Galaxy Note 3 third-party accessory support affected by KitKat update: Reports

According to user forum posts, the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 has stopped supporting third-party accessories post its Android 4.4.2 KitKat update.

The Galaxy Note 3's Android 4.4 KitKat update started rolling out globally in mid-January for the Snapdragon 800-powered (SM -N9005) variant, while the handset's Exynos 5 Octa-variant (SM -N900) started receiving its KitKat update a couple of days ago. The latest KitKat firmware for the Galaxy Note 3 is said to revamp the performance of the flagship phablet by improving the RAM management and by increasing the system stability.

Users have reported KitKat-based Galaxy Note 3 accessory problems on the XDA forum. As Sammobile notes, Samsung had been rumoured for a few months to be on the verge of enforcing a policy that would ensure the Galaxy Note 3, and future high-end devices would not support any third-party accessory that has not been Samsung certified. Accessories would have to sport an official Samsung identification chip to function correctly.

It now appears that Samsung has started enforcing this policy via the new update, and for accessory makers, this means that most of their products that were being used by the Galaxy Note 3 have now becoming non-functioning - which leads to the question of how those companies will redress customers.

XDA forum users also report that rooting the Galaxy Note 3 should fix the issue, but of course, we do not recommend the path, as it entails a few risks. One can only assume that the accessory makers will soon commence licensing the ID chip from Samsung.