How to fix Galaxy Tab A Gallery app won’t open | Gallery has stopped, keeps crashing

Samsung devices may sometimes encounter bugs with Gallery app. In this troubleshooting article, we’ll show you what you can do if Gallery app won’t open on a Galaxy Tab A. If you are one of the unlucky tablet users with this issue, worry no more as one of the solutions in this post should be able to help.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0tnHKUMy_Y

How to fix Galaxy Tab A Gallery app won’t open | Gallery has stopped, keeps crashing

If Gallery app won’t open on your Galaxy Tab A, there are a number of troubleshooting steps that you can do to fix it. Follow our suggestions below on what to do.

Galaxy Tab A Gallery app won’t open fix #1: Get the error / check for online solution

Gallery app issues may sometimes be accompanied by an error code or message. If you are getting an error at this time, be sure to take note of it and see if you can find a solution in the internet for it. 

Galaxy Tab A Gallery app won’t open fix #2: Troubleshoot Gallery app

If there’s no error and your Galaxy Tab A Gallery simply won’t open, your next move would be to deal directly with the app itself. These are the four troubleshooting steps that you must do:

• Check for update
• Force quit
• Clear app cache
• Clear data

Check for update. Gallery app is a default Samsung app, which means that you can only update it within the app itself and not through the Play Store. To check if it needs an update at this time, you must try to see if you can open Gallery in order to pull up its settings menu. Here’s what you need to do exactly:

1. Open Gallery app.
2. Tap More options (three dots at the upper right).
3. Tap Settings.
4. Tap About Gallery.
5. Tap Update. If there’s no available Update button, that means that the app is up to date.

Force quit. Restarting Gallery app may help. Be sure to do this troubleshooting step after updating, or if there’s no update available at this time. Restarting an app can be an effective solution sometimes especially if the cause is due to a temporary bug. This is how it’s done:

1. On your screen, tap the Recent Apps soft key (the on the left of the Home button).
2. Once the Recent Apps screen is shown, swipe left or right to look for the Instagram app. It should be here if you managed to run it previously. Then, swipe up on the app to close it. This should force close it. If it’s not there, simply tap the Close All app to also restart all apps.

Another way to force close an app is this:

1. Open Settings app.
2. Tap Apps.
3. Tap the More settings icon (three-dot icon, upper right).
4. Tap Show system apps.
5. Find and tap the Instagram app.
6. Tap Force Stop.

Clear app cache. Clearing the cache of a problem app may also help. If restarting the app has failed, be sure to clear the app cache at this time. Here’s how it’s done:

1. Open Settings app.
2. Tap Apps.
3. Tap the More settings icon (three-dot icon, upper right).
4. Tap Show system apps.
5. Find and tap the Instagram app.
6. Tap Storage.
7. Tap Clear cache button.

Clear data. Another way to directly deal with the app is by clearing its cache. Delete the cache of your Instagram app with these steps:

1. Open Settings app.
2. Tap Apps.
3. Tap the More settings icon (three-dot icon, upper right).
4. Tap Show system apps.
5. Find and tap the Instagram app.
6. Tap Storage.
7. Tap Clear data button.

Galaxy Tab A Gallery app won’t open fix #3: Restart device

If none has worked so far, make sure that you reboot your tablet. This is a generic troubleshooting step for all types of issues. Once the system has been restarted, there’s a chance that the bug may go away. Try restarting it normally first by pressing the Power button to access the boot menu. Then, select Restart option and see if that works.

Another way to restart the device is by pressing and holding the Volume Down button and the Power key at the same time for 10 seconds or until the device’s screen turns on. This simulates the effect of having disconnected the battery from the device. If this works, this may unlock the device.

If doing the regular restart won’t help, then try this:

1. Press and hold the Volume Down button first and don’t release it.
2. While holding it down, press and hold the Power key.
3. Keep both keys held down for 10 seconds or more. 

The second and third restart procedures try to simulate the effects of removing the battery pack. On older devices, disconnecting the battery is often an effective way in fixing unresponsive devices. If nothing changed though, proceed to the next suggestions.

Rebooting your device regularly at least once every week can be beneficial. If you tend to forget things, we suggest that you configure your phone to reboot on its own. You can schedule it to do this task by doing these steps:

1. Open Settings app.
2. Tap Device Care.
3. Tap the 3-dot at the top.
4. Select Auto restart.

Galaxy Tab A Gallery app won’t open fix #4: Update OS and apps

Some bugs may only be fixed by changing some codes. This is where updates become indispensable. Developers can only fix known bugs by releasing updates, either for the OS or an app. If you want to check for a software update, you can visit under Settings > Software update > Download and install.

To check for Play Store app updates on your Galaxy Note10+:

1. Open Play Store app.
2. Tap More settings icon at the upper left (three-horizontal lines).
3. Tap My apps & games.
4. Tap Update or Update All.

If you are on Cellular Data connection, we suggest that you update via wifi only to avoid additional charges. Here’s how:

1. Open Play Store app.
2. Tap More settings icon at the upper left (three-horizontal lines).
3. Tap Settings.
4. Tap App download preference. 
5. Select Over wifi only (select Over any network if you don’t have wifi).
6. Tap Done.

