How to fix white flickering screen on Galaxy S10 [troubleshooting guide]
Are you getting white flickering screen on your Galaxy S10? This issue, though rare, can occur in any smartphone. If you’re looking for a way to fix this on your S10, then this post is for you.
How to fix white flickering screen on Galaxy S10
Are you wondering what to do with white flickering screen issue on your S10? This troubleshooting guide should help you.
White flickering screen fix #1: Perform a soft reset
Restarting the system is an important first step in this situation. Like your typical TV screen, you S10 OLED screen refreshes several times every second but in a much faster rate. This makes it almost impossible to notice by our naked eye. After running for some time though, bugs may develop and cause all kinds of problems including the possibility of a screen glitch. To see if the cause of your issue due to a temporary bug, consider restarting it. To do that, simply press and hold the Power and Volume Down buttons for about 10 seconds. Once the phone has restarted, release the buttons. This is usually effective in clearing bugs that developed when a system is left running for some time. We suggest that you restart your S10 using this method at least once a week to lessen the chances of bugs.
For some Galaxy S10, there may be a slightly different way to arrive at the same method. Here’s how:
- Press and hold the Power + Volume Down buttons for approximately 10 seconds or until the device power cycles. Allow several seconds for the Maintenance Boot Mode screen to appear.
- From the Maintenance Boot Mode screen, select Normal Boot. You can use the volume buttons to cycle through the available options and the lower left button (below the volume buttons) to select. Wait for up to 90 seconds for the reset to complete.
White flickering screen fix #2: Check for signs of damage
Was your S10 dropped or hit by a hard object before noticing white flickering screen issue? If the answer is yes, then there may be a hardware malfunction that causes the trouble. It may now be a permanent problem, which means that there’s a broken hardware in the system, or there may be a temporary glitch. If you see signs of physical damage to your phone, or to the screen in particular, you’re in a serious situation. A damaged hardware is usually not fixable by doing software tweaks so the least that you can do right now is to skip the rest of the troubleshooting steps below (and save yourself some time) is to visit your local Samsung Service Center for advice. Again, you should only do this if there’s obvious sign of damage to the device. If your S10 was not dropped at all, then continue with the rest of our suggestions below.
White flickering screen fix #3: Check for water damage
Although your Galaxy S10 is has dust and water resistance, it’s not completely waterproof. Dust and water resistance in your phone can be lost if you break the phone after dropping it, or if it’s hit by an object. Even a tiny break in the screen or in some parts can allow water or moisture to seep in and cause damage. So, if white flickering screen problem started after exposing your phone to water, or after dipping it in a pool, it’s possible that moisture or water may have entered in the system. Try to dry the phone by wiping it with clean, soft cloth. Then, leave in room temperature for a few hours to allow water to evaporate. If this won’t help and the screen continues to flicker abnormally, send the phone in for repair.
White flickering screen fix #4: Install updates
If there’s no way water or moisture have touched the device and the phone has never been physically damaged, it’s possible that there may be an app, software bug, or unknown glitch that causes its screen to flicker. One of the first things that you can do in this situation is to ensure that you install the latest Android OS version. This should keep the chances of coding errors low at this time. Samsung is aggressively pushing for updates to known bugs for S10 around the world so if the bug has been previously reported, an update may fix it.
To check for Android or system update:
- Open Settings app.
- Tap Software update.
- Tap Download and install.
- Wait for the device to check for updates.
- Install the update. If there’s no new update, your phone should tell you so.
For carrier-branded Galaxy S10 devices, or those that were provided by your carrier, there may not be an option to manually check for updates. All you have to do is to simply confirm if there’s a notification for an update and allow update installation.
White flickering screen fix #5: Check screen on Safe Mode
If white flickering screen issue started happening after you installed an app, that app may be to blame. Make sure to uninstall it and see what happens.
If you can no longer recall if the problem started after installing an app, or if you suspect that it’s an app but have no idea which one it is, you can restart to safe mode. In this mode, only preinstalled apps will be allowed to load. So, if the screen works normally and won’t flicker on safe mode, that’s a clear indication of a third party app problem. To restart to safe mode:
- Press and hold the Power button until the Power off window appears then release.
- Touch and hold Power off until the Safe mode prompt appears then release.
