How To Fix Samsung Galaxy Note 3 Problems and Errors [Part 30]

Hello guys. This is the 30th part of our Samsung Galaxy Note 3 series and I have answered a bunch of questions / problems in this post. Please browse through this page if you have an issue with your phone because many of the things I mentioned here will fix other problems as well. Don’t worry, we still have hundreds of emails to be answered so we will continue posting articles like this.

We are serious in helping you fix problems with your phone and while I encourage you to browse through existing posts, you are free to email us at [email protected]. I am one of the people who’ll read them and conduct research for potential solutions. We also have Facebook and Google+ pages that we use to answer questions. And if you really want to catch me, I created a small online community [click here to join] where I also answer questions about smartphone problems. I leave that page open on my computer 24/7 so there’s a big chance of catching me online.

Note 3 Mic and Recorder App Problem

Problem: Dear The Droid Guy, my name is Hisham, first of all I’d like to thank you for offering this service, we really do appreciate it! I have a problem with my Samsung Galaxy Note 3 and I hope that l can find the solution with you. Sometimes when I try to use the recorder app I get a message that means that the microphone is already in use by another app! So l have to restart the Note! Is there an app recording in the background? or what? Thanks & kind regards.

Solution: Hisham, there is a lot of apps in your phone that use the microphone like the Camera app, S Voice, Voice Search, etc. I really can’t pinpoint which one causes this annoying issue. But the thing is, it’s not really a problem. If the phone told you that the microphone is being used by another app, then the mic is being used by another app and that prevents the Voice Recorder to do it’s job. All you can do is properly close that “other app.” How? Press and hold the Home button of your phone to display the Recent Apps screen. From there, you will find the app that’s using the mic. Swipe it left or right to close it. That should do it.

Note 3 Screen Won’t Rotate

Problem: I been having problem every since 4.4 KitKat come out. It’s where my phone will not rotate or the camera will stay in lanscape mode. So I reset the phone meaning I restart it. Then it’ll work properly for awhile. But the problem is not resolved because it does it all over again.

Solution: There was no reported bug in any firmware of the Galaxy Note 3 so your problem may have just been caused by some corrupt data or incorrect setting. First of all, make sure auto rotate is enabled on your phone. Go to Settings > Device > Display > enable Auto rotate screen. If that option is already enabled, try toggling the switch a couple of times to see if it makes a difference. If not, boot the phone in recovery mode and wipe cache partition. That should take care of it.

Use Emoji On Note 3

Problem: Greetings, I have the Galaxy Note 3. I want to know how to use symbols while typing information on Facebook that everyone is using such as money bag pic. I asked someone about it and they have the iPhone so if is automatically on their phone. Thanks in advance. — Catrina

Solution: Hi Catrina, I believe you were referring to emoji emoticons. Yes, they were native to iOS but Android supports them now. In fact, even your Galaxy Note 3 supports them provided it’s running KitKat.

1. Launch the messaging app and tap on the text field to bring up the keyboard.
2. Now locate the microphone icon on the keyboard and then press and hold it until the sub menu shows.
3. Tap the smiley icon.
4. You can now choose emojis you want included in your message.

Note 3 Can’t Detect Signal from Network

Problem: When I first got my phone it seemed to work really well when I needed to make phone calls and texts from my home. Lately I often get the same message- there is no connection available. I have a cellphone tower locator app which previously showed me that my phone was switching between cell towers but now it doesn’t seem to switch much anymore if my signal strength is low. My wife uses an S 4 in the same house with no problem. Our carrier is Verizon. — Mike

Solution: Everything deteriorates especially the performance of the phone. If this problem started to happen recently, then perhaps it’s time to get rid of virtual ‘cobwebs’ in your phone’s memory. The first thing I want you to try is soft reset; remove the battery and then press and hold the power key for 30 seconds. After that, place the battery back in and turn the phone on. See if it makes a difference. If not, I suggest you take a little time during the weekend to backup your data and perform factory reset.

I understand the hassle brought by factory reset but as you said, your wife’s phone has a good service while yours doesn’t. It’s apparently not a network issue. There is no app that could potentially boost the signal reception of your phone so the most logical way to bring everything back to normal again is Factory Reset. You’re doing your phone a big favor if you did so.

