ROG Phone 7 Android 14 is an Utter Mess but Asus doesn’t Care!

Sadique Hassan•Updated Dec 3, 2024

When it comes to the gaming smartphone domain, then there are quite a few noteworthy players in this domain. However, it goes without saying that the offering from Asus is undoubtedly the best in this segment. But all that might soon change if the OEM doesn’t start respecting its consumer’s opinions and feedback. A few months back, the OEM rolled out the fourteenth iteration of the OS and there were high hopes that the update will enhance the overall stability, improve the performance, and bring in a few noteworthy goodies.

ROG Phone 7 Android 14

While the changelog did mention all this stuff, in reality, things are a stark contrast from this. As soon as users installed the Android 14 update on their ROG Phone 7, their device got plagued with tons of bugs, with Asus not giving a damn! Let me first shed some light on the issues that the users have been facing after installing the said update after which we will be discussing the remedial measures and also the company’s take on this matter. Follow along.

Table of Contents

ROG Phone 7 Android 14 Update is a Complete Chaos!

ROG Phone 7 Android 14 is an Utter Mess

There have been a slew of issues across numerous domains that are affecting the ROG Phone 7 users after installing the Android 14 update. In this regard, problems related to battery drainage, device overheating, issues with gaming and FPS, and processor lock are just some of the noteworthy ones that are worthy of your attention. So let’s dive deep into these bugs and try and understand them in depth.

Overheating

When issues with gaming, FPS, and Battery drain were being talked about, how could overheating be left far behind? As you might have guessed, the latest Android 14 update for the Asus ROG Phone 7 has also resulted in the device getting overheated even on carrying non-intensive or non-resource-heavy tasks. For some users, the temperature of their device rose to a surprising 47 degrees [Celcius], which is definitely quite concerning to say the least.

Back when I was on Android 13, I played Mobile Legends, and the highest temperature reached around 45 degrees. Now, after the update, the temperature has increased to 47 degrees, and the battery consumption has also increased. As a result, when it reaches 47 degrees, the FPS drops, and the phone becomes very hot, even though I’m only playing three matches of Mobile Legends. Source

Here’s what another user had to say on my YouTube channel Droidwin [NOTE: Check out the User Shared Logs section at the end of this post as well]:

Recently, all users sent their logs to moderators regarding high overheating issue. Funny thing is they just said they never found anything unusual on our logs that can show high temperature more than 31 C , which is a lie because users took a picture of their temps and posted on the forum that is 49 C.

Gaming Issues

Gaming performance has severely deteriorated. It’s not just the frame drops, but more of a stop-motion video.
Pubg mobile (Smooth-90 fps setting) only gets around 80 – 57 in TDM mode, and 90 -60 in battle royale (Erangel map)
Mobile legends (Ultra – ultra setting) in this game supports 120 fps, but the system locks to 60 fps only
Modern warship (ultra – 144 fps setting) the fps drop is like crazy 130 – 31 fps in battle and Explorer the map
Genshin impact (Highest 60 fps setting) the fps still drops like 60 – 40 while Explore, and 30 – 20 while Battle this is very Disappointed, the Snapdragon 8 gen 2 can run at 60 – 57 fps.
The Air Triggers are malfunctioning. They fail to recognize a press-and-hold action, releasing after a second even when the finger is still on the trigger.
Screen Touch Sensitivity feels a bit off too. I play with fingers and sleeves, and sometimes contact on the screen is unresponsive.
The Capture Card input has been restricted to 60Hz, preventing it from reaching 120Hz, which I always use with my capture card for live streaming.
Attempting to record the screen while gaming is futile.

In their defense, Asus might say that these games haven’t been developed by them so the users should instead contact the game developers and get these issues rectified. However, the thing is all the games listed above are working well and good on other devices running Android 14, the issue is only with ROG Phone 7- a gaming smartphone [the irony!]. Moreover, these games were running without any hiccups till Android 13, so the issue has been introduced with the latest OS only.

Battery Issues

While the device beholds a massive 6000mAh battery, but as of now, even a 4000mAh would perform better! Let alone playing highly intensive games, some users have witnessed an astronomical amount of battery drain even while simply scrolling TikTok and Instagram Reels as well.

Processor Lock

The device beholds the powerful Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset and used to easily clock the 3000 Mhz mark, but after installing the said update, it could hardly reach the 2000mAh level.

Poor Screen Recording

This device is [or rather was] the go-to choice for the streamers as they could easily stream games with their audiences. However, the update seems to have ruined it as well. The Screen Recorder is exhibiting a decrease in refresh rate, resulting in a jittery display.