Make sure to also keep your apps updated all the time by enabling auto-update option.

1. Tap Auto-update apps.
2. Tap Over wifi only (select Over any network if you don’t have wifi).
3. Tap Done.

Galaxy Tab A Gallery app won’t open fix #5: Clear cache partition

A corrupted system cache may sometimes affect other apps like Gallery app. Try to clear the cache partition and see if refreshing the system cache will help in this case. Here’s how:

1. Turn off the device.
2. Press and hold the Volume Up key and the Bixby key, then press and hold the Power key.
3. 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).
4. Press the Volume down key several times to highlight ‘wipe cache partition’.
5. Press Power button to select.
6. Press the Volume down key until ‘yes’ is highlighted and press the Power button.
7. When the wipe cache partition is complete, “Reboot system now” is highlighted.
8. Press the Power key to restart.

Galaxy Tab A Gallery app won’t open fix #6: Reset app preferences

Some apps require that a certain default or system app is working. To make sure that all default apps are up and running, you can reset app preferences with these steps:

1. Open Settings app.
2. Tap Apps.
3. Tap on More settings at the upper right (three-dot icon).
4. Select Reset app preferences.
5. Restart your Galaxy Tab A and check for the problem.

Galaxy Tab A Gallery app won’t open fix #7: Check for bad apps

A bad third party app may lead to some apps misbehaving. If your Galaxy Tab A Gallery won’t open after installing an app, there might be a bad app issue at hand. To check if that’s the case, run your tablet to safe mode. Here’s how:

1. Turn off the device.
2. Press and hold the Power key.
3. When Samsung appears on the screen, release the Power key.
4. Immediately after releasing the Power key, press and hold the Volume down key.
5. Continue to hold the Volume down key until the device finishes restarting. This may take up to 1 minute. Just be patient to wait for it.
6. Release the Volume down key when you see Safe Mode on the device.

Don’t forget: safe mode blocks third party apps but it won’t tell you which of them is the real cause. If you think that there’s a rogue third party app in the system, you must identify it. Here’s what you need to do exactly:

1. Boot to safe mode.
2. Check for the problem.
3. Once you’ve confirmed that a third party app is to blame, you can start uninstalling apps individually. We suggest that you begin with the most recent ones you added.
4. After you uninstall an app, restart the phone to normal mode and check for the problem.
5. If your Galaxy Tab A is still problematic, repeat steps 1-4.

Galaxy Tab A Gallery app won’t open fix #8: Factory reset

The last troubleshooting step that you can do in this case is to return the software to defaults with factory reset. If this is your first time to do so, be sure to create a copy of your important files such as photos, videos, texts, contacts, etc. to avoid losing them.

Below are the two methods on how to hard reset or factory reset your Galaxy Tab A.

Method 1: How to hard reset on Samsung Galaxy Tab A via Settings Menu

Under normal circumstances, factory reset under Settings menu should be the primary way for you. It’s simpler to do and does not require pressing hardware buttons, which some users may find difficult to do.

1. Create a backup of your personal data and remove your Google account.
2. Open Settings app.
3. Scroll to and tap General management.
4. Tap Reset.
5. Select Factory data reset from the given options.
6. Read the information then tap Reset to continue.
7. Tap Delete All to confirm action.

Method 2: How to hard reset on Samsung Galaxy Tab A using hardware buttons

If your case is that the phone is not booting up, or it boots but Settings menu is inaccessible, this method can be helpful. First, you need to boot the device to Recovery Mode. Once you successfully access Recovery, that’s the time that you begin proper master reset procedure. It may take some tries for you before you can access Recovery so be patient and simply try again.

1. If possible, create a backup of your personal data ahead of time. If your problem prevents you from doing that, then simply skip this step.
2. Also, you want to make sure that you remove your Google account. If your problem prevents you from doing that, then simply skip this step.
3. Turn off the device. This is important. If you can’t turn it off, you’ll never be able to boot to Recovery Mode. If you are not able to shut the device off regularly via the Power button, wait until the phone’s battery is drained. Then, charge the phone for 30 minutes before booting to Recovery Mode.
4. Press and hold the Volume Up button and the Power button at the same time for 5 seconds.
5. Release the Power and Volume Up buttons.
6. The Recovery screen menu will now appear. 
7. Use the Volume Down button until you are highlighting ‘Wipe data/factory reset.’
8. Press the Power button to select ‘Wipe data/factory reset.’
9. Use Volume Down to highlight Yes.
10. Press the Power button to confirm factory reset.

 

---

If you are one of the users who encounters a problem with your device, let us know. We offer solutions for Android-related problems for free so if you have an issue with your Android device, simply fill in the short questionnaire in this link and we will try to publish our answers in the next posts. We cannot guarantee a quick response so if your issue is time sensitive, please find another way to resolve your problem.

If you find this post helpful, please help us by spreading the word to your friends. TheDroidGuy has social network presence as well so you may want to interact with our community in our Facebook page.