phone?
If your answer is yes, then there are a few steps to do so.
These methods involve using SDK commands and blocking root accesses that prevent the app from automatically starting when you use the phone.
Using Android SDK
- Install the officially approved Android SDK Platform Tools on your computer.
- Enable USB Debugging on the smartphone to recognize the computer in ADB mode.
- (Settings -> System -> Advanced -> Developer Options)
- Connect the smartphone to your computer using a USB cable.
- Go to the platform-tools folder and enter CMD in the address bar to launch Command Prompt.
- Verify the connection by getting the device ID (enter ‘adb devices’ command).
- Then, type ‘adb shell’ to establish the shell connection.
- Find the name of the app package of Samsung GOS to disable it.
- The package name will be com.samsung.android.game.”GOS” or com.enhance.gameservice.
- Enter the command ‘pm disable-user -–user 0 com.samsung.android.game.”GOS“’ in Command Prompt to disable the app. This will prevent the app from becoming active each time you reboot the phone.
- You can even uninstall the app from your phone! Use the command ‘pm uninstall -k –user 0 com.samsung.android.game.”GOS“’ instead of the previous one to uninstall.
What if you want to enable or install the app again on your phone?
Is it possible?
Yes.
Use the command ‘pm enable -–user 0 com.samsung.android.game.”GOS”’ for enabling.
Use ‘cmd package install-existing com.samsung.android.game.”GOS“’ for installing the app back again.
In Conclusion
Game Optimization Service is an app available for Samsung devices that aims to optimize a phone’s resources to increase gaming performance and prevent the device from consuming more power or becoming overheated.
Unfortunately, it did not end up working as intended. Instead, GOD throttled other apps, hindering their abilities to function properly.
Frustratingly, Samsung’s GOS app is preinstalled on certain Galaxy phones and cannot be disabled directly.
You need to either deny marketing permissions to stop the app, or utilize Android SDK to disable and uninstall the app.
Regular methods used to remove bloatware will not work on the Samsung Game Optimizing Service. The app will still be activated each time you reboot the phone!