UI Issues

As if the aforementioned major issues weren’t enough, it has incorporated some silly UI mistakes as well, the most noticeable among which is the fact that they have tagged the ROG Phone 7 as ROG Phone 6! Like seriously, how could someone end up committing such an issue is beyond our understanding!

Refusal to Provide Downgrade Package

While not exactly a bug, this is one of the most infuriating behavioral aspects of this OEM- its blatant refusal to provide an Android 13 downgrade package for the ROG Phone 7. The reasoning behind the same is anyone’s guess but it has been four months and we users are literally begging the OEM to provide us with the rollback firmware, but all these requests have fallen on deaf years.

Guess this is what happens whenever an entity tends to gain a monopolistic dominance in a domain. Well, let’s not forget that the users were, are, and will always be the main key to this door of dominance. So if their requests aren’t respected, then it wouldn’t take long for any company to sink deep into oblivion, no matter how powerful they currently are.

Can You Downgrade Asus ROG Phone 7 from Android 14 to Android 13

While some users have shared the downgrade package on XDA, however, the success rate isn’t that high. If it works, you will be back to Android 13, or else, it will straightaway lead to a bricked device. Therefore, we wouldn’t personally recommend you try out these builds until we receive more feedback on the same, but if you have the EDL Tools up and running and know a thing or two about unbricking devices, then here’s what you need to do.

Droidwin and its members wouldn’t be held responsible in case of a thermonuclear war, your alarm doesn’t wake you up, or if anything happens to your device and data by performing the below steps.

To begin with, download the Android 13 firmware for Asus ROG Phone 7 from below [Credits: XDA Member Popst3]:
```
WW-AI2205-33.0820.0810.175-REL-2304-M2.6.16.15-ASUS_1.1.107
```
Then remove all the accounts from your device from the Settings > Passwords & Accounts section.
Now enable Developer Mode via System > About Phone > Software Information > Tap on Build Number 7 times.
Then go to Developer Options and enable the toggle next to USB Debugging.
Now download and extract Android SDK Platform Tools on your PC.
hen type in CMD In the folder’s address bar and hit Enter. This will launch the Command Prompt.
Now type in the below command in the CMD window to boot your device to the Fastboot Mode:
```
adb reboot bootloader
```
Then type in the below command and make sure that you’re getting a serial ID. If you aren’t then install Fastboot Drivers.
```
fastboot devices
```
Now run the flash_all.bat file. The flashing will now start and once done, your device should boot to the OS.
So set it up, go to Settings, and enable Developer Options. Then disable the toggle next to “Automatic system updates”.
Then go to System Update and tap on the settings icon at the top right.
Now go to “Automatically download and install” and select “Do not allow”.

That’s it. These were the steps to downgrade your Asus ROG Phone 7 from Android 14 to Android 13. If you were among the few lucky souls who did manage to achieve success via this tweak, do let us know in the comments section below!

Droidwin’s Take on This Fiasco

Things going haywire with a major OS upgrade is nothing new. We have seen the same happening with numerous other OEMs as well. However, in those cases, the OEM tends to accept that they messed up and ends up rolling out a subsequent update that irons out the underlying bug. However, this is far from the case this time around.

For some reason though, Asus seems to be quite hesitant in accepting that they have failed miserably with this update. Not only that, their refusal to give the users a downgrade package, which is a must, is proving to be the most concerning aspect of this entire fiasco. Every OEM, when they release a major OS upgrade, also tends to roll out the downgrade package because if something goes wrong, users could easily roll back to the older OS build.

But Asus is again hell-bent on not sharing the downgrade package with its users and is literally forcing us all to face the wrath of these bugs as much as possible. There doesn’t seem to be an iota of sense as to why the OEM is behaving in such a weird manner and making such questionable decisions, but whatever plan they have in mind [if there’s any], then it sure is going to backfire sooner rather than later.

Trust me when I say this, I have already come across numerous users who were planning to get their hands on the ROG Phone 8 but have now changed their decision just because of the way the company is treating its consumers. So if the OEM was really to achieve this goal of minimizing its user base, then it seems to surpass it with flying colors!

Lastly, some users are pointing out that the company is walking in the footsteps of iPhones- giving users no choice but to force them to upgrade their devices to the latest release. But with all due respect, Asus, you are not an iPhone! And not to mention the fact that as opposed to the latest ROG devices [which are sailing in the same boat as its predecessor, being bugged with a plentitude of problems], the newest version of the iPhone isn’t bugged with these issues of its earlier iterations.

