How to fix your Samsung Galaxy A7 (2017) that has a screen flickering issue [Troubleshooting Guide]

The screen flickering problem on your Samsung Galaxy A7 may be a sign of a serious hardware or firmware issue. At this point though, we don’t know for sure what the problem with your phone is that’s why we need to troubleshoot. Our troubleshooting will be based on our own experiences as well as the experiences of our readers who reportedly encountered similar issues in the past.

This isn’t the first time that we’ve addressed this problem. In fact, we’ve already tackled it several times and it’s not exclusive the A7 because even Samsung’s flagship phones like the S7 and S8 also encountered it. So, in this post, we will walk you through in troubleshooting your phone and let’s consider every possibility and rule out each of them until we can easily tell what the problem really is and what needs to be done to fix it. So, read on if you’re one of the owners of this device and are bugged by a similar problem as this post may be able to help you.

But before we actually jump to our troubleshooting, if you have other issues with your device, then try to visit our Galaxy A7 troubleshooting page for we have already addressed the most commonly reported issues with this device. Try to find issues that are similar with yours and use the solutions and workarounds we suggested. If they don’t work for you or if you need more help, then feel free to contact us by filling up our Android issues questionnaire. Just give us the information we need and we’ll help you solve your problem.

How to troubleshoot your Galaxy A7 with screen flickering issue

Problem: Hi guys. There’s a problem with the screen of my new phone because it randomly flickers. At first, I thought it was just some kind of a glitch and temporary but then it happened again. Then I thought maybe it was just because of some apps but it kept happening regardless of the apps I used. It happened while I was texting, it also happened when I was browsing the web or even listening to the music. Not sure what to do at this point and I’m afraid I might mess up my phone even more. So, if you guys are kind enough to advice me what to do about it, that would be awesome. I’ll be waiting for your response on this. Thanks in advance.

Troubleshooting: I understand you’ve already done a few troubleshooting steps to get this problem sorted to no avail so we will be suggesting some more to see if we can get this issue solved. That being said, here’s what I suggest you do:

Step 1: Reboot your phone in safe mode and observe if the screen still flickers

First off, we want to know if some third-party elements have something to do with this problem that’s why you need to do this. It won’t fix the problem but will answer our question. If the problem doesn’t show up while in this mode, then our suspicion is confirmed.

Now, here are the steps on how to start your phone up in Safe mode:

1. Turn the device off.
2. Press and hold the Power key past the model name screen.
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.
6. Safe mode will display in the bottom left corner of the screen.
7. Release the Volume down key when you see Safe Mode.
8. Uninstall apps that are causing a problem.

If the screen doesn’t flicker while in this mode, then one or some of the third-party apps you installed must be causing the problem. You have to find it and then update, reset or even uninstall ones you think is causing the problem.

How to update applications on your Galaxy A7

1. From the Home screen, tap the Apps tray.
2. Tap Play Store.
3. Tap the Menu key and then tap My Apps. To keep your apps automatically updated, tap the Menu > Settings then tap Auto-update apps to select the check box.
4. Choose one of the following options:
   • Tap Update [xx] to update all applications with updates available.
   • Tap an individual application and then tap Update to update a single application.

How to clear app cache and data on Galaxy A7

1. From the Home screen, tap the Apps tray.
2. Tap Settings > Apps.
3. Tap the desired application in the default list or tap 3 dots icon > Show system apps to display pre-installed apps.
4. Tap Storage.
5. Tap Clear data and then tap OK.
6. Tap Clear cache.

How to uninstall applications from your Galaxy A7

1. From the Home screen, tap the Apps tray.
2. Tap Settings > Apps.
3. Tap the desired application in the default list or tap 3 dots icon > Show system apps to display pre-installed apps.
4. Tap the desired application.
5. Tap Uninstall.
6. Tap Uninstall again to confirm.

If the screen flickering issue still occurs even in safe mode, then you have to move on to the next step.

Step 2: Try to delete all the system caches so they’ll be replaced

There’s no guarantee that the problem will be fixed by this procedure but you have to do it because it’s always possible that the cause of the flickering are some corrupt caches. All you gotta do is reboot your phone in Recovery mode and wipe cache partition. You don’t have access to individual caches so you have to clear off the entire contents of the cache partition and here’s how you do it:

1. Turn off the device.
2. Press and hold the Volume Up key and the Home key, then press and hold the Power key.
3. When the Android logo displays, release all keys (‘Installing system update’ will show for about 30 – 60 seconds, then ‘No command’ 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 to highlight “yes” and press the Power key to select.
7. When the wipe cache partition is complete, “Reboot system now” is highlighted.
8. Press the Power key to restart the device.

Don’t worry, this procedure is safe both for your phone and your data as no files will be deleted but it’s very effective in dealing with firmware-related issues. If the problem still occurs after this, however, then you should move on to the next step.

Step 3: Backup your files and data and reset your phone

You’ve already tried fixing the problem to no avail and you’ve followed a couple of procedures above but the issue remained. So, it’s time to do the reset however, the files you saved in your phone’s internal storage will be deleted so you need to make a backup. After which, disable the Factory Reset Protection of your phone so you won’t be locked out.

How to disable Factory Reset Protection on Galaxy A7

1. From the Home screen, tap the Apps tray.
2. Tap Settings > Cloud and accounts.
3. Tap Accounts.
4. Tap Google.
5. Tap on your Google ID email address if multiple accounts are setup. If you have multiple accounts setup, you will need to repeat these steps for each account.
6. Tap 3 dot icon.
7. Tap Remove account.
8. Tap REMOVE ACCOUNT.

How to reset your Samsung Galaxy A7

There are actually two basic ways to reset your phone and the first one is through the Recovery mode…

1. Turn off the device.
2. Press and hold the Volume Up key and the Home key, then press and hold the Power key.
3. When the Android logo displays, release all keys (‘Installing system update’ will show for about 30 – 60 seconds, then ‘No command’ before showing the Android system recovery menu options).
4. Press the Volume down key several times to highlight “wipe data / factory reset.
5. Press Power button to select.
6. Press the Volume down key until ‘Yes — delete all user data’ is highlighted.
7. Press Power button to select and start the master reset.
8. When the master reset is complete, “Reboot system now” is highlighted.
9. Press the Power key to restart the device.

You can also reset your phone from the Settings menu…

1. From the Home screen, tap the Apps tray.
2. Tap Settings > Cloud and accounts.
3. Tap Backup and restore.
4. If desired, tap Back up my data to move the slider to ON or OFF.
5. If desired, tap Restore to move the slider to ON or OFF.
6. Tap the back button to the Settings menu and tap General Management > Reset > Factory data reset.
7. Tap Reset.
8. If you have screen lock turned on, enter your credentials.
9. Tap Continue.
10. Tap Delete all.

If the flickering continues, then it might be an issue with the hardware. You need to get the device checked by a technician.

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