How to fix common Samsung Galaxy S7 apps issues & other problems caused by applications

  • Learn how to #troubleshoot the #Samsung Galaxy S7 (#GalaxyS7) error message “Unfortunately, an app has stopped” when trying to open an app.
  • What to do if some of your apps randomly crash, freeze or force close after updating the firmware in your device.
  • Troubleshooting procedures you need to do if some apps cause the phone to crash, freeze or reboot after installation.
  • Learn more about some of app-related problems sent by our readers. 

Galaxy-S7-app-problems

There are millions of apps in the Play Store and most of them are compatible with any Android phones in the market today but it doesn’t mean there won’t be any issues with them. The fact is, app related issues happen everyday and they occur in various ways with different causes. Some of them can be fixed easily while others may require users to do further troubleshooting procedures to have a chance at discovering a solution.

The good thing about third-party apps is that they’re expendables; you can just get rid of an app if it’s causing too much trouble. In this post, I will guide you in troubleshooting app problems that Samsung Galaxy S7 owners reported to us and I will answer some of the questions our readers sent to us in a bid to discover how to fix their issues.

But before going further, should you have other issues with your device, visit our S7 troubleshooting page where we list down every problem or question we address each week. Try to find issues that are similar or related to yours and use the solutions we recommended. If you need further assistance, then don’t hesitate to contact us by completing our Android problems questionnaire.

Troubleshoot “Unfortunately, an app has stopped” error

You will know that you have this problem because you’ll encounter an error message that goes “Unfortunately, the app has stopped” every time you open a problematic application. Aside from random force closing, this one occurs more often, too.  The good thing is it can be fixed by troubleshooting the app in question as most of the time the issue is limited to it and the first thing you need to do is clear its cache and data:

  1. From the Home screen, tap the Apps icon.
  2. Find and tap on Settings.
  3. Touch Applications and then Application manager.
  4. Swipe to ALL tab.
  5. Find and touch the app in question.
  6. Touch the Force Close button first.
  7. Then, tap Storage.
  8. Tap Clear cache and then Clear data, Delete.

If clearing the cache and data didn’t do any good, then you’ll have to uninstall the app and re-install it if it’s a third-party one. For pre-installed apps, the best thing you can do is proceed with firmware troubleshooting because they embedded in the system.

Some apps started to randomly crash after a firmware update

This is apparently a compatibility issue between the apps that crash and the new system. It’s been several weeks since Galaxy S7 was released and some owners may have already received a few updates. In fact, we already received a few complaints about this issue.

According to some of our readers, some of the apps they installed when they got the phone randomly close or crash after the update. There hasn’t been any major updates for the S7 yet but since they’re already experiencing this problem, it’s clear the issue with the system cache. That said, the best thing to do is to wipe the cache partition:

  1. Turn off your Samsung Galaxy S7.
  2. Press and then hold the Home and Volume UP keys, then press and hold the Power key.
  3. When the Samsung Galaxy S7 shows on the screen, release the Power key but continue holding the Home and Volume Up keys.
  4. When the Android logo shows, you may release both keys and leave the phone be for about 30 to 60 seconds.
  5. Using the Volume Down key, navigate through the options and highlight ‘wipe cache partition.’
  6. Once highlighted, you may press the Power key to select it.
  7. Now highlight the option ‘Yes’ using the Volume Down key and press the Power button to select it.
  8. Wait until your phone is finished wiping the cache partition. Once completed, highlight ‘Reboot system now’ and press the Power key.
  9. The phone will now reboot longer than usual.

Galaxy S7 freezes and lags after installing some apps

This is still a compatibility issue but on a higher scale because this time, it’s not just the app that keeps crashing but also the system. Things like this happen all the time and there are a couple of procedures you can do to rectify the problem. The first thing is to uninstall the app you suspect is causing the problem but since there are times when the phone is slow to respond or if the Settings menu is inaccessible, it’s better if you boot your phone in safe mode first.

  1. Press and hold the Power key.
  2. As soon as you can see the ‘Samsung Galaxy S7’ on the screen, release the Power key and immediately hold the Volume Down key.
  3. Continue holding the Volume Down button until the device finishes rebooting.
  4. You may release it when you can see ‘Safe mode’ in the bottom left corner of the screen.

Once in safe mode, you can easily uninstall third-party apps that have issues with the new firmware. You may then try to re-install them to see if the new version works well with the new version of Android. If not, then you have no choice but to perform the master reset. But please note that you will lose all your data and files that are stored in your phone’s memory if you do this, so back them up before following the steps below:

  1. Turn off your Samsung Galaxy S7.
  2. Press and then hold the Home and Volume UP keys, then press and hold the Power key.

NOTE: It doesn’t matter how long you press and hold the Home and Volume Up keys, it won’t affect the phone but by the time you press and hold the Power key, that’s when the phone starts to respond.

  1. When the Samsung Galaxy S7 shows on the screen, release the Power key but continue holding the Home and Volume Up keys.
  2. When the Android logo shows, you may release both keys and leave the phone be for about 30 to 60 seconds.

NOTE: The “Installing system update” message may show on the screen for several seconds before displaying the Android system recovery menu. This is just the first phase of the entire process.

