Bitdefender security keeps uninstalling com.google.android.trichrome library
I keep getting notifications about Bitdefender removing com.google.android.trichrome library during an install scan. This library is supposed to be part of the Android WebView and safe.
So why was it removed? According to Play Store the app in question that was installed was Bitdefender itself. So this is very dubious.
Answers
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I'm also experiencing this and am curious about the answer.0
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This is a valid Google app/extension. It definitely should not be uninstalled.
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Hi Members,
Bitdefender Mobile Security does not remove files on its own, it's prompting the user to decide. Can you please upload a screenshot?
Stay safe,
Mike
Intel Core i7-7700 @ 3.60Ghz, 64GB DDR4 || Gigabyte nVIDIA GeForce® GTX 1070 G1 8GB || WD Blue NAND 500GB + 1TB
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Mike,
This is not user prompted. I am 100% sure no prompt occured while I recently also found a notification from bitdefender that com.google.android.trichromelibrary was de-installed 'during installation'.
Also troubling is that this is not logged in the activity log.
Please take this serious, this is not a bogus report by a single user.
Koen
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Hi @Kodhee ,
Thank you for sharing this in the Expert Community. You must've received one the following messages:
%s app was uninstalled during on install scan. * {app_name}: %s was uninstalled while the scan was in progress * Malware Scanner: %s app was uninstalled during on install scan.The idea behind is this:
1) Bitdefender Mobile Security detected a new event, in this case a new package install/ update, so started scan
2) Until BMS managed to extract info from the package or get a final answer from the server whether the app is clean or not, the system decided to install/ uninstall immediately, before BMS got the verdict on the app.
There are some discussion over the web on this library, not necessary antivirus-related , but rather glitches : https://www.thesharedweb.com/com-google-android-trichromelibrary/
Stay safe,
Mike
Intel Core i7-7700 @ 3.60Ghz, 64GB DDR4 || Gigabyte nVIDIA GeForce® GTX 1070 G1 8GB || WD Blue NAND 500GB + 1TB
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The same problem here.
No questions asked, just uninstalled.
I love the fact that Bitdefender acts proactively, but this might be a false allert.
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Not an expert, but I think I can explain what is happening here a little more clearly:
When Google Play Store upgrades chrome (which includes com.google.android.trichrome) this triggers Bitdefender to do a scan, whilst scanning the upgrade process continues.
The Play Store removes a version of trichrome as part of the upgrade process. Bitdefender sees this package disappear whilst it is still trying to scan it and therefore generates the report that the app was uninstalled during the scan triggered by an "on install" event (which includes upgrades). This message could mean that a virus is trying to hide itself by uninstalling parts when it detects a scan happening, but in this case is more likely harmless as Chrome is upgrading at the same time.
TL;DR Bitdefender is not uninstalling trichrome, rather it is warning that something else uninstalled trichrome whilst Bitdefender was trying to scan it. If Chrome was upgrading at the same time, it is harmless. If Chrome was not upgrading at that time then it could be more serious, hence the alert.
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Perfect catch & explanation @SpiderErrol
Regards
Life happens, Coffee helps!
Show your Attitude, when you reach that Altitude!
Bitdefender Ultimate Security Plus (user)
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Experiencing the same issue. Keen to hear from the BD team on a resolution for this issue.
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This is happening to me multiple times a day. 20-70 notifications each time. The ticket team has no idea whats going on. Only happens when I haven't used my phone for a few hours. No anti-virus is detecting anything and similar to all of you the BD notifications give no information. Started April 28th and has only gotten 10x worse since.
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I too just started receiving 38 BitDefender trichromelibrary notifications overnight (all by itself) and then 38 more after I manually updated 11 apps through the Play Store.
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I can confirm this happened to me today on android and it seems to be triggered after the manual apps update from play store. The chrome update theory shared above seems to make sense to me.
Clicking the 22 notifications doesn't show me anything besides open BD.
Why can't Bitdefender answer what's going on?
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I got one of these pop-ups. It doesn't match up with the time Chrome was installed. Anyone have any clues as to what is going on?
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Hello,
This has to do with the Android system notifications:
A quick workaround would be to turn off the system notifications.
Long press on notification and turn off notifications - this will stop notification from that app (or android settings => apps => locate app => Notifications => turn off). The app will run in background but notifications will not be visible.
However, this change will affect other notifications as well and they will no longer be displayed.