It’s literally a sad state of affairs to see such a promising set of devices having to meet their demise, all thanks to weird decision-making from the OEM. It seems to have taken a page or two out of Oppo and OnePlus books when the former ended up ruining the latter by incorporating the elements of ColorOS into the beloved OxygenOS.

However, OnePlus is still surviving or rather performing quite great even to this date because it offers some exceptional specs and hardware quality at an impressive price segment. On the other hand, the entire USP of an ROG Phone revolves around how efficiently it manages resource-intensive tasks and games, which as of now, is a complete and utter disaster. So unless the OEM acts quickly, it might not be long before users start jumping ships over to its competitors such as the Nubia series!

Issues with User Shared Logs

UPDATE: See the new section at the end of this guide wherein the logs have been uploaded while the device is discharging. The original writing is preserved below.

Some users have shared their logs clearly showing the battery temperature going all the way up to 45 degrees Celsius and 42 in some cases, however, this is still a point of dispute. This is because the Asus developers have said that most of the logs being shared were at the point in time when the device was being charged. And during the charging phase, such temperatures are usually attained.

The developer further went on to state that the temperature was around 31-32 degrees Celcius while the device wasn’t being charged, which is again along the expected lines. While we do agree with the developer on this, however, this isn’t just a one-off instance. Near about every other ROG Phone 7 user is facing this overheating issue and why would any user lie on this topic, after all, they are the ultimate suffers in all this.

Granted the logs could have been shared in a slightly better environment, but still, that doesn’t give the OEM the liberty to skip the plethora of other complaints regarding the overheating of this device. With that said, it is a humble request to our readers to please send your logs in the correct manner when your device isn’t being charged so that Asus can get the complete and correct picture of this issue.

ROG Phone 7 Users: Make your Voices Heard!

On that note, let’s take a breather for now from this ROG Phone 7 Android 14 mess up, but trust us, this is not the end, infact far from it. We just need your support so make sure to drop in your valuable opinions, frustrations, and concerns as much as possible in the comments section below. The more the number of user reports, the faster will be the chances of the issue getting in the eyes of Asus, and the quicker it might get addressed or at least we might get the downgrade package from them.

I will post this article in the Asus Community and will advise you to do so as well [UPDATE: It has already been posted by one of our readers, so thanks for that!]. Likewise, I’ll get in touch with the Asus software development team and your feedback is the only source through which I could cement these claims, so make sure to drop them in the comments with as much detail as possible. Moreover, we will keep you posted regarding the latest developments via this article. So make sure to keep a tab on this post at regular intervals.

Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

UPDATE: Uploaded More Logs

If there was still any iota of doubt that it was just a one-off incident, then we could now quash all those suspicions to rest as we are now receiving a plethora of logs from various affected users. As is evident from those logs, the temperature easily reaches 47 degrees Celsius even when the device is discharging.

This could prove to be quite a scary situation if it isn’t addressed at the earliest. In the meantime, we advise the users not to use their device for a prolonged time period as things might take a turn for the worse, so a cooldown period for your device is a must, at least for the next few weeks until [or rather if] the issue is addressed. [LOG 1 to 4 Credits: Sam1991].

LOG 1

FIRMWARE: ASUS_AI2205_C-34.1010.0820.71-WW-357795480581812-240418230554-10

LOG 2

FIRMWARE: ASUS_AI2205_D-34.1010.0820.71-WW-351020140254858-240424123102-10

LOG 3

FIRMWARE: ASUS_AI2205_D-34.1010.0820.71-WW-351020145293992-240417114459-10

LOG 4

FIRMWARE: ASUS_AI2205_D-34.1010.0820.71-WW-351020145293992-240417114459-10

Tags:

OpinionsROG Phone 7ROG Phone 7 Ultimate

tnthub Star

11 months ago Reply

may be the only non-gamer here, and after 35 years in the IT industry I have stayed on Android 13 with my Rog 7 Ultimate until “bugs” get resolved. However I do want to comment as I spend many years as a moderator (and later Admin), on a formerly large message board. I have absolutely zero knowledge of how this board in officially managed, but as a former moderator my job was to keep the peace, relay information and provide information without being firsthand involved in development. I was also tasked with understanding and conveying user information to the development team as best I could, and did my best to understand “everything” without having the background to fully and accurately vet all information.

Additionally, I too am very disappointed with the inability of Asus to provide a timely resolution to the overheating and performance issues noted by many in this forum. I do know Google had significant heat issues with Android 14 on some Pixel versions (6 and 7 come to mind), that took a very long time to resolve. Yes, Google is using a different chip but to common factor is Android 14. I do not recall Pixel 6-7 versions having heat issues with Android 12 or 13 but I could be wrong. Please correct me if I am misguided.

