I'm happy to say that I can confidently state that upon updating to the newest version of Webroot SecureAnywhere Mobile Complete this issue has been resolved on my phone (Droid Razor Maxx). The phone is scanning and updating definitions when I turn on the phone and I am able to force a definition update w/o ANY ERRORS!!  Thanks Jim and others for all of your perseverance.

We are most definatly NOT shedding definitions for size.  Jim gave a detailed explination a couple of posts back that it appears you may not have read.  It may help you better understand the differences between our windows and our android product.
 
Also I would like to add we are working on this still.  We are not giving up.  We have had 5 bug reports over the past week to week and a half and that is one of the lowest of all the issues our users see. We have hundreds of thousands of users so making a change specifically to address that low percantage of issues that could dramatically degrade performance for the rest is something we need to balance and not rush.
 
Like Jim I don't like writting these kinds of posts.  I fully understand you guys are frustrated and we are to.  We have even more fixes that are going into our 3.1 release.  

@ wrote:WSA and its competing security products are, I guess, sooner or later going to have to undergo a root and branch re-think and re-design to minimise the dependence on an ever growing register/database of risk defintitions.  They are going to have to work differently.  Don't ask me how, I have not idea but it does seem to me to be an impending issue.  At the same time, it also seems that Android itself could do with a massive security overhaul.

You can rest assured that that process started a couple of months ago and is ongoing. Some of those changes went out in the last release some are coming in the next release and even more are planned for the future releases. 
 
Steve

@ wrote:

Build 3.1.0.4541 has been issued today. Have upgraded and there are really really promising signs on my HTC the OOM error could be resolved for good. I will test this build extensively and will revert with results later on. 
Thanks Jim, Roloc and others of Webroot for your hard work to beat this error.
 
Stay tuned ;)

I am very pleased to inform that the OOM error was resolved :D
 
I underwent an extensive testing of the latest 3.1 build on my HTC focusing on the definition set updates which were malfunctioning due to the OOM error. I was playing with the date & time, I was shifting them back and forth to see if AV definitions will be automatically installed or the error will be occuring again. I have got satisfying results ... AV definitions were installed successfuly and no more errors appeared. After that I reverted the date & time back to the actual and waited for updates as per the set schedule which resulted in receiving AV set 400 yesterday and AV set 401 today.
 
Therefore I dared to proclaim the OOM error was defeated :D
 
I want to express my thanks to all at Webroot who contributed to resolve this issue. Well done ;)
 
Furthermore, I want to encourage all users who were plagued with the OOM error to share their experience with the latest 3.1 build.
 
Thanks & regards,
pegas

All,
 
I just wanted to drop in and let you all know we are looking at ways to improve memory management in the future.  In the next release which is currently slated to come out in a week or so we will be releasing some improvements in memory usage around definition updates.  
 
The reason this was working and is now causing issues is that our definition files grow over time as we find more viruses out there.  This has outpaced the memory in phones over time so we require a larger chunk of memory now than we have in the past.  Some of you with older phones or that have a lot of applications running that take up memory will begin to see this issue.
 
As others suggested in here general healthy cleanups of your phone is your best bet to not run into this issue in the meantime.  Things like uninstalling apps that you don't use anymore that may be running background services.  Periodically rebooting your phone will help clean up other apps that may be consuming memory that.  Remember that just because you don't see it doesn't mean it isn't running.  Use the App Inspector that is included in our pay products or the built in Android Apps list and look under "Running" to determine what is actively using memory that you may not want.  
 
I could go into a long rant about Java, Linux and memory utilization but I think that is best left for another day.  For now, know we are hard at work on better solutions in future releases and we will keep you posted as those become available or if there are any other work arounds.
 
Thank you,
Steve

Yes, it is a known issue on which Webroot tirelessly is working to get it resolved as quickly as possible.
 
However it shouldn't last too long as Rolock said in his post http://community.webroot.com/t5/Webroot-Mobile-for-Android/Definition-Update-Failed/m-p/13136#M1059
 
So the fix is being presently tested and should be released within this week.

