How to fix your Samsung Galaxy J7 (2017) that shows “Settings has stopped” error [Troubleshooting Guide]

The error message “Unfortunately, Settings has stopped” is often accompanied by sluggishness and frequent freezing and lagging. It’s because Settings covers almost everything in your phone including third-party apps. It’s actually the app that handles all your settings and preferences and it’s the one that make sure those preferences are loaded the moment the phone boots up. When the app crashes, it’s logical that some apps may also be affected and crash on their own and that might be the reason why performance-related issues occur prior to the popping up of this error.

In this post, I will walk you through in fixing your Samsung Galaxy J7 that’s plagued by this error. We already have a lot of readers who contacted us about this problem and it’s about time we tackle this topic again. We will try to look into every possibility and rule each of them until we can easily determine what the issue really is. After which, we may already be able to find a solution that will fix it. So, continue reading this post if you’re one of the owners of this phone and are currently bugged by a similar problem.

Before anything else though, if you have other issues with your device, then visit our Galaxy J7 troubleshooting page for we have already addressed several common problems with this phone. Odds are that there are already existing solutions to your problems so just take time finding issues that are similar with yours. If you can’t find one or if you need further assistance, feel free to contact us by completing our Android issues questionnaire. Please provide us with as much information as possible so that it would also be easier for us to troubleshoot the problem. Don’t worry as we offer this service for free, so all you have to do is give us sufficient information about the problem.

How to troubleshoot Galaxy J7 with Settings has stopped error

Don’t worry, this kind of problem is often a minor one and can easily be fixed by basic troubleshooting. Try to go through the steps below to see if you can fix it on your own…

Step 1: Clear the cache and data of the Settings app

We have to go after the app that’s specifically mentioned in the error message and in this case, it’s the Settings. The first thing we have to do about it is to clear its cache to rule out the possibility that this is caused by some corrupt caches created by the system. Every time you change the settings in your phone, a cache is created by the system so it’s alway possible one or two of those files got corrupted one way or another. Follow these steps to clear the cache of the Settings app…

From the Home screen, tap the Apps tray.
Tap Settings > Apps.
Tap Settings.
Tap Storage.
Tap Clear cache.

After this, reboot your phone and then continue observing it to know if the problem still occurs and if so, then you’ll have to proceed to the clearing of the data of the app.

From the Home screen, tap the Apps tray.
Tap Settings > Apps.
Tap Settings.
Tap Storage.
Tap Clear data and then tap OK.

If the problem continues after this procedure, move on to the next step.

Step 2: Reboot your phone in Safe mode and observe

We will now try to see if the apps you downloaded and installed have something to do with this problem. There are times when a third-party app causes a built-in app to crash and most of the time we don’t know the reason. However, based on our experience, app crashes can be due to compatibility issues.

For instance, if you just updated the firmware of your phone to the new version, you may encounter some apps that crash from time to time. We don’t know for sure if this is the case here but we’ll try to find. We need to disable all third-party apps at once and see if the error still shows up…

Turn the device off.
Press and hold the Power key past the model name screen.
When “SAMSUNG” appears on the screen, release the Power key.
Immediately after releasing the Power key, press and hold the Volume down key.
Continue to hold the Volume down key until the device finishes restarting.
Safe mode will display in the bottom left corner of the screen.
Release the Volume down key when you see Safe Mode.

Assuming the error disappeared, then try to update apps that need to be updated as I said earlier, it might be just a compatibility issue.

From the Home screen, tap the Apps tray.
Tap Play Store.
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.
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.

If, however, you already have some apps in mind that you suspect are causing the problem, uninstall them and see if the problem gets fixed.

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

Step 3: Delete all system caches so they’ll be replaced

You only have to do this if the error still shows up even in Safe mode because it means the problem could be with the firmware itself. So, we’ll go after it but instead of doing something that will compromise your files and data, try going after temporary files first. After all, if they are corrupt, this issue may also occur. What I mean is that you need to delete all system caches first so that they will be replaced and you can do so by wiping the cache partition:

Turn off the device.
Press and hold the Volume Up key and the Home key, then press and hold the Power key.
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).
Press the Volume down key several times to highlight “wipe cache partition”.
Press Power button to select.
Press the Volume down key to highlight “yes” and press the Power key to select.
When the wipe cache partition is complete, “Reboot system now” is highlighted.
Press the Power key to restart the device.

After wiping the cache partition and the error still shows up, then it’s time to do something that will bring the phone back to its out of the box configuration.

Step 4: Try to backup your files and reset your phone

A reset is actually the most effective troubleshooting procedure you can do for this problem. It has a higher probability of fixing an issue like this but it always comes at the end due to the fact that you will undergo so much hassle just by making a backup of your files and data and restoring them after the reset.

So, at this stage, do your best to backup your important files. It might be a challenge especially that the “Settings has stopped” error often pops up when you open the Settings menu of your phone. After which, if still possible, disable the Factory Reset Protection so that you won’t be locked out of your device or you can just take note of the Google ID and password you’ve setup with your phone. Once you’ve all this, feel free to reset your phone.

How to disable Factory Reset Protection on your Galaxy J7

From the Home screen, tap the Apps tray.
Tap Settings > Cloud and accounts.
Tap Accounts.
Tap Google.
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.
Tap 3 dot icon.
Tap Remove account.
Tap REMOVE ACCOUNT.

How to perform the Master Reset on your Galaxy J7

Turn off the device.
Press and hold the Volume Up key and the Home key, then press and hold the Power key.
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).
Press the Volume down key several times to highlight “wipe data / factory reset.
Press Power button to select.
Press the Volume down key until ‘Yes — delete all user data’ is highlighted.
Press Power button to select and start the master reset.
When the master reset is complete, “Reboot system now” is highlighted.
Press the Power key to restart the device.

I hope this troubleshooting guide works for you.

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