title: Android : LicenseValidator(31668) Error contacting licensing server
body: <p>We are currently trying to solve this issue which is occurring only on some devices among our users. </p>
  
  <p>Our application a reporting system which lets the user to collect information and take pictures which they can then export to our server. Once exported successfully they can download various reports from their on-line account. </p>
  
  <p>The symptoms that we are getting on some of the android devices (running with froyo) are as following</p>
  
  <ul>
  <li>Our app becomes sluggish and slow (all the lists and buttons respond with a lag)</li>
  <li>If user takes a photograph it takes 10-15 seconds to for that photo to get saved</li>
  <li>All the changes that user is making (adding new items to their report) does not get saved to disk and in the event of app (or even the whole device) crashing user looses all the data that he/she has so far collected.</li>
  </ul>
  
  <p>On close inspection of these problematic tablets (all of these are Samsung Galaxy 7" tablets), we have found that there is a constant call to LicensingServer going in the background which is keeping everything busy. Our app does not use license and this background request for licence check has nothing to do with our app. Still the effect is very negative on our app. As you can notice from following section of logcat, the device is making 8-9 calls to the licensing server every seconds.</p>
  
  <p>02-03 14:38:47.976 LicenseValidator(31668)Error contacting licensing server.
  02-03 14:38:47.823 LicenseValidator(31668)Error contacting licensing server.
  02-03 14:38:47.710 LicenseValidator(31668)Error contacting licensing server.
  02-03 14:38:47.577 LicenseValidator(31668)Error contacting licensing server.
  02-03 14:38:47.347 LicenseValidator(31668)Error contacting licensing server.
  02-03 14:38:47.218 LicenseValidator(31668)Error contacting licensing server.
  02-03 14:38:47.108 LicenseValidator(31668)Error contacting licensing server.</p>
  
  <p>This constant hit has adverse effect on everything. </p>
  
  <p>My question is, why does it try to contact licensing server so many times and if there is a way to stop it from doing so. As a part of our set-up we always turn off the "Background data" and "Auto sync" (which is under Settings - > Accounts and sync). The reason we do this because we don't want our users to access Android Market (its a part of management rulebook given to us as a part of this contract). </p>
  
  <p>Even if we turn on the Background data the master Gmail account is the one that is set by us and the user does not have password for it. In this case sometimes the device goes into non-sync state (which is shown as an orange triangle icon at the notification bar at top). In this case also the device goes into this madness calling the licensing server 8-9 times every second.</p>
  
  <p>Is there a way to make the device stop contacting the licensing server completely. We have spend last one week searching every possible corner of on-line forums and Android documentation. We have not yet come across anyone out there facing this problem. Any help or hint towards a solution will be hugely appreciated.</p>
  
  <p>Usman Chamad</p>