How to fix common Samsung Galaxy S7 issues with its apps and services

• Learn how to make your #Samsung Galaxy S7 (#GalaxyS7) synchronize with the servers so emails in your phone get deleted once they’re deleted from the server.
• What you need to do if some of the apps freeze, crash or cause the phone to slow down and lag after an update.
• Does the Galaxy S7 still has the #email scheduling feature as well as the daily messages counter?
• How to troubleshoot your new phone that can’t send and/or receive text messages.
• Learn how to fix the stock Calendar that doesn’t automatically sync with your Google Account.
• Learn how to fix your phone that shows the error message “Error while retrieving information from server. [BM-PPH-01]” while trying to purchase a song from Play Store.

App problems like crashing, freezing and force closing are among the most commonly reported issues not just with Samsung Galaxy S7 but all Android devices. There are a lot of reasons why apps, especially third-party ones, will stop working that’s why it is necessary to perform thorough troubleshooting.

We have received so many complaints from our readers since the S7 and S7 Edge were released that’s why we find it necessary to address these issues every week. If you’ve already contacted us regarding this problem before, try to browse through the issues I cited below or you may visit our S7 troubleshooting page. Try to find issues that are similar to yours and use the solutions we provided.

In case you need further assistance or if our solutions didn’t work for you, you may contact us directly by completing our Android problems questionnaire. We offer free Android support but we need you to provide us with detailed information about the problem.

Q: “My wife just got an S7 and she set up an email account for her Optimum Online email.  She uses the web interface on her laptop to read emails so when she deletes from there, it deletes directly from the server.  When her S7 syncs with the server, it does not delete the emails from the phone that she had deleted on the server.  It will sync new emails and it will delete emails from the server that she deletes on her phone.”

A: When the email client is set to connect to the server using POP3, the messages will be downloaded to the phone so access is local. So, even if you delete the messages from the server those that were downloaded to your phone will remain unless you delete them. If you want your phone to truly synchronize with the server, then change the email settings and use IMAP instead. Better yet, re-setup the email on the phone.

Q: “My Galaxy S7 is new, I just bought it a couple of months ago. Actually the problem started after an update was downloaded to it. Well, I downloaded that update as I didn’t really have any option and it kept bugging me. I though everything would just be good after the update but shortly after that, some of the apps just stopped working while others cause the phone to freeze sometimes or slow down a bit. The update messed up my phone. If I’d known this would happen, I never should have downloaded it. What can I do to fix this? Thanks in advance.”

A: It appears like some of the system caches got corrupted due to the update you downloaded. It’s not a big deal actually, you can just fix it by one procedure–deleting the system cache. And here’s how you do it:

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.

If deleting the system cache doesn’t fix the problem, then it wasn’t just the system cache that might have been corrupted but also some data. Therefore, you also need to do the master reset to bring your phone back to normal. But before you do that, make sure you make a backup of your important data and files as everything in the phone’s internal storage will be deleted. Remember to remove your Google account and disengage any screen locks as well just to make sure that Factory Reset Protection (FRP) won’t be tripped.

Q: “I just went from Samsung S5 to S7, I need the schedule an email feature on my exchange email, has it disappeared? The email program also use to have a count of how many emails received on a given day, gas this disappeared as well?”

A: This feature has been missing for a while now since the S6 variants don’t have this feature anymore. It seems like Samsung has taken away a lot of good features and this is one of them. There’s nothing we can do about it really, only Samsung can. As to the messages count on daily basis, I’m afraid this feature is gone as well.

Q: “Since switching to my new phone all my texts sent via text fail. I’ve used Verizon, Samsung message, and message+ with the same results whether I’m connected to Wi-Fi or not.”

A: For the sake of this troubleshooting, I suggest you use the stock or native Messages app so that we’re on the same page. I’m not sure if your phone has already been provisioned by your service provider as that’s the first thing they should do so the customer can have service. However, before you decide to call your provider, try doing the master reset first just to make sure everything with your phone is in its default setting.

1. Backup your data.
2. Remove your Google account.
3. Disengage screen lock.
4. Turn off your Samsung Galaxy S7.
5. 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.

6. When the Samsung Galaxy S7 shows on the screen, release the Power key but continue holding the Home and Volume Up keys.
7. 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.

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

If you still can’t sent and/or receive texts after the reset, it’s time you called Verizon and see if it has something to do with your account.

Q: “Stock calendar does not update after making changes in it as before in my former Galaxy S5. Then I could always find all calendar changes on Google Calendar as soon as I made changes on the S5. Now I always have to go in to accounts and manually sync calendar to sync it after changes.”

A: First of all, I assume that you’re using the native Calendar to sync with your Google Account. By default, the native calendar app is set to automatically sync with whatever online calendar you want it to sync, however, if by chance you changed some settings in the app, you need to double-check you haven’t disabled or turned off anything. This is also possible if you tried using third-party calendars and turned off the sync with the stock one.

I understand you can still manually sync your entries so before doing the steps below, try to sync your entries with your Google calendar so you’ll have a backup. Once you’ve done that, clear the cache and the data of the Calendar app to reset it to its default settings at the same time, all your entries will be deleted but don’t worry, once you’ve fixed the issue, the entries in your Google account will be downloaded to the Calendar app during sync.

Clearing 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 Calendar.
6. Touch the Force Close button first.
7. Then, tap Storage.
8. Tap Clear cache and then Clear data, Delete.

Q: “Using POP3 looking on how to set up the e-mail so that e-mails would auto delete from the phone if already deleted from the server by outlook via a computer.”

A: You need to setup your email again and this time use IMAP. With POP3, emails are being downloaded to your phone so even if you delete your emails from the server, messages that were downloaded in your phone remain until you delete them. With IMAP, your phone accesses the messages from the server, although active and stable internet connection is necessary.

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: It has something to do with your payment and personal information specifically your address. With that being said, here’s what you need to do:

1. Go to Google Wallet, then remove all your cards and addresses.
2. Click on the Settings icon.
3. Change your Address and it must be the correct one.
4. Add your cards again.
5. On your phone, clear the data of the Google Play Store app and Google Play Services.
6. Reboot your device.

You may now buy a song, see if that helps. If not, then it’s time you contacted Google because apparently, there’s a more serious issue here.

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