Note 3 Hidden Images Gone

Problem: Hello the droid guy, I’ve quite been following your website & solving people’s concern (which is at a point quite tiring too), appreciate it! OK, so I have this issue with my Note 3 since a month+ I guess. In the gallery while viewing the thumbnails of images of say any album, on accessing the options touchkey, we get an option to hide items by marking them. I tried hiding few images of my girlfriend and videos of my college friends having weird fun stuffs on it. OK, so now, after more than a month, I tried unhiding them, and boom! Only the videos appear and the images? vanished! Reality check, I tried looking out for them in ES file Explorer, even there, I checked on “show hidden files”. Please look into this. I’m running Android Kitkat 4.4.2 SM-N900 (India). Thanks in advance! – Arup

Suggestion: You’re not the only one. A lot of Note 3 owners were also complaining about this specific problem wherein after the KitKat update their hidden pictures were gone leaving only their hidden videos. It seems like the recent update may have deleted the directory where hidden images are stored. I’m sorry to say that as of writing, there is no working solution to this problem, although many claimed to have been helped by a data recovery software called Recuva. So, I want you to try that one to see if that could help. AndroidPit did publish a comprehensive article on how to use it. You may visit this link.

Note 3 Can’t Be Recognized By Computers

Problem: Hey I’m having trouble with my Note 3. It won’t connect to any computer with any cable. Phone charges bit isn’t being recognized. How do I fix this?

Solution: Drivers. That’s all you need to fix this problem. You can download them from Samsung website but I suggest you download and install Samsung KIES instead of downloading specific drivers for your phone model. KIES offers more than just making your phone recognized by your computer, you can also backup your entire phone with it.

Note 3 Shows Mist On The Screen

Problem: Hi guys, I’m currently holding Samsung Galaxy Note 3 for about 10 months now. Everything was fine until one day I noticed that there is a white-purple like mist on the bottom of my screen. And it only appears on screen that is white. If the screen shows blue or any colours, I will not see the mist. It quite irritates me while I’m on YouTube. What do you think about this problem? Thanks

Solution: It could have been helpful if you attached a picture showing this so-called ‘mist’. But never mind, what’s important is to know whether it’s attached to the screen itself or not. To do that, launch your camera and aim it to a color that reveals the mist and fire away. View the picture to find out if the mist is embedded on the picture. If the picture shows no sign of the mist, then the issue is with the display itself. Did it enter your mind that it could be just molds forming on your phone’s screen? I think having the phone cleaned will get rid of it.

Note 3 Can’t Transfer Files Locally

Problem: Hi. Am having problems copying or transferring internally on my note 3 phone…There are files and songs that automatically download in the download section of OI file manager, if I try to select a song or multi select songs and then try copying them from one place (internal phone memory) over to the internal micro SD card file, this will not let me do this… message appears saying some or all items could not be saved. I have previously on numerous occasions done this and was never a problem… Please help to resolve this… Regards.

Suggestion: It may seem like the problem here was caused by files you were trying to transfer but, in fact, it’s the destination that may have some issues. You used the terms “internal micro SD card file” here and it creates confusion. But I would assume it’s the microSD card you meant, or the “external” storage, since you already used “internal phone memory.”

But let’s try to isolate the problem first. Try to use a different file manager like ES File Manager to move those files. If the same thing happens, then I stand by my first statement that the problem is with the destination storage device. It would be more helpful if you read this post by Android Central: KitKat and SD cards — what’s fixed, what’s broken and what’s misunderstood.

Set SD Card As Default Storage For Photos

Problem: Hey so, I have the Galaxy Note 3, and I was wondering if/how you can make it so your photos always save to your SD card, rather than to the device. I want to do this not only to save some space on my phone, but just in case something happens to my phone, all my photos are saved on my card. Thanks!

Solution: Well, almost everyone does it. Aside from those obvious reasons, this would also save you a lot of time transferring your photos and video to the external storage. All you have to do is set the phone to do so by following these:

1. Launch the Camera app.
2. From the Camera screen, tap the Settings icon (cogwheel).
3. Under the General tab, tap Storage.
4. From there you can set the app to save photos and videos directly to microSD card.

Disable Emergency Calling on Galaxy Note 3

Problem: Hi. I enjoy your blog. I have a Galaxy Note 3 and the stupid home button is constantly causing my phone to turn on in my pocket and calling 911. Plus it’s a drain on the battery. Is there some way to disable that button when the screen is off? I haven’t been able to locate an app for it. IMO it is a major design flaw. Is there any way to bring this up to Samsung? Thanks for looking into this. Best Regards, Van.