- To confirm, tap Safe mode.
- The process may take up to 30 seconds to complete.
- Upon reboot, “Safe mode” appears in the lower-left of the home screen.
Remember that third-party applications are disabled in this mode so what you can use are pre-installed apps. If the touchscreen issue won’t appear on safe mode, that means that the problem is due to a bad app. Uninstall the app you recently installed and see if that will fix it. If the problem remains, use the process of elimination to identify the rogue app. Here’s how:
- Boot to safe mode.
- Check for the problem.
- Once you’ve confirmed that a third party app is to blame, you can start uninstalling apps individually. We suggest that you begin with the most recent ones you added.
- After you uninstall an app, restart the phone to normal mode and check for the problem.
- If your S10 is still problematic, repeat steps 1-4.
White flickering screen fix #6: Clear cache partition
In order to load apps quickly, Android stores frequently used items like website links, images, videos, ads, among others in a part in internal storage called cache partition. Sometimes, these items collectively called system cache may get outdated or corrupted causing performance problems or bugs. To ensure that you phone runs efficiently and the cache in top shape, you want to regularly clear the cache partition (about once every few months). When dealing with any app issue, this can also be one of the troubleshooting steps. Here’s how to do it
- 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 until ‘yes’ is highlighted and press the Power button.
- When the wipe cache partition is complete, “Reboot system now” is highlighted.
- Press the Power key to restart the device.
White flickering screen fix #7: Reset all settings
This solution option is similar to factory reset minus the hassles of deleting user data, apps, and more. If the problem is still present at this juncture, then you should do this solution to see if you can fix the software bug this way. Here’s how:
- Open Settings app.
- Tap General management.
- Tap Reset.
- Tap Reset all settings.
- Tap RESET button.
White flickering screen fix #8: Factory reset
Factory reset is the ultimate troubleshooting step that you can do in this situation. This will help you determine if the reason for the problem is software-related or not. After you factory reset your device, all software settings will be returned to their factory configuration and all downloaded apps deleted. If there’s no hardware damage and the sole reason is software in nature, factory reset will most likely help.
Below are the two ways to factory reset your S10:
Method 1: How to hard reset on Samsung Galaxy S10 via Settings Menu
This is the easiest way to wipe your Galaxy S10. all you have to do is to go under Settings menu and follow the steps below. We recommend this method if you have no trouble going under Settings.
- Create a backup of your personal data and remove your Google account.
- Open Settings app.
- Scroll to and tap General management.
- Tap Reset.
- Select Factory data reset from the given options.
- Read the information then tap Reset to continue.
- Tap Delete All to confirm action.
Method 2: How to hard reset on Samsung Galaxy S10 using hardware buttons
If your case is that the phone is not booting up, or it boots but Settings menu is inaccessible, this method can be helpful. First, you need to boot the device to Recovery Mode. Once you successfully access Recovery, that’s the time that you begin proper master reset procedure. It may take some tries for you before you can access Recovery so be patient and simply try again.
- If possible, create a backup of your personal data ahead of time. If your problem prevents you from doing that, then simply skip this step.
- Also, you want to make sure that you remove your Google account. If your problem prevents you from doing that, then simply skip this step.
- Turn off the device. This is important. If you can’t turn it off, you’ll never be able to boot to Recovery Mode. If you are not able to shut the device off regularly via the Power button, wait until the phone’s battery is drained. Then, charge the phone for 30 minutes before booting to Recovery Mode.
- Press and hold the Volume Up button and the Bixby button at the same time.
- While still holding the Volume Up and Bixby keys, press and hold the Power button.
- The Recovery screen menu will now appear. When you see this, release the buttons.
- Use the Volume Down button until you are highlighting ‘Wipe data/factory reset.’
- Press the Power button to select ‘Wipe data/factory reset.’
- Use Volume Down to highlight Yes.
- Press the Power button to confirm factory reset.
White flickering screen fix #9: Get Samsung help
If white flickering screen issue won’t go away even after wiping the phone with factory reset, you can assume the problem is not fixable on your end. Bring your phone to your local Samsung Service Center so they can examine it thoroughly. Only then will you know if they’ll require repair, or if they can do something about it in other ways.