I had hoped to introduce Asus phone devices to my clients due to security issues with Samsung bloatware, and OnePlus inconsistencies and bloatware security issues. After reading this extended diatribe and seeing no to minimal effort by Asus to resolve issues, and no actual public acknowledgement by Asus to get in front of the embarrassing sh*t show that is likely heading toward them, I will be staying on Android 13 (despite needing a newer version to comply with client security). Asus has been creating well made products for decades and typical of many technical companies, has less than stellar technical support. I’m good with limited support as I am a geek, but I am not good with a company failing to issues when they occur on such an ongoing basis by so many people. I will continue to follow these dialogues to see (hopefully) a positive result, but the length of time and failure to admit this issue has provided me a basis to be skeptical of Asus ability to continue in the phone marketplace.
- Sadique Hassan
  
  11 months ago Reply
  
  Hi mate, just wanted to know whether Asus has taken action on this matter or not. If not, I will try my best to take this issue to a higher authority.
  - Sam
    
    8 months ago Reply
    
    Hi Sadique ,
    
    It’s been more than 3 months and we are still suffering from this issue. No one is willing to downgrade. Asus refused to do it. Reached to it’s support they mentioned Asus doesn’t let us to downgrade anymore. This is serious man
TonyZ

11 months ago Reply

I really regret buying ROG 7 because I see there’s no support at all from Asus after Android 14 ruined this phone in all conditions, it’s just a waste of money and even if someone would give this phone to me for free I swear I wouldn’t take it because i can’t use it for gaming anymore and for sure I don’t use it for daily use so there’s no point of having this phone. I don’t know why it’s so hard from Asus to give back what customers want and to give a choice to downgrade to A13 who wants?!!! I mentioned before things that I noticed like :

1. Weak security (phone can turn off without asking a pin or fingerprint or whatever… when phone is locked you can have access in wifi, airplane mode, ring mode and so on and that’s bad becususe others can corrupt your phone even if it’s “locked”. When phone is locked means it’s locked and you can’t have access at all except answering areiving calls

2. Air triggers not working ( when you tap air triggers most of the time there’s no command or it seems like they don’t recognize fingers …

3. Overheating ( after upgrading to A14 phone gets much hotter than before.

And there are many many points to mention…

Asus does nothing to fix things… going to have Samsung S24 ultra.
Disappointed_us

11 months ago Reply

Rog 7 really giving me a bad phone experience.

Phone heating from normal usage without charging.

Gaming fps always has fluctuation.

GPU usage goes up to 99 degree celcius when gaming with codm.

Why idle of a phone will goes up to 33 or 34 degree and above? when gaming almost 50 degree.

Asus will ignore this kind of question.
nightsilvance

11 months ago Reply

I would say ROG 8 has it alot worse thna ROG 7, as I use both on A14 now. The only reason i have to still use ROG 7 is because of the downgraded air triggers to be pressure activated instead of touch activated. This has been confirmed by the mods themselves. So you can just imagine, A14 causing same issue on both 7 and 8, and on top of that ROG 8 has a physical hardware design flaw that is quite unlikely to be fixed by any software solution.

Many other issues include the physical design change that compromise ergonomics and considerations for gaming, which in a sense make it extremely hard to even call this a proper gaming phone.

You don’t make a design change to cause users to lose their game and call it a competitive advantage.
Akira

11 months ago Reply

Asus rog phone 7 has failed us we paid 1400 dollars for a premium phone but phones under 500 dollar performs much better they don’t fix their faulty updates they don’t care about our concerns if they keep denying better give us our money back I have warranty. I woke up one day with 66 degrees rog phone 7 I burned my hand when I held my phone in my hand I turned off the device and put it in the freezer I was scared I would explode if this happens I am gonna sue the hell out of Asus for millions of dollars, one more thing fps drops in games are terrible it literally destroyed my fun in mobile gaming terrible performance for a overpriced premium gaming phone which does everything except gaming, Asus doesn’t fix their faulty software they don’t care about anything we should all start a lawsuit.
Shahreezal

11 months ago Reply

Hi! Ever since my ROG 7 was updated to A14, all sorts of problems arose. first, the most noticeable one: my game lags! Honkai Impact 3rd to be precise. i have other games installed as well, but i play HI3 almost everyday. before this, i played the game normally.
the fps would stay at a constant 60fps, never dipping below less than 30fps. the game settings were set at max. now, after the update, the games (not just HI3, Monopoly Go as well) fps sometimes would go to 0 then jump back to 60. what is this?!

