I recently had a problem where an Android app was treated as a game on Samsung phones. This means a few things.
- It appears in the Game Launcher, which is a Samsung app.
- It also adds the "Game Booster" UI while in the app.
This specific app was a React Native project, but that shouldt matter.
So i started looking for solutions.
The app is categorized as an app, not a game, in the Play Store settings.
I found a few other people who had the same problem:
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/53931544/samsung-game-launcher-detects-non-game-apps-as-games
Basically all the answers were the same: The problem is the applicationId. Certain applicationId's just seem to be categorized as games by Samsung.
So i tried changing the apps applicationId, and it did seem to fix the problem. It was no longer categorized as a game.
I could even try creating brand new projects. And certain applicationId's were just treated as games. Even on a fresh project which just had "basic activity" template.
However it is not possible to change the applicationId after an app has been released, it requires a new app to be released: https://developer.android.com/guide/topics/manifest/manifest-element. This is obviously not desired.
So i couldt find any answers which truly solved the problem.
So i decided to message Samsung developers and explained the problem, to get clarification on this behavior.
The got back to me and asked me for:
- A brief description of your application and why it should not be included in the Samsung Game Launcher.
- Package-id and content-id of your application.
- Any other information that may be of relevance.
Regarding point 2:
Im not sure what they meant with content-id. I couldt find anything for this. And to my knowledge package and applicationId is the same string for android apps. I just sent my applicationId string.
They got back to me and wrote:
Your request to remove your application from Game Launcher has been approved. Please check and share your feedback. For existing users IF by chance the application is still recognized as a game, please stay connected to the internet and restart your mobile. If that does not work, please do the following:
Settings > App > [Your app] > Storage > Clear cache Settings > App > [Your app] > Storage > Clear data
And i was indeed able to open the app and it was no longer detected as a game. So it no longer appeared in the Samsung Game Launcher nor does it show the Game Booster UI.
So it seems like Samsung has an automatic game detection system of some sort, based on the applicationId. But its obviously not perfect and it appears that they can manually override it themselves.
So that seems be a possible fix. Obviously not a perfect solution, but it does seem to work.
The Samsung email i mailed: support@samsungdevelopers.com
After my conversation with them, Samsung has also added a public comment on stackoverflow to help developers: