How to fix your Samsung Galaxy S8 that shows “Unfortunately, the process com.android.phone has stopped” error [Troubleshooting Guide]

The error message “Unfortunately, the process com.android.phone has stopped” in your Samsung Galaxy S8 is notifying you that one of the processes used by the Phone app has crashed. Applications use several processes to make sure they function correctly and when it comes to the phone app, one of the processes that run in the background when it’s opened is the com.android.phone and in this case, the error says it crashed.

In this post, I will walk you through in troubleshooting your phone that keeps showing this error message. We will take into consideration every possibility and let’s try to rule them out one by one until we can easily determine what the problem with your phone really is. That way, we can easily formulate a solution that might fix this problem for good. So, if you are one of the owners of this phone that’s currently bugged by a similar concern, continue reading below as this post may be able to help you.

But before anything else, if you’re currently experiencing different issues with your phone, then I suggest you visit our Samsung Galaxy S8 troubleshooting page for we’ve already started providing support to our readers who own this device. We understand your phone is still brand new and it should work perfectly without a hitch but not even Samsung can guarantee there won’t be any problems. What we do here is provide help to our readers the best we can so if we haven’t published posts about your concern, feel free to contact us by filling up our Android issues questionnaire.

How to troubleshoot your Galaxy S8 with “the process com.android.phone has stopped” error

Problem: I don’t know what the error “unfortunately, the process com.android.phone has stopped” means but it keeps showing up on my phone whenever I make phone calls or even receive one from a friend. The phone is a galaxy s8 and it’s still a few months with me as I bought it earlier this year. I don’t know how serious this problem is but all I want is for my phone to work perfectly again like before. Please help me with this issue. Thanks.

Troubleshooting: This error message is actually notifying you about a process (called com.android.phone) that crashed or stopped working for some unknown reason. More often than not, the apps that use the process can be affected and may even be the trigger of the error. For instance, this error often comes up when you open the Phone app, which uses the process that’s mentioned in it. Basically, the phone app is the trigger and it’s also one of the apps that are affected by the said error. For this, here’s what I suggest you do:

Step 1: Clear the cache and data of the process that crashes

In this case, it’s the com.android.phone process that stopped working so it must be the one we need to reset. By simply clearing its cache and data, you’re already resetting it and it might be the only procedure you have to do to fix this problem. Just follow these steps to reset this process:

From the Home screen, swipe up on an empty spot to open the Apps tray.
Tap Settings > Apps.
Tap com.android.phone.
Tap Storage.
Tap Clear cache.
Tap Clear data and then tap OK.

After this procedure, reboot your phone to refresh it and then try to trigger the error by opening the phone app. If the error still occurs, move on to the next step.

Step 2: Clear the cache and data of the Phone app itself

As I said earlier the app that’s affected by this error as well as the one that triggers it is the Phone app so after the first step the problem still occurs, it’s time to go after it. So, follow these steps to see if you can get rid of the error:

From the Home screen, swipe up on an empty spot to open the Apps tray.
Tap Settings > Apps.
Tap Phone.
Tap Storage.
Tap Clear cache.
Tap Clear data and then tap OK.

If the error still shows up after this, it’s time to look somewhere.

Step 3: Make sure downloaded apps have nothing to do with it

There are times when third-party apps may cause built-in apps to crash especially those that constantly crash or have compatibility issues. To isolate the problem, you just have to temporarily disable all third-party apps and you can do that by running your phone up in safe mode. It’s just an Android environment wherein only built-in apps will be left running. Here’s how you run your Galaxy S8 in safe mode:

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.

Once your phone is in this mode, try to trigger the error again to see if it still shows up. If it does, then the problem might be with the firmware so it’s time to go after it.

However, if the error doesn’t show up in this mode, then there’s an app that’s causing this problem. You have to find that app and do something about it. I suggest you try to update all apps that need to be updated and here’s how you do it:

From the Home screen, swipe up on an empty spot to open 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’re already suspecting an app or two, then you have to clear the cache and data of those apps and if that won’t work, uninstall them until the problem is solved.

How to clear app cache and data on Galaxy S8

From the Home screen, swipe up on an empty spot to open 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 Storage.
Tap Clear cache.
Tap Clear data and then tap OK.

How to uninstall applications from your Galaxy S8

From the Home screen, swipe up on an empty spot to open 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 4: Reboot your phone in Recovery mode and wipe cache partition

If the error still pops up in safe mode, then it’s time to go after the firmware because apparently, your third-party apps have nothing to do with it. The first thing you have to do when you reach this point is to have the system caches replaced; you need to delete them all first so that the system can rebuild them. You can only do so by starting your phone up in Recovery Mode and wiping the cache partition:

Turn off the device.
Press and hold the Volume Up key and the Bixby key, then press and hold the Power key.
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).
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.

If the error still shows up after this, then the next step may all you need.

Step 5: Backup all your files and data and then reset your Galaxy S8

Errors like this are often not that serious and a reset can surely fix it. But the reason why this procedure often comes at the end of any troubleshooting guide is because of the hassle you will have to go through in backing up your files and data. But at this point, you have no other choice but to reset your phone, so make sure to make a backup of your important files and data, disable the Factory Reset Protection and then reset your phone.

How to disable Factory Reset Protection on your Galaxy S8

This is necessary especially if you don’t know your google ID and password as it prevents the phone from locking you out after the reset. Here’s how you disable the FRP in your phone:

From the Home screen, swipe up on an empty spot to open the Apps tray.
Tap Settings.
Tap 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 do the Master Reset on your Galaxy S8

There are two common ways to reset your phone, the first is through the Recovery mode while the second is from the Settings menu…

Turn off the device.
Press and hold the Volume Up key and the Bixby key, then press and hold the Power key.
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).
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.

This is how you reset your phone from the Settings menu…

From the Home screen, swipe up on an empty spot to open the Apps tray.
Tap Settings > Cloud and accounts.
Tap Backup and restore.
If desired, tap Back up my data to move the slider to ON or OFF.
If desired, tap Restore to move the slider to ON or OFF.
Tap the back button to the Settings menu and tap General Management > Reset > Factory data reset.
Tap Reset device.
If you have screen lock turned on, enter your credentials.
Tap Continue.
Tap Delete all.

I hope that this troubleshooting guide can help you fix the problem with your S8.

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