Surface detection and tracking quality degraded significantly after recent updates on Samsung devices

[ugurtansal]

SPECIFIC ISSUE ENCOUNTERED

Surface detection (Plane Finding) has become very unstable and slow after recent updates. Previously, the exact same application code was working perfectly on this device.

Now, the device struggles to detect flat surfaces (floors/walls) even in well-lit environments with texture. When a surface is finally detected and an Anchor is placed, the tracking is not stable, and virtual objects drift/slide across the floor.

The issue seems to be related to the underlying ARCore perception changes or Samsung camera driver updates, as the app logic has not changed.

VERSIONS USED

• Android Studio:

• 2024.3.1

• ARCore SDK for Android:

• 1.52.0

• Device manufacturer, model, and O/S:

• Samsung Galaxy S23 FE , SM-S711B

• Android 16

• Google Play Services for AR (ARCore):

• 1.52

STEPS TO REPRODUCE THE ISSUE

1. Open any ARCore enabled app (e.g., HelloAR sample) on a Samsung device.
2. Point the camera at a textured floor or wall.
3. Observe that plane detection takes much longer than before or fails completely.
4. If a plane is detected, place an object and move the device; the object drifts and loses its position easily.

WORKAROUNDS (IF ANY)

• Clearing "Google Play Services for AR" cache and data does not solve the issue.
• The issue persists regardless of lighting conditions.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS

The camera focus behavior seems to have changed, which might be preventing ARCore from extracting feature points correctly.

[darijan1001]

One thing that is super confusing, is that if you go to Google Play and download an app that relies on AR features

for example:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=de.westnordost.streetmeasure&hl=en_US
or any other app that uses AR features, it works completely fine on Samsung.

But you run the open source code from github, or run the Google hello ar sample app, the tracking is always completely broken, like @ugurtansal described

Has anyone been able to find a solution for this ?

[ugurtansal]

@darijan1001 As you mentioned, it works perfectly for me in various AR applications as well.

This issue seems to have arisen with the ARCore library and OneUI updates coming to Samsung.

[darijan1001]

So if ARCore library and OneUI updates are the issue, why are the AR apps in the Google play store working perfectly ?

The issue seems to only happen when I run the AR code from Android studio to Samsung....
@ugurtansal

Any theories as to why are the AR apps when downloaded from Google Play working perfectly on Samsung ?

[ahudson20]

@darijan1001 I think StreetMeasure (https://github.com/streetcomplete/StreetMeasure) is using the outdated sceneform AR lib (https://developers.google.com/sceneform/develop), not the new ARCore lib (which might have something todo with it?)

Ive found AR apps using sceneform can work OK, but not sceneview/AR Core apps

[danielstolero-trax]

As a workaround, we found that setting isDebuggable = false normalizes the tracking state.

For the record, I am using a Samsung Galaxy Tab Active5, and I believe this issue started a week ago after we updated the One UI version.

https://doc.samsungmobile.com/SM-X306B/029811240330/mlt.html

[ahudson20]

@danielstolero-trax That certainly seems to help, but is a slightly annoying workaround, thanks 👍

[agGitHub]

Please check this ticket ; might be a link between these issues : #1751

[ugurtansal]

Thanks to @danielstolero-trax , this problem has been solved.

[agGitHub]

Thanks to @danielstolero-trax , this problem has been solved.

I am not sure to understand this solution : does it mean that it is enough to set isDebuggable = false in Gradle => android => buildTypes ?

As the app is normally compiled by default with isDebuggable = false in release mode, does it mean that this issue occurred only during the dev tests (compiled with debug settings) and not on the production app (compiled with release settings) ?

Setting isDebuggable to false does not solve my issue #1751