the 2nd main issue that plagues other ROG 7 users, is without a doubt: overheat. before this, i would play games without the use of a phone cooler. this is because the situation wouldn’t warrant the use of a cooler. mind you, i can’t chalk out 700MYR just for a cooler! so, i bought a 3rd party cooler. played games with it, even HI3, and it was wonderful! this is before the update. temps would hover in the region of 32-26c (with the cooler). after the update, the temps would soar to 42c! and this is with the cooler attached! it’s like the cooler can’t handle the high temps! some of you might want to say: you’re not using the ROG Cooler. like i said, the cooler is too expensive to be bought on it’s own. but for your information: the cooler does its job well.

when i submitted the logs to Asus’s site admin named Mattias, i mentioned to him the temps at which the phone would go to when playing games. and he told me, 45 is normal temps for the phone to be in when operating in game mode! i’m a pc gamer, i play games almost everyday at home. so for the admin to say the phone to be at 45c normal, that is outrageous!

i don’t want a software downgrade, i just want the devs to make an update that will fix all these issues! these phones aren’t cheap! for them to sell it, and then leave users hanging with these issues, outrageous!
EgorDa

11 months ago Reply

1I completely agree with everyone involved in the use Asus Rog 7 and who attempts to reach response from Asus. I also have Asus Rog 7 ( Republic Of Gamers, Global) on “.71”.
I also have problems with overheating, triggers and battery, but to a lesser extent than most because I do not have the latest firmware. Waiting reply from Asus!
snowdance

11 months ago Reply

im tired of this, now im waiting for mattias to reply for some explanation for the next update, if asus do nothing for the next update, tmrw ill go to asus service center to get a downgrade, if both of that turned out with dead end. i’ll take legal action against them.
MiroS

11 months ago Reply

ROG 8 is tottaly the same, the triggers is catastofaly , extremely overheating , very bad
Sam1991

11 months ago Reply

Since I updated my Asus ROG 7 to A14 , I’ve been experiencing different issues like high overheating and fps drops. When my phone is being idle and not charged, it’s temp is somewhere around 31 to 32 C which was never like this on A13 . As matter of fact, my phone temperature was only 21 to 22 C. When I play games , phone temperature rises dramatically to 44 to 47 C on A14 and it’s quite hot that I can barely hold my phone. It was never like this on A13 and I never experienced more that 33 to 35 C when playing games. Last but not least, when I am surfing on web or check my telegram , Whatsapp , Instagram , or YouTube sth on Wifi then again my phone temperature goes up sharply to 35 and that’s not NORMAL at all because it has never ever happened on A13. I’m not the only user who is experiencing high over heating and there are many other ROG 7 users out there who are desperate like me dealing with these issues. Other ROG 7 users and I have reached out to Asus many times and they ignored us by giving us an option to downgrade. Every time they roll out and update, not only they fix any issues but also they create another issue that wasn’t even there on our phones. All we want is to go back to A13.
Sam1991

11 months ago Reply

Hi dear Sadique ,

As we spoke earlier on YouTube , I uploaded a few logs that users experienced high temperature and I made sure that their phones weren’t being charged when they created the log.

I created a folder on my google drive as Asus ROG 7 logs so you can check the logs yourself.I try to upload more logs as soon as I get new logs from users and I’ll upload them on the following link below.
- Sadique Hassan
  
  11 months ago Reply
  
  Hi Sam, just wanted to know whether Asus has taken action on this matter or not. If not, I will try my best to take this issue to a higher authority.
- Sadique Hassan
  
  11 months ago Reply
  
  Thanks Sam1991 for sharing the files with us. We have extracted the logs, got hold of the battery stats, and uploaded them to the post.
  - JimiK
    
    11 months ago Reply
    
    ROG 7 on Android 14 is a mess.
    
    It creates so much heat even more than an oven.
    Almost 4 months passed when Asus gave our Rog 7 phones the Android 14 system, which ruined them. After that, these are no different from low end phones in any way and even some low end phones have a better gaming experience than these. Asus has given us several “corrective” updates, but the problems are not fixed, they get worse, and there have been more problems as well like air triggers malfunction, overheating, and phone freezes all the time.They don’t even respond to our numerous requests for help, they just ignore them. The problems would be fixed if they gave us a downgrade to the Android 13 system, but they refuse to give it. If you want a phone with power and a good gaming experience, I recommend going around this company from a far.