How to fix Samsung Galaxy J3 (2016) “Unfortunately, Settings has stopped” error [Troubleshooting Guide]

• Understand why your Samsung Galaxy J3 is popping up the “Unfortunately, Settings has stopped” error whenever you try to use the app and learn how to get rid of it.

When the error message “Unfortunately, Settings has stopped” pops up, it could be a sign of a more serious firmware issue. Settings is actually an app that handles almost every preference or configuration sets by the owner. It is a core app and a very important at that. So, when it crashes, you can almost be certain that the firmware is suffering from a serious problem.

Read on to understand more about this error message, how it occurs and what you need to do to get rid of it and fix your phone to work perfectly just like before. While we are sure our procedures are safe for average users like you, things may happen unexpectedly so proceed at your own risk.

For those of you who have other issues with your device, make sure you visit our J3 troubleshooting page for we have already addressed a some of the most common issues with this phone. We may have already existing solutions for your problems or we have already provided answers to your questions, so try finding issues that are similar with yours and use the solutions we provided. If they don’t work or if you need further assistance, the fill up our Android issues questionnaire to contact us.

Troubleshooting “Unfortunately, Settings has stopped” error on Galaxy J3 (2016)

This is a troubleshooting guide and while we want to fix your problem, some things may not work our way. But try to be observant when troubleshooting so that you can easily understand what the problem really is and find a solution that may best solve the problem. As for us, here’s what we suggest you do:

Step 1: Reboot your phone

If this is the first time the problem occurs, don’t do anything yet. Instead, reboot your phone at least a couple of times to see if the issue gets fixed. This will refresh your device’s memory and get rid of possible glitches that may have occurred and caused this problem.

Step 2: Restart your device in safe mode

Minor issues can be fixed by a simple reboot including an error message like this. However, if the problem remains after the reboot, then you should restart your device in safe mode. This will isolate the problem immediately especially if it’s caused by an app…other apps. Settings is an app and the error means it’s crashing. It might be crashing on its own or caused by other apps and that’s what you need to find out. So, this is how you’re going to restart your phone in safe mode:

1. Power off your Galaxy J3. Press and hold the Power key, tap Power off and then touch POWER OFF to confirm.
2. Press and hold the Power key past the screen with the device name.
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’.

While the phone is in this state, try to open Settings and change some settings on any of your apps to see if the error still pops up. If so, then go after the firmware as the problem could be in one of the pre-installed apps.

Step 3: Reset the Settings app

Obviously it’s an app-related app so it’s logical we try to go after the app first before going after the firmware. That being said, try to reset the Settings app by clearing its cache and data:

1. From any Home screen, tap the Apps icon.
2. Tap Settings.
3. Tap Applications.
4. Tap Application manager
5. Tap the Settings.
6. Tap Storage.
7. Tap Clear data and then tap OK.
8. Tap Clear cache.

After clearing the cache and data, try to open the Settings app again to find out if it still crashes. If so, then the next step is the most appropriate thing you can do.

Step 4: Delete the system cache

System caches get corrupted most of the time especially during firmware updates. So, if this problem happened after an update or without apparent reason, try to delete the system cache first to force the phone to create new ones. However, since you cannot delete individual cache for specific service, you have to wipe off the directory where they’re all saved. Here’s how.

1. Power off your Galaxy J3. Press and hold the Power key, tap Power off and then touch POWER OFF to confirm.
2. Press and hold the Volume Up key and the Home key, then press and hold the Power key.
3. When the device logo screen displays, release only the Power key
4. When the Android logo displays, release all keys (‘Installing system update’ will show for about 30 – 60 seconds before showing the Android system recovery menu options).
5. Press the Volume down key several times key to highlight ‘wipe cache partition.’
6. Press the Power key to select.
7. Press the Volume down key to highlight ‘yes’ and press the Power key to select.
8. When the wipe cache partition is complete, ‘Reboot system now’ is highlighted.
9. Press the Power key to restart the device.

Step 5: Perform master reset

If the error remains after deleting the system cache, then it’s time to reset your phone and you actually have two options–you can either reset your device through the Settings menu (if you can manage to reach the option without being greeted by the error) or through the recovery mode but I suggest you do the latter:

1. Power off your Galaxy J3. Press and hold the Power key, tap Power off and then touch POWER OFF to confirm.
2. Press and hold the Volume Up button and then press and hold the Home key. While holding both, press and hold the Power key.
3. When the Android logo appears on the screen, release all three keys. It may take a minute before the Android recovery screen appears.
4. While on Android recovery screen, use the Volume Down key to highlight options, in this case, highlight the option ‘wipe data/factory reset.’
5. Press the Power key to choose the highlighted option.
6. Press  the Volume Down key until ‘Yes — delete all user data’ option is highlighted.
7. Press the Power key to confirm the reset.
8. Once the reset is complete, press the Power key to choose ‘Reboot system now.’
9. The phone will restart a little longer than usual and the reset is finished.

If the problem still persists after doing the reset, have a technician re-install the firmware.

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