Samsung devices have a lot of preinstalled applications and users don’t know what these apps are doing on their phones and whether they are really important.
One such application is the Samsung FaceService app whose function is not explained by Samsung. There have been complaints that this app keeps stopping and has high battery consumption.
In this article, I’ll explain what is the FaceService app, what is it used for, why does it keep stopping, and how to fix it.
Page Contents
What is the FaceService App on Samsung Android Phones and What is it Used For?
The FaceService system app analyzes all the photos in the Samsung Gallery to detect human faces using Samsung’s built-in face detection technology. Once FaceService identifies that the photo contains a face, it shows a button that allows users to add name tags to the photo and create a People Album of similar photos by selecting the name tag.
Modern Android devices including Samsung have face detection and recognization technology. The face recognization technology is used for unlocking smartphones using the face unlock feature whereas the face detection technology is used to detect faces in pictures saved in the Gallery.
When you click a photo and save it in the Gallery, the FaceService app can detect whether it’s a human face or not. If it identifies a human face then it provides a “People” option as shown in the image below.
When you tap the “People” option, a popup window appears where you get an option to add a name tag to the face and your relationship with the person in the photo. Once you add a name and tap “Save”, this name will appear near the face of that photo.
If you tap twice on that name, you’ll be shown all the photos with that person’s face on them. Once you add a name tag, the FaceService app automatically adds that name tag to all the similar photos that have that person’s face. The app also sorts these photos inside a People Album with the person’s name tag.
The package name of the Samsung FaceService application is com.samsung.faceservice. This app is similar to another system app in Samsung devices called SmartFaceService. The SmartFaceService also detects human faces in images saved in the Samsung Gallery.
FaceService Has Stopped?
A lot of users have complained that the FaceService app keeps stopping frequently. When it stops working, an error message pops up that reads “Unfortunately FaceService has stopped” or “FaceService has stopped working.”
Here are the reasons why the FaceService app stops working:
1. Corrupted or Overloaded Cache Files – If you don’t clear the app cache for a long time the cache files become corrupt. The cache file storage folder has limited storage space so when the size of the cache files becomes more than what could be stored, the cache files become overloaded and cause the app to malfunction leading to these error messages.
2. Issue With the FaceService App – If there is an internal issue with the FaceService app where it is having trouble using the face detection technology then it could stop the app from functioning properly.
3. Firmware issue – The app could also stop working if there are you’re using outdated Firmware or there are issues with your device’s Firmware. It may also happen if you’re using a Custom Firmware instead of the Stock Firmware.
How to Fix FaceService Has Stopped Error?
You can fix the “FaceService has stopped” issue by following the methods mentioned below:
(1) Clear App Cache of FaceService, Camera and Samsung Gallery
To clear the FaceService app cache follow these steps:
- Open Settings.
- Tap Apps.
- Tap the Ellipsis icon(three vertical dots) in the upper right corner.
- Tap Show System Apps.
- Find the FaceService app from the list and tap on it.
- Tap Storage.
- Tap Clear Cache.
To clear the Camera app cache follow these steps:
- Open Settings.
- Tap Apps.
- Tap Camera.
- Tap Storage.
- Tap Clear Cache.
To clear the app cache of the Samsung Gallery app, follow the steps mentioned below:
- Open Settings.
- Tap Apps.
- Tap Samsung Gallery.
- Tap Storage.
- Tap Clear Cache.
(2) Flash Stock ROM(Firmware)
Flashing the Stock ROM(Firmware) reinstalls the system software on your device which can prevent the app from stopping and gets rid of such error messages.
You can flash the Stock Firmware using these two steps:
- Download the Stock Firmware files for your Samsung Android device from a Firmware file downloading website.
- Flash the downloaded Firmware files using a Firmware Flashing tool.
Samsung users can flash Stock ROM using the Samsung Odin flashing tool. You can follow the video below on how to do it step by step.
(3) Disable FaceService App Using Package Disabler Pro
Package Disabler Pro is a package disabler app that can disable built-in system apps which cannot be disabled normally. To use this app you’ll have to root your device and once the device is rooted, follow these steps to disable this app.
- Download and Install the Package Disabler Pro app on your Android device.
- Search for “FaceService” using the Search button in the top bar.
- Select the FaceService app and tap Disable.
- Confirm your decision by selecting “Yes.”
(4) Delete FaceService App Using Root Explorer
To delete the FaceService app permanently, follow these steps:
- Root your Android smartphone using our rooting guide mentioned above.