Premium Security & Bitdefender Endpoint Security Tools user
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Alexandru_BD, that might be fine for some people but turning off a warning mechanism seems inappropriate. I've run BD and Chrome for years and these new trichromelibrary notifications are a very recent phenomenom for me. What's changed to induce them? If they are just a nuisance notification then BD should add a management mechanism.
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Hi Alexandru_BD,
Thanks for your reply.
I've looked in all apps, having displayed system apps, and com.google.trichromelibrary does not appear in the list. It seems it might not be installed? My phone is a Google Pixel 4a 5G fully updated and patched, as are all apps.
Please can you advise how to check if the trichrome library is or is not installed, and up to date? Also, if not installed how would I get it?
From what I've seen so far this isn't about notifications, it's Bitdefender blocking the install. This happened at 4am when my phone automatically updated.
Thanks again for your help.
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com.google.android.trichromelibrary*
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Hi,
Surely you have it on your phone.
Android WebWiew is a pre-installed system component responsible for displaying web pages inside apps. If you have ever opened any webpage link on apps like Facebook or Instagram, you must have noticed that the page does not load in your default browser application. In old Android versions, Chrome App was used by WebView for rendering web pages in apps, but in Android 10, Google started using a new implementation called “Trichrome.”
Here’s the statement from a Google engineer:
“Chrome is no longer used as a WebView implementation in Q+. We’ve moved to a new model for sharing common code between Chrome and WebView (called “Trichrome”), which gives the same benefits of reduced download and install size while having fewer weird special cases and bugs.”
com.google.android.trichromelibrary is the Android package file of Trichrome. All Android apps and programs like Trichrome have a unique package name for identification purposes, and they contain important files.
Now, if your device keeps downloading com.google.android.trichromelibrary and does not finish it ever, you can download the latest version of it from apkmirror.com. After downloading the apk file, locate and install it. Keep in mind you may get a warning for installing the app from an unknown source; if you do, accept it and let it install.
Our developers are also gathering information regarding this, to see if there is anything we can do on our end to resolve the issue. But as developers, we have limited access to Android's systems and cannot influence their internal processes.
Regards
Premium Security & Bitdefender Endpoint Security Tools user
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Hi Alexandru,
"Surely you have it on your phone."
I have Webview but not the trichrome library. This is searching all apps in system settings with show system apps on:
Nothing there (I've tried looking through the list and searching the whole string - it's not listed). As per my earlier post it appears to have been uninstalled by BD:
Please advise.
The APK mirror site has three versions released yesterday. None of the version numbers match the one uninstalled. The phone updated overnight while I slept, and I got this notification this morning.
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PS ... Searching for com.google.android shows several installed components, but again, no trichrome library:
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Hi Alexandru - it's not a safe practice to suggest to BD customers they should download apks from a 3rd party website. There is too much unknown risk for this to be a suggestion.
I understand the issue and how it relates to WebView, but this should be raised with the Google/Andriod devs as causing a poor UX for BD customers.
This type of notification which may seem minor is enough to confuse paying customers and raise doubt on your product. Its def not a matter to brush off maybe in the BD APP warn users of this issue or have some mechanism to inform/address the alert.
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I agree. This should be solved, not workarounds that maybe 2-3% of users can employ.
But ... it isn't on my phone. Only stub folders and an apk with a date of 2009. Searching root for *trichrome* there's nothing less than a year old there.
This is the one and only time I've seen the notification. Perhaps this issue is not the same one that caused multiple notifications?
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@Ak47code In case if you don’t want to download the app from a website like APK mirror, there’s still a way to successfully download com.google.android.trichromelibrary by clearing Google Playstore app cache:
- Go to Settings.
- Tap on ”Apps.”
- Find and open “Google Play Store.”
- Open ”Storage” and finally, tap on ”Clear cache.”
In March 2021, after a new update of Android WebView was released, thousands of users started complaining about crashing apps: Gmail, Facebook, and Amazon. Google advised users to update their Android System WebView and Chrome browser to fix the issue. So it's not the first time we encounter issues with this.
As a side note, it might be a good idea to update Android WebView and Chrome (if not already updated):
- Open Google Play Store app.
- Search for “Android System WebView” or Chrome.”
- Tap on the “Update” button.
Going forward, the Mobile Security developers are currently investigating this and we are pursuing the possibility of a fix from our end.
Regards
Premium Security & Bitdefender Endpoint Security Tools user
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Deleted PlayStore cache.
Uninstalled WebView updates, reinstalled them.
Still no library. Bitdefender also reported deleting it again last night. I don't get multiple notifications, but now two nights in a row.
