Galaxy J7 keeps opening and closing apps on its own, making sound as if screen is being tapped

Today’s troubleshooting post talks about how to fix an issue when apps on your #GalaxyJ7 keeps closing on their own for no apparent reason. We’ll show you three variations of this common issue and the ways to fix them. We hope you’ll find this post helpful.

Problem #1: Galaxy J7 keeps opening and closing apps on its own, makes sound as if screen is being tapped

My phone is a J7 that I got manufacturer refurbished. Both of my parents got one, too. Theirs have worked great. They had theirs 3 months, I’ve had mine for 2. Recently, I started getting popup messages in apps asking if I was sure I wanted to quit, & kept popping up. Then apps started closing out, & my phone kept making noises like I was tapping the screen. I thought it was an app. I uninstalled a few, no change, did a soft reset, no change…did a factory reset…no change. Any other suggestions? I have no way to replace this phone. A couple more things…I also noticed there were extra apps after the resets, & I uninstalled them (such as Ebay). i can’t hardly stay in settings, because it still keeps going back to the home screen. And, the tapping sounds are almost constant now, as long as the screen is on….I just reset my phone again, & the noises were there as soon as it started up. I am at a loss.  please help if you can. i can’t find anything on this anywhere. — Metallicstormyrose

Solution: Hi Metallicstormyrose. One of the disadvantages of having a non-brandnew phone is the possibility that the device may sport some problems when you get it. They usually come as they are so you’ll be forced to accept whatever defect there may be.

We think that your phone may have a problem with its screen that’s why even a factory reset did not resolve the issue. As a user, the most that you can do is perform some software troubleshooting and solutions. If your phone continued to behave the same after you wiped it with a factory reset, the real cause must be hardware in nature. We suspect it’s a bad screen, particularly the digitizer.

Your phone’s screen assembly has three major components — monitor, digitizer, and flex cable. The monitor is the part that shows you the images, while the digitizer is the thin transparent layer on top of the monitor that captures your touches. The inputs captured by the digitizer are then transmitted to the motherboard thru the flex cable. The symptoms you mention appear consistent with a bad digitizer causing random and frequent phantom touches on the screen. This is not a software issue and unfortunately, the best way to fix it is by replacing the digitizer component, or the entire screen assembly. To prove that you have a bad digitizer, you can try to access your phone’s service menu and test it out. Here’s how:

1. Open Phone (dialer) app.
2. Dial *#0*#
3. Select Touch.
4. Let your phone lay as it is and see if it makes lines or dots on its own. If it does, that means your touchscreen is a mess.

If you want to fix the issue, we suggest that you let a professional replace the screen for you. While you can attempt to repair the screen yourself, we strongly advise against it, especially if you haven’t done it before. A lot of DIY (do-it-yourself) screen repair don’t end up well so unless you are totally desperate and can accept the risk of damaging your device for good, you want to let someone who does repair for a living do it for you.

Problem #2: Galaxy S7 keeps showing an app has stopped error, apps keep crashing

Hello, the issues I am having with my Galaxy J7 device, are literally almost every app that I open, whether it be a game, social media, or the most confusing, MY GMAIL!I keep receiving a pop-up saying such app has stopped and gives the option to either restart the app, or Send feedback. I have already uninstalled the apps that were having the issues, and have done numerous malware and antivirus scans, with no threats having been detected. I’ve had this phone almost a year, had the same apps all this time with no issues, until 2 days ago, why are they misbehaving suddenly ? I didn’t do anything I that i haven’t done on a daily basis… please help me. — Kristin

Solution: Hi Kristin. If you suspect that a third party app or virus may be at play, we suggest that you try to restart your phone to safe mode first. In this mode, all third party apps (including the ones you’re having issues with) will be blocked, leaving you with only the pre-installed apps. This troubleshooting step is only useful if pre-installed apps are also affected by the bug. Basically, what you want to know is if there’s a difference when your J7 is on safe mode. If your pre-installed apps work normally and won’t crash, that means you have a bad app situation.

To boot your J7 to safe mode:

1. Turn the device off.
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’.

If you think that there’s an app issue, you can try to identify it by following these steps:

1. Boot to safe mode.
2. Check for the problem.
3. 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.
4. After you uninstall one app, restart the phone to normal mode and check for the problem.
5. If your Galaxy J7 remain problematic, repeat steps 1-4. Continue doing this until you’ve isolated the culprit.

Return all software settings to default

Should nothing change when you’re on safe mode, the best thing that you can do is to factory reset your device. This will clear up everything and return all software settings to their defaults. We think that the reason for this is issue is software in nature so factory reset should help.

To factory reset your J7:

1. Back up data on the internal memory. If you have signed into a Google account on the device, you have activated Anti-theft and will need your Google credentials to finish the Master reset.
2. Turn off the device.
3. Press and hold the Volume Up key and the Home key, then press and hold the Power key.
4. When the device logo screen displays, release only the Power key
5. 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).
6. Press the Volume down key several times key to highlight ‘wipe data / factory reset.’
7. Press Power button to select.
8. Press the Volume down key until ‘Yes — delete all user data’ is highlighted.
9. Press Power button to select and start the master reset.
10. When the master reset is complete, ‘Reboot system now’ is highlighted.
11. Press the Power key to restart the device.

Problem #3: Galaxy J7 getting endless app has stopped errors

My Wife’s phone was working fine until it ran completely out of power yesterday. She then plugged her phone in to charge and the phone displayed the message “Optimising 1 of 48 Apps” which increased sequentially until it got to 48 of 48. It then turned itself back on as normal and then when she unlocked the phone her home screen was bombarded by messages informing that unfortunately individual Apps had stopped working. These messages are now constantly popping up and interfering with normal use. She has tried turning the phone off and on again, clearing the Cache from all of the individual Apps, disabling and enabling Apps and disabling and enabling the Download Manager. Finally she has tried to access Google Play Store but now can’t access it from her phone. Any suggestions would be welcome as we are trying to avoid a Factory Reset or worse, buying a new phone. Kind regards. — James Cole

Solution: Hi James. Unless the issue has something to do with a bad digitizer, like what we tell Metallicstormyrose above, the main reason why apps are crashing endlessly must be software-related.  To fix it, you can try our suggestions for Kristin to try booting it to safe mode first. If the problem won’t go away with safe mode, then that’s the time that you go ahead with a factory reset.

 

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