  1. Using the Volume Down key, navigate through the options and highlight ‘wipe data / factory reset.’
  2. Once highlighted, you may press the Power key to select it.
  3. Now highlight the option ‘Yes — delete all user data’ using the Volume Down key and press the Power button to select it.
  4. Wait until your phone is finished doing the Master Reset. Once completed, highlight ‘Reboot system now’ and press the Power key.
  5. The phone will now reboot longer than usual.

Now, let’s go to some questions from our readers who are experiencing app-related issues.

Q: “Some apps in my Galaxy S7 can’t update or some of my feeds aren’t updated. It’s because the Wi-Fi connection isn’t working and I don’t want to use up my data. We have Wi-Fi at home and in my office so having to use mobile data is out of the question. The thing is my phone can’t connect to any of the Wi-Fi because the switch is greyed out. What should I do?

A: This problem often occurs after an update regardless if it’s a minor update or a big one. It’s caused by some corrupt caches so the best thing you can do is wipe the cache partition and if that won’t, do the master reset.

Q: “I use my own Exchange Server 2010 to host my contacts, calendars and emails. I sync my mobile phone against this Exchange Server since a lot of years. The Name Solutions is done by a dynamic DNS Provider (formerly DynDNS, now selfhost.eu) This construct works fine since a lot of years. I used it with my S3 and S5. My wife uses these Settings until now successfully with a S5. Only my brand new S7 makes problems with these settings. If I’m connected to my WLAN at home, all works fine. If I’m connected to the mobile network, the mobile phone doesn’t find my server. But, if I change the settings for the Exchange account from server name to server IP address, all works fine until my internet provide changes my IP address – of course.

I already contacted the Hotline of my network Provider (Vodafone). He said, ask Samsung. I contacted the Samsung customer service. He said, this is a problem with your server and there isn’t a problem with the S7. But why it works on a S3, it works on a S5 and it doesn’t work on a S7? Why it works on WLAN and not on the mobile network? Why it works by IP address and not by server name? What is the difference between S3/S5 and S7 in the handling with the exchange settings? The settings are absolutely the same.

A: It must be a bug in the firmware and Samsung has to do something about it. Try to see if there’s an available update for your phone and download it. If there’s none, I suggest you continue using the IP address instead of the server name. The bright side is, at least, you can still make it work.

Q: “Not sure if you can help but every time I try to purchase a song on the Play Store, I get the following error message: Error while retrieving information from server. [BM-PPH-01]

I can download other apps no problem and I’ve followed all the other forum solutions to go to Application Manager, Google Services Framework, Force Stop and Clear cache etc and reboot… problem persists.

Hope you can help me.  Thanks! — Rita.

A: Just wait it out, Rita. I think the problem is with Google and not your phone. This error happened a hundred times in the past and it all points to Google’s services issues.

Q: “This is an on going issue with the new phone. When I upgraded from the S5 to the S7 files were transferred from my old phone to the new phone via an app from the app store at a t-mobile location. All contacts, pictures, apps, etc were transferred over smoothly. The whatsapp calling feature and video keeps failing with overseas calls and in the United States. Sending text or voice messages is fine. Viper works some of the time but eventually fails. I think the problem is a direct issue with the new marshmallow operating system, considering it is brand new and the developers of whatsapp have not found a solution or work around yet. I’ve contacted the developer but have not received a response. Does TDG have a resolution for this problem? Thank you!

A: If you received an update recently prior to this problem, then I suggest you try wiping the cache partition first and if that won’t work, do the master reset. Please follow the steps above. I believe it has something to do with corrupt caches and data.

Q: “Sync disabled on Facebook app greyed out tried everything.

A: You might be disappointed in knowing this but the sync feature with Facebook has already been retired for some unclear reasons. There’s nothing we can do about it. Try using Sync.Me app from Play Store and see if you’d have some success with it.

Q: “I got my phone about a week ago and when i first got it, the sales person cut up my micro sim to nano sim manually so that it can fit to the sim card slot. I noticed then when putting the sim card tray into the device, it takes much more effort than it normally would.

The next day, the phone showed emergency calls only so I restarted the device and it went back to normal. On that night, I checked the phone again and like earlier today, it displayed emergency calls only again, so I tried to restart it again and it went back to normal.

This thing has been going on for about a week now and it’s starting to get annoying as I need to restart the phone almost every hour.

A: I think you might have to call your provider about it because the “Emergency Calls only” mode means the phone can’t recognize the SIM card. It means it can detect something is mounted but it just can’t recognize it. Since it was manually cut, there’s a chance the interface on the card doesn’t make contact properly with the phone’s receptors.

Q: “Hello, I am having a problem with my S7. My notifications will not come thru will connected to my work wifi (email, snapchat etc.) It works fine on my home wifi and as soon as I walk out of work and disconnect from the wifi, all the notification will come through. I tried restarting the phone, turning the wifi off and back on, forgetting wifi. I’ve run out of ideas to try. Hopefully you have a solution for this problem. Thanks!

A: For these apps, no notifications means no internet connection. You may be connected to your company’s network but there’s no guarantee you would have an internet connection. That said, I think you should contact your company’s IT department about it because apparently, the Wi-Fi in your phone works.

Q: “The notification continues to beep until I actually check my message whether is txt email or notifications on other applications. So I have to shut down all notifications in order to avoid the disturbing vibration during work and at night while sleeping. How can I fix this problem?

A: It’s the Notification reminder in Accessibility that makes your phone beeps until you actually check on the new notifications. Just go to Settings > Accessibility and turn off notification reminder.

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