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Thank you for your input @A_Person.
We will get to the bottom of this.
Premium Security & Bitdefender Endpoint Security Tools user
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Alexandru,
Thank you. I'm a paying customer with almost three years left on my third renewal of a ten licence pack.
Am I going to see a quicker response by raising a ticket please?
I only jumped in here as the issue was related, but it's not multiple notifications, and it only started two days ago.
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It won't be necessary to open a ticket for now. I'm chatting with the developers on this topic as we speak and they are now fully aware of the situation. In the event a fix is found on their end, it will usually come via an automated update rollout. In special cases such as this one, there is little the Support engineers can do, as they also need to wait for development teams to investigate and come up with a solution. This applies for bugs and outages as well.
Cheers.
Premium Security & Bitdefender Endpoint Security Tools user
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Thanks @Alexandru_BD 👍
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PS for the developers:
APK mirror site has versions of this package updated 10/5/22 - the day this problem started for me. So possibly the issue I'm facing is particular to this version of the package: I never saw the message before now.
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FYI: I have been getting this for a few days as well. Followed the steps this morning. Even uninstalled Android System Webview, updated, got 28(?) immediate notifications.
Long time user, first time poster.
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3rd night running. This seems different to previous multiple notification issue: one notification each night PlayStore checks my system, one deletion by BD.
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Hi,
The developers are troubleshooting this as we speak. An internal investigation is conducted by our mobile security specialists and with the help of Google, they should be able to fix this soon.
Bear with us for just a little bit longer, I completely understand the frustration and inconvenience this situation has caused.
Thank you everyone for your valuable input during this investigation.
Stay safe
Premium Security & Bitdefender Endpoint Security Tools user
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Thanks for the update Alexandru 👍. This is now causing issues with some apps displaying content.
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Hello, I am still getting 25 of these messages every night. Cleared cache, what else?
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Hello,
A fix has been deployed with a new release (v3.3.172.1997) and the rollout is currently at 15%
Once the update reaches 100% it will become available for all users.
Thank you for your patience and understanding.
Best regards
Premium Security & Bitdefender Endpoint Security Tools user
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Thanks Alexandru,
I hope this fix will allow it to install, as the answer to "Surely you have it on your phone" is still no in my case. I'm getting one notification nightly when my phone auto-updates.
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Hello,
The update rollout reached 100% and the fix is now available for all users with the version v3.3.172.1997.
Regards
Premium Security & Bitdefender Endpoint Security Tools user
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I got the update. I will find out tonight if this is a good or cosmetic. Another message last night that trichrome library was deleted during install .. once every night now since May 10th.
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Please let us know how it behaves now, as I'm in close contact with the engineers and your feedback is very valuable to them. The tests concluded that the issue was resolved, however, it is always great to receive confirmation from the users themselves 🙂
Premium Security & Bitdefender Endpoint Security Tools user
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Thanks, and yes I will let you know, of course. I think that is part of being a responsible member of the community - and to support when things go right, or not.
Ifi get the message again, or if don't but trichrome library is still not installed on my device, I will disable Bitdefender for one night and see if the library is then installed. This will offer more insight for the team to work with.
Hopefully all good now though 👍
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Reporting after the latest BD and Chrome updates from the Google Play Store yesterday, I have not received these alerts today.
Before the update, I regularly got ~20 removal notifications from the date of my initial post above until yesterday.
I will report back if this continues and am carefully updating Google Chrome and BD one at a time (in no specific order) to make sure I know which update triggers the notification.
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Hi @Ak47code,
Thank you for sharing your feedback with the community, glad to hear this has been resolved. 👍️
Premium Security & Bitdefender Endpoint Security Tools user
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I no longer receive notifications every night.
I uninstalled Bitdefender for one night to see if trichrome library gets installed .. it seems not, but I will take this up with Google support.
Thanks for your help,
Matthew
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Premium Security & Bitdefender Endpoint Security Tools user
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They are still coming. At least once every night, somtimes in daytime..... waiting for "right" upgrade.....??? Any chance it will stop?
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Hello @TiasW ,
This situation should have been resolved with the latest update. I would advise to reinstall the app, then check if the issue persists. If you still receive such notifications, kindly contact our Technical Teams for further assistance.
You can get in touch with our engineers by choosing one of the contact methods available here:
https://www.bitdefender.com/consumer/support/
Scroll to the bottom of the page and choose your desired contact channel.
Regards
Premium Security & Bitdefender Endpoint Security Tools user
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And I am getting the same notifications every day
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