I think a detailed, technical explanation is in order.  While we can't fix this issue for everyone, you deserve the best explanation as to why that we can muster.  Fair warning: this may put you to sleep, but if you're curious enough to be on here asking why this longstanding issue isn't fixed for the small subset of our users still seeing it happening, you will probably want a good answer to your question.  So here goes.
 
RAM Management in Linux/Android
As I had mentioned before, on a PC, you have virtual memory that serves as sort of a "backup" to your physical memory.  And I had mentioned that this sort of fail-over doesn't exist on Android devices.  Well, it's worse than that.  Android works more like Linux in terms of RAM management, in that there is really no such thing as "free" memory until the operating system declares that memory to be free.  On Linux/Android systems, all memory is always in use at all times.  Theoretically, and usually in practice, that means your memory is optimized for faster distribution.  On Linux, that works wonderfully most of the time.  On Android, well, it's kind of hit-and-miss.
 
Garbage, Collector
It's so hit-and-miss that the process that controls memory allocation was actually replaced wholesale by certain device manufacturers (Samsung, notably), who realized early on how buggy that original process is.  The process is called "Garbage Collector," (though it could just as easily be called Garbage - The Collector) and it's relied upon by everything running on your device.  Problems were observed with Garbage Collector, dating back to the earliest versions of Android.  It's actually been rewritten three times since 2.1, and it still doesn't really work right all the time.  Suffice to say though, the older your version of Android, the older your Garbage Collector, and the more likely you are to run into OutOfMemory issues. 
 
The trash man is saying the truck is full when it really isn't, so maybe it's time to look at a new trash collection service.  Where would one find a newer trash collection service?  In this case, in an upgraded OS.
 
The best way to deal with this, if your device will support a newer version of Android, would be to upgrade your OS, or if your provider won't allow you to do that (and that's squarely on them, as Garbage Collector has been rewritten multiple times due to known bugs), perhaps it's time to look at a new device.  I know that's not something anyone wants to hear, but it's inevitable that eventually, with any technology, that's going to happen.
 
Where do we go from here?
So, if you're getting this error message, in short, you're running into a bug - the proximal cause of which is the Garbage Collector in the OS itself.  All Webroot can do is call on the function that should work and hope it works like it's supposed to.  If it doesn't work, it's due to what are, in fact, known issues in the Android OS itself.  Webroot can only do so much to code around an OS defect.  Limiting the size of our footprint is always a top priority, and the most recent changes to the definitions managed to help with this kind of problem in most cases.  Amazingly, we cut the "out of memory" errors down from a sizeable amount to what I'm reading as a total of about 5 reports now, combined from here, support interactions, and the bug reports the apps themselves generate.  What we unfortunately cannot do is rewrite an OS service, because that is locked down by Android itself.  The only solution for some people will be to upgrade your OS.  For people who can't do that, it's either time for a new device, or you can wait to see if we come up with another way to shrink the program, or unfortunately, perhaps Webroot is not for you.  I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but that's the word from development.

Update!
There will be improvements in version 3.1 that may help to address the remainder of the OutOfMemory issues still being experienced.  3.1 should be available soon, but we don't have an exact date since Google still has to go through their QA process.  Roloc or I will reply back again when it's out.  🙂

Hello lynchrt,
 
"Definitions Update Failed" errors should be resolved. Please try updating the app from the Google Play store.

3.3.0.5540 solved this issue

Hey USaferWthDelusn,
 
I am interested in collecting logs from your mobile device and I will be sending you a private message with the instructions. Have you tried switching your connection type from 3G/4G to wifi or vice versa when updating the definitions?
 
Even if this sovles the definition issues, I think it would be helpful for me to take a look at the logs due to the OutOfMemoryError and the processes that are stopping unexpectedly.

HI there, thanks for the info, it was a lack of phone memory. Cheers Jim

In one sense yes it is because of recent updates but probably not how you mean.  It is happening because our definitions get bigger with every virus that we find, thus it could happen to any user at any time who just happens to be running low on memory.  Keep in mind "low" is a very relative term in this case.
 
The good news is we have a fix in for this today and it is going to our QA team as we speak.  It will be in our next release which should be sometime next week.  
 
Again I apologize for this issue and we are as anxious to see this resolved as you are. 
 
If anything changes I will keep you posted.
 
Thanks,
Steve