- Download and Install the Root Explorer Android application.
- Open the app and browse to /system/priv-app/FaceService/FaceService.apk.
- Delete the FaceService APK file.
- Reboot your device.
FaceService Consuming Too Much Battery
The FaceService app continuously runs in the background to detect faces in the photos stored in the Samsung Gallery. As you add more photos to your Gallery, the FaceService app will take more time and resources to identify faces in the photo and this will cause higher battery consumption.
When the FaceService app is analyzing your photos, the battery usage hovers around 12% to 15% which is more than what the Android System consumes normally. If there are a lot of photos in the Gallery then FaceService will cause very high battery consumption and its battery usage will remain high for a long period.
To reduce the battery consumption of the FaceService app, follow these methods:
(1) Enable Battery Optimization
Enabling battery optimization for the app can reduce its battery usage. Follow the steps to enable battery optimization:
- Open Settings.
- Tap Apps.
- Tap the three vertical dots symbol in the upper right corner.
- Tap Show system apps.
- Tap FaceService.
- Tap Battery.
- Turn On Battery Optimization.
(2) Prevent The App from Running in the Background
To prevent apps from running in the background, you have to put these apps in the “Sleeping apps” category. Follow the steps below:
- Open Settings.
- Tap Device Care.
- Tap Battery.
- Tap three vertical dots symbol in the upper right corner and then tap Settings.
- Tap Sleeping apps.
- Tap Add.
- Select the FaceService app and then tap on the Add button.
(3) Force Stop the App
Force Stopping an app stops it from functioning temporarily until your phone is restarted back. Follow these steps below to force stop the app.
- Open Settings.
- Tap Apps.
- Tap the three vertical dots symbol in the upper right corner.
- Tap Show system apps.
- Tap FaceService.
- Tap Force Stop.
Is FaceService Safe or Is It a Virus?
FaceService is a safe application and doesn’t cause any harm or damage to your device. It is not a virus or malware.
Some people are worried that the app has access to their photos and it spies on their photos but that is false. This app does have access to your photos but it only uses it to detect faces in the photos and allows you to add name tags to those photos.
This app is not Spyware so you don’t have to worry about the app spying on your data or selling it to third parties.
Can You Uninstall FaceService?
You can uninstall the FaceService app using the Android Debug Bridge software or the Titanium Backup application. Uninstalling the app will solve the app stopping and high battery consumption issues.
However, if you uninstall the FaceService app, your phone won’t be able to identify the faces of the photos stored in the Gallery. You won’t be able to add name tags and sort photos according to the name tags.
If you are not interested in this feature then you should uninstall the app without any worries. Removing this app won’t cause any issues with your camera or photos.
To uninstall the FaceService app, follow any one of the two methods:
1. Using Android Debug Bridge(ADB)
ADB allows you to bring up a Unix shell so you can issue commands directly on the Android device. You’ll need a Windows PC to use ADB.
Step 1 – Go to Settings > System > About phone.
Step 2 – Tap on the Build number 7 times to activate Developer Options.
Step 3 – Go back to the main Settings menu and tap on Developer Options to open it.
Step 4 – Enable USB debugging by tapping on it.
Step 5 – Download ADB on your PC.
Step 6 – Extract the ZIP file into a folder.
Step 7 – After extracting the ZIP file, open that folder.
Step 8 – Press and hold the shift button and right-click in a blank area.
Step 9 – Click on “Open Powershell window here.”
Step 10 – Enter the command adb devices
Step 11 – Connect your Android device to the PC using a USB data cable.
Step 12 – Run the command adb shell pm uninstall –user 0 com.samsung.faceservice and wait for a few seconds till you notice the app has been uninstalled from your device.
2. Using Titanium Backup
This method requires you to gain root access to your device. If you don’t know how to root your Android device then check our Android Rooting guide. After gaining root access follow the steps below to uninstall this system app.
- Download and install the Titanium Backup application.
- Launch the Titanium Backup application, search for FaceService and select this app by tapping on it.
- Tap the “Un-install” button to completely remove the app and delete its data from your device.
What Permissions Does FaceService Require?
The FaceService app only requires Storage permission to function properly on your device. Storage permission allows the app to read the contents of your USB storage and modify/delete the contents of your USB Storage.
This app requires Storage permission to access the images stored in the Gallery app which is used for identifying faces.
Users can check its permissions by going to Settings > Apps > Show system apps > FaceService > Permissions.