Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 8" - VF "Updates" not updating

[ikrip]

I've had this device for a couple of days now. Ever since I first switched it on after inserting the SIM, it has failed to update this "Updates". There is an "Updates" icon (large red arrow pointing down onto a grey/silver disc) on the desktop. I tap on this icon and eventually a screen appears with 4 items in a list and the bracketed words underneath each one:

• Updates [Update available]
• My Vodafone [Installed]
• Vodafone Discover [Installed]
• Vodafone NetPerform [Installed]

The page has Updates at the very top and All Applications underneath it. When I tap on the top one in the list - Updates - the new page says Updates 5.3.2 at the top and there is a purple button with "Update" on it. There is a lot of text underneath describing what this does. When I tap on the purple Update button a message appears saying "To update this application Updates will now close and restart." I tap on "Continue"  and a page appears saying "Installing Update" with a green "Installing" progress bar at the bottom. The bar gets to about 75% complete and it stops and a new screen appears saying "Installed" and "Updates has not been updated. Please try again later."

I have tried this numerous times on both Wi-Fi connection and mobile network, and the same thing happens each time. I've tried a hard reset that I've seen mentioned on this board (removing Sim while switched on, restarting, switching off after a minute, switching back on and re-inserting the Sim).

Any suggestions?

And what exactly is this Updates app? Do I need it? Other apps have installed/updated correctly - it's just this one that is the problem.

Confused!

[hrym]

The other thing you could try would be a factory reset, which you'll find in Settings, either under Backup & Restore or Privacy, depending on which version of Android you have.  You'll need to back up your data before doing that.   It's also possible that the device is low on resources.  How much free storage do you have?  Hard resetting and running the update process before you do anything else ought to counter a RAM issue, although that would depend on how much else is running.  A lot of apps start a process as soon as you boot.  You could try stopping some of those - not system processes, just the ones relating to apps you've downloaded.

[thesoupdragon]

That is simply some Vodafone Apps, you do not need to worry about them. They are not critical to use.

You can remove the "Update" widget from the home screen if you want?

Just long press and drag the widget to the trash bin.

Don't worry that doesn't delete it, simply removes it from the home screen. 😊

[Northern-dj]

Oh this again they never seem to fix this

The S4 and S3 have had this

First thing to try is via mobile data

then as Soupdragone said there not important

the only one worth having is the my vodafone

and thats avalable as a download from Google play store

so to stop this

the updates app needs to be disabled

to do this open up the app manager and click all apps find the updates app in red

then disable this

then do the same on the other apps

Vodafone needs to leave this Junk off as no one uses them and just make them a download from Google for only Vodafone customers

[ikrip]

Thanks for your replies. There's no shortage of resources. I ended up backing up my apps and doing a factory reset, but the thing hasn't gone away - it's come back just as before. I ended up just deleting the widget/icon.
Thanks again for your advice.