The error “Unfortunately, Contacts has stopped” that keeps bothering some of the owners of the new Samsung Galaxy S9 Plus is simply a notification that tells you about the Contacts app that crashed. It might be an issue with the app or the firmware or it could be just a sign of other issues. But whatever the case maybe, you need to address this problem immediately because Contacts is used by a lot of apps that access contact information. The error might show up when you text, call a number or even send emails.
In this post, I will walk you through in troubleshooting your new premium phone to fix this problem and get rid of the error message. We will look into every possibility and rule them out one by one after we can determine the reason why the error occurs in the first place and find out a way to fix it. If you’re one of the owners of this phone and are currently being bugged by a similar problem, then continue reading as this post may help you one way or another.
Before going further, if you found this post because you were trying to find a solution to your problem, then try to visit our Galaxy S9 Plus troubleshooting page as we’ve already addressed most of the commonly reported issues with the phone. We’ve already provided solutions to some of the problems reported by our readers so try to find issues that are similar with yours and use the solutions we suggested. If they don’t work for you and if you need further assistance, fill up our Android issues questionnaire and hit submit.
How to fix Galaxy S9 Plus with ‘Contacts has stopped’ error
The error “Contacts has stopped” is a minor issue as it is obviously an issue with the app but as what I said earlier, it could be just a sign of some other problems since Contacts is a pre-installed app and is used by other apps as well. The course of our troubleshooting will be to do the easy stuffs first to find out if we can fix it without doing so much work. With that being said, here’s what I suggest you do about this problem:
First solution: Try to reboot your Galaxy S9 Plus first
To rule out the possibility that this is just a result of some minor glitches in the system, it’s best that you restart your phone if you haven’t done it already. There’s more to reboot than just turning the phone off and back on again; it’s actually pretty effective in dealing with minor problems. After the reboot, open Contacts or try to trigger the problem to know if it still occurs and if so, try doing the Forced Reboot.
- Press and hold the volume down and power keys simultaneously for 10 seconds or more.
The forced reboot is far more effective than the normal reboot as it simulates battery disconnect and refresh the device’s memory by reloading all apps, services and core functions. If, however, the problem continues after doing this, then you should move on to the next solution.
Second solution: Find out if its due to third-party apps
For you to know if this problem is caused by a third-party app, you just need to run your S9 Plus in safe mode to temporarily disable all third-party apps. While the phone is in safe mode, try opening Contacts to know if it would still crash. If it’s caused by a third-party app or two, then the error won’t show up in safe mode. This is how you run your phone in safe mode:
- Turn the device off.
- Press and hold the Power key past the model name screen appearing on the screen.
- When SAMSUNG appears on the screen, release the Power key.
- Immediately after releasing the Power key, press and hold the Volume down key.
- Continue to hold the Volume down key until the device finishes restarting.
- When Safe mode appears in the bottom left corner of the screen, release the Volume down key.
Assuming that the problem is fixed in this environment, the next thing you should do is find out which of your apps is the culprit and once you suspect an app, uninstall it. Here’s how you do that:
- From the Home screen, swipe up on an empty spot to open the Apps tray.
- Tap Settings > Apps.
- Tap the desired application in the default list.
- To display preinstalled apps, tap Menu > Show system apps.
- Tap UNINSTALL > OK.
Determining what app is causing the problem is often a challenge to many users. So, you must uninstall apps that you recently installed first or those that you installed prior to the problem.
On the other hand, if the problem occurs even in safe mode, then move on to the next solution.
Third solution: Clear cache and data of Contacts app
What this method does is reset the app back to its default settings and configuration. This will rule out the possibility that the issue is with the app because if it is, then the following method will fix the issue and get rid of the error message.
- From a Home screen, touch and swipe up or down to display all apps.
- From a Home screen, navigate: Settings > Apps.
- Tap App Manager.
- Locate then tap Contacts.
- Tap Storage.
- Tap CLEAR CACHE.
- Tap Cached data.
- Tap CLEAR.
This is the most effective solution to almost all app-related problems but then there’s no guarantee that it will work to all cases. So, in case the problem continues after this, then the next method will definitely fix the problem.
Fourth solution: Perform the Master Reset
I know it’s a bit too much to reset the phone due to a minor app-related problem but the thing is that the app in question is pre-installed. If it were just any third-party app, you can get rid of the problem by uninstalling the app but that’s not the case here. So, you really have to reset your phone as it’s embedded in the firmware.
Before the reset however, make sure you backup all your files and data as they will be deleted during the process and you may not be able to retrieve them after that. After the backup, make sure you disable the Factory Reset Protection by removing your google account from your phone so that you won’t be locked out. Once everything is set, follow these steps to reset your phone:
- Turn off the device.
- Press and hold the Volume Up key and the Bixby key, then press and hold the Power key.
- When the green Android logo displays, release all keys (‘Installing system update’ will show for about 30 – 60 seconds before showing the Android system recovery menu options).
- Press the Volume down key several times to highlight ‘wipe data / factory reset’.
- Press Power button to select.
- Press the Volume down key until ‘Yes — delete all user data’ is highlighted.
- Press Power button to select and start the master reset.
- When the master reset is complete, ‘Reboot system now’ is highlighted.
- Press the Power key to restart the device.
I hope that the problem with your device is fixed after this. If you have other concerns you want to share with us, feel free to contact us or leave a comment below.
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