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robovelcro's avatar
robovelcro
Rising Newcomer
3 days ago

Win 11 - EA App opening itself

Sometimes, when I'm doing something entirely unrelated, the app will decide to open itself for no reason.
Even when I have SPECIFICALLY right-clicked on the icon in the Notification Area and told it to Exit. It'll just decide to open itself a few minutes later, over the top of whatever I'm doing.

This isn't it launching on startup (it's not even in the "startup apps" section of Task Manager, and Run On Startup is disabled in the options), this isn't it auto-updating games (there are no updates available, that's why I launched it the first time, and then closed it) (and also "continue updates when the app is closed" is disabled), it doesn't seem to be updating the app itself (again, it was open less than an hour ago with no indication of updates).
It's not caused by me opening Ubisoft or Xbox app, and them subsequently opening the EA App because they're linked. It's not caused by me opening a game I own on the EA App.

I'm testing a possible solution of disabling "Install updates automatically" in the Application settings tab.
I've heard a possible solution of disabling EABackgroundServices in msconfig, but I'd really rather avoid touching anything in there, if possible.

But why on earth is it launching itself, in front of everything, without me touching the icon? 

discussion
ea app notifications
ui (user interface)

1 Reply

  • EA_Leeuw's avatar
    EA_Leeuw
    Icon for Community Manager rankCommunity Manager
    1 day ago

    Hi robovelcro​ ,

    Thanks for the detailed breakdown. Based on what you’ve described, this does not sound like the normal “launch on startup” behaviour, especially if:

    • Run on startup is disabled in the EA app
    • EA app is not listed/enabled under Windows Startup Apps
    • Continue updates when the app is closed is disabled
    • You fully exited the app from the notification area
    • No EA-linked game, Xbox app, Ubisoft app, or EA app game launch is involved


    The EA app should not be forcing itself into the foreground over unrelated activity after you have exited it.

    A few things are worth separating here:

    1. EA app UI
      This is the visible app window.
    2. EA Background Service
      This can still be used for app/game maintenance, update checks, entitlement handling, and launch-related tasks. Disabling it through msconfig may stop the symptom, but it can also break expected EA app behaviour, so I would not recommend that as a first troubleshooting step.
    3. Automatic app update checks
      Your test with disabling Install updates automatically is a good one, because if the app is being woken by an update-check path, that setting may help isolate it.


    For now, could you please try the following and let us know what happens?

    • Keep Install updates automatically disabled temporarily.
    • Fully exit the EA app from the notification area.
    • Reboot Windows.
    • Do not manually open the EA app after reboot.
    • Check whether the EA app still opens itself later.
    • If it does, note roughly how long after reboot it happens and whether EA app.exe or EABackgroundService.exe was already running in Task Manager before the window appeared.


    Also, please share:

    • Your EA app version
    • Your Windows 11 version/build
    • Whether this happens once per session or repeatedly
    • Whether the app opens to the Home page, a login screen, an update screen, or a blank/loading window


    If disabling automatic app updates stops it from happening, that would be useful information, because it would point more towards an app update/check trigger rather than a normal startup setting.

    I’ll pass this along as well, because the app unexpectedly opening in the foreground after being manually exited is not behaviour we’d want.

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