NullPointerException, getPhone error when trying SKD-21, Messages displaying on Samsung Galaxy s4 after update to Lollipop 5.0.1

Question

Yesterday I updated my Samsung Galaxy s4 to Lollipop 5.0.1. It is important to note that my phone is not moded in any way nor has it been rooted. It is the standard user version phone.

After the update however, there is actually programming error messages popping up on the screen. They only appear for a few seconds at a time so I was lucky to catch a screen shot nor do they only appear when using specific apps, they seem to be at random.

Here is the error message that is displaying for me verbatim:

Trying SDK - 21 ----- getPhone error - java.lang.NullPointerException: Attempt to invoke virtual method 'java.lang.String com.woodslink.android.wiredheadphoner outingfix.phone.enumPhones.name()' on a null object reference

Any ideas on why this is displaying or what to do to fix it or get rid of it?

Thanks in advance!

Answer 1

The error is being generated by a package named com.woodslink.android.wiredheadphoneroutingfix, which appears to be the package name for SoundAbout. Based on the surrounding context, it looks like there may be a bug in the app that is causing it to misbehave on Android 5.0+, at least in your case. Essentially, the Android upgrade broke SoundAbout.

You could potentially try to downgrade your device if you wanted to, but that would have larger ramifications as well. A better alternative would likely be to simply report the issue to the developer of SoundAbout. You can do this by using the email or contact us feature provided by the developer of the app. I'm sure they'd like to get it fixed, and if you provide the error message it should give them at least a decent start for their debugging.

Unfortunately, there is not much you can do to fix the error on your own (aside from the aforementioned system downgrade).

Note: SoundAbout is no longer available on Play Store.