Solution: Hey Van, you’re not the only one having this problem. I have a feeling you hate using those security lock screens. You may hate me for saying this but one way to prevent pocket dialing is to use a PIN, Pattern, or Face Unlock. But I won’t insist on that.

You mentioned you’ve been trying to find an app that could prevent this problem. Well, there’s one that I know of but you cannot download it from the Play Store. It’s developed by an XDA Dev and therefore, you can download it from their forum–it’s called Better Keyguard.

You need to sideload this app but don’t worry, I personally tried it on a Galaxy S5 and it works well and doesn’t have any hidden tricks, if you know what I mean.

What this app does is that it activates the proximity sensor for one second when the screen turns on. If the phone detects there’s nothing in front of it the moment the screen turns on, Better Keyguard does nothing. However, if it detects something is covering the phone when the screen lit up, it will turn it off within a second. Thus, preventing pocket dialing. I hope this can help you. You can download the app from here: Better Keyguard 1.4.

Get Rid Of Notification Banner

Problem: I would like to turn off the notification banner that comes up on my Note 3 when I get messages. I can’t figure out how to shut this off. — Dom

Suggestion: Hey Dom, I’m wondering what the ‘notification banner’ looks like. If it’s a black notification banner you see every time you get new notifications and they appear on the bottom of the screen, then I think the app called Floatify was installed on your Note 3. Other than that, I don’t know any app that shows banners whenever notifications are made. To fix this, disable Floatify or uninstall it.

If, however, it’s caused by a different app, then you need to uninstall that app to get rid of banner notifications. One thing is for sure here, the stock messaging app doesn’t show banner notifications. So, the one causing this must be a third-party.

Note 3 Pictures Disappear From Gallery

Problem: Hello, I have a Galaxy Note 3. My camera started problem 3-4 weeks ago. Problem is that the picture I have taken, not store properly, disappear soon from Gallery. Thanks.

Solution: If the Gallery app cannot detect your pictures, then it’s clear you saved them in your microSD card and it might have been unmounted for some reason. The main problem here could be your microSD card and not the Gallery. Try to check the external storage to find if it’s still functioning the way it should.

The Gallery app automatically detects multimedia files like photos and videos, if they disappeared, it means the phone can no longer detect them.

Pre-installed Apps Crash on Note 3

Problem: Hi I was referred to one of my colleagues about this site helping people with their android devices and I was hoping I can be helped as well. My problem started with my Note 3 being expose to water which was shielded with a water proof case provided by Seido. Water enter my case at the bottom side of the case and I quickly remove the case and took the battery out and let it dry in à bucket of rice for 3 days and once I took out it I use a blow dryer to dry it out just to make sure all water is gone. I then put the battery in and turn on my note 3 and it came on smoothly but to my surprise I get no sound after it boot up and I try playing music and it crash so I try the camera and that also crash so I try placing a call but it crash also. My touch functions working except the camera, music, videos , voice calls so basically am stuck with an expensive phone with limited functionality so any help will do.

Solution: As you may have noticed, the apps that were crashing are pre-installed; meaning, they are attached to the firmware of the phone. With that in mind, we cannot follow troubleshooting procedures we often do for third-party apps. For your problem, I suggest you backup all your data and perform factory reset. I don’t think this has been caused by water as you pointed out correct ways to prevent liquid damage. I am confident factory reset can fix all this, so please try that.

Note 3 Problem Entering Passcode

Problem: Lately I’ve been noticing that I have to restart the phone because it will not accept the passcode on normal startup. Seems as though it take several seconds to display the numbers I enter. To resolve this issue, I have to do a “restart”. After that it works fine. Let the phone sit overnight and try to enter the passcode, it won’t display entered characters. Requires a “Restart”. Any ideas. Thanks, Dominick.

Solution: I encountered this problem before wherein the characters aren’t displayed on the password field the moment you type them, instead they show up way too late. It’s TouchWiz. Samsung’s custom UI may not be working properly especially if you have Home screens full of apps. Just clear the cache and data of TouchWiz and this will be fixed. Please note, however, that you will lose all your Home screens when you do so.

Note 3 Enters Boot Loop

Problem: My Note 3 shuts down (turns off) by itself wen I unplug it and before it’s finishing turning on it turns off again and again and I have to plug it back! I tried factory reset all ready! Please help.

Solution: It could be the battery. Please try to use a different battery; you may borrow if you know someone with a Note 3 because there’s no guarantee buying a new battery pack will fix this. If, however, a different battery cannot fix this issue then have the phone checked by a technician as there could be a more serious issue with the hardware.