Hello Android fans! Welcome to yet another Note 4 post that addresses some issues about this device. If you are new to our site, be sure to also visit our main Galaxy Note 4 troubleshooting page by following this link.

For now, here are the specific topics we’re covering for you:

Galaxy Note 4 calls goes straight to voicemail, can’t receive SMS
Galaxy Note 4 microphone and speaker stops working
Galaxy Note 4 turns off by itself when using apps such as camera, or when battery is at 60%
Galaxy Note 4 shutting down on its own when using the internet, won’t stay on unless connected to charger
Galaxy Note 4 screen not working after dropping it in water
Galaxy Note 4 battery replacement
Unable to move apps from Galaxy Note 4 to SD card
Galaxy Note 4 won’t turn back on after downloading the update
Galaxy Note 4 losing battery power fast

If you are looking for solutions to your own #Android issue, you can contact us by using the link provided at the bottom of this page, or you can install our free app from Google Play Store.

When describing your issue, please be as detailed as possible so we can easily pinpoint a relevant solution. If you can, kindly include the exact error messages you are getting to give us an idea where to start. If you have already tried some troubleshooting steps before emailing us, make sure to mention them so we can skip them in our answers

Problem #1: Galaxy Note 4 calls goes straight to voicemail, can’t receive SMS

Dear Sir/Madam. I have been told that my phone goes straight to voicemail every time someone calls me. I can’t receive calls or texts, but i can do both just fine. My phone doesn’t ring at all. It isn’t on airplane mode. i have taken out the battery and everything but still the same. I have been to settings to check but everything seems fine. What else can I try? Thank you in advance. — Hilda

Solution: Hi Hilda. You’ve provided us nothing that can help us identify the cause of your problem so we say you try factory reset first and see what happens from there. Factory reset will revert all software settings back to their defaults so if a software glitch is the cause, it should be able to fix it. Also, if you rooted your phone or flashed a non-official Samsung software, make sure to bring everything back to stock before attempting a factory reset.

Below are the steps on how to factory reset your Note 4:

Create a backup of your important files such as photos, videos, contacts etc. You can use Smart Switch for this task.
Turn off the Galaxy Note 4 completely.
Press and hold the Volume Up and the Home keys together, then press and hold the Power key.
When the Note 4 vibrates, release both the Home and Power keys but continue holding the Volume Up key.
When the Android System Recovery shows on the screen, release the Volume Up key.
Using the Volume Down key, highlight ‘wipe data / factory reset’ and press the Power key to select it.
Now highlight ‘Yes — delete all user data’ using the Volume Down key and press the Power key to begin the reset.
When the master reset is complete, highlight ‘Reboot system now’ and hit the Power key.
The Note 4 will restart but it will be longer than usual. When it reaches the Home screen, then begin your setup.

If the issue continues after a full factory reset, contact your carrier so they can help you directly.

Problem #2: Galaxy Note 4 microphone and speaker stops working

I have Note 4 Verizon 4G LTE model. Microphone and speaker of the phone doesn’t work only during cellular phone call. I need to restart phone then the problem goes off for 2-3 hours then after, i can’t make or receive call. I turned off the mobile and pressed Volume Up + Menu + Power buttons and tried “wipe cache” first. It worked fine until 8-9hrs then show problem again. Then i did “wipe data/ factory reset” following same process. Problem goes away for sometime then again problem occurs. I can make call through Viber or other apps like Line. Only problem is I can’t make cellular phone call through SIM everytime i need to restart the cell phone to make a call or receive. — Nirajanshakya746

Solution: Hi Nirajanshakya746. If the problem returns even after a factory reset, it’s possible that one of the apps or updates you installed may be causing it. Boot the phone to safe mode and observe how calling and speaker work to see if that’s the case. Safe mode blocks third party apps and services so you should observe the phone for at least 48 hours to see the difference. During the observation, make sure to replicate the problem by doing some calls. If the problem won’t occur at that time, that’s a confirmation of our hunch.

Below are the steps on how to boot your phone to safe mode:

Turn off the phone completely.
Press and hold the Power key and the Volume Down key.
When the phone starts to boot, release the Power key but continue holding the Volume Down key until the phone finished restarting.
Safe mode will be displayed at the lower left corner; you may release the Volume Down key now.

Safe mode is not a solution by itself. Rather, think of it as your tool to check whether or not one of the third party apps installed is problematic. If you think one of the apps is causing the trouble, you have to uninstall them one by one until the issue is eliminated. Be sure to observe how the phone and calling works after every uninstallation.

Problem #3: Galaxy Note 4 turns off by itself when using apps such as camera, or when battery is at 60%

Hi. I recently purchased a Samsung Galaxy Note 4. Initially, it was working perfectly, but over time, when using certain apps (especially the Camera), the phone goes off. It doesn’t turn on unless charged. I also noticed that the phone dies as soon as it reaches 60%. I am very reluctant to buy a new battery, because I think the issue is more than just the battery. — Jay

Solution: Hi Jay. An issue like this can sometimes involve not just the battery so putting off getting a new battery is a good choice. You need to do some basic software troubleshooting first if you want to get to the bottom of the problem.

That said, the first possible solution that we would like you to do is battery recalibration. This will ensure that the operating system detects the true level of remaining battery power afterwards. Here’s how to do that:

Use the phone by playing games or doing tasks to hasten power discharge, until the phone turns itself off.
Turn the phone on again and let it turn itself off.
Charge the phone without turning it back on.
Wait until the battery says it fully charged to 100%
Unplug the charger and turn the phone on.
If the phone says it’s not 100% anymore, turn it off, plug the charger back in and wait until 100% charge is reached.
Unplug the charger the turn the phone on again.
Use the phone until you drain the battery down to 0.
Repeat the cycle once.

Once you’ve recalibrated the battery, make sure to also wipe the cache partition right away. This will force the phone to delete the current system cache and replace it with a new one. Updates and app installation can sometimes corrupt the system cache so it’s a good way to minimize bugs due to corrupted system cache. Here’s how to do it:

Turn off the Galaxy Note 4 completely.
Press and hold the Volume Up and the Home keys together, then press and hold the Power key.
When the Note 4 vibrates, release both the Home and Power keys but continue holding the Volume Up key.
When the Android System Recovery shows on the screen, release the Vol Up key.
Using the Volume Down key, highlight the option ‘wipe cache partition’ and press the Power key to select it.
When the wiping of the cache partition is finished, highlight ‘Reboot system now’ and hit the power key.

Another good way to deal with this problem is by doing a factory reset. You can either do the first two suggestions above or just do the factory reset right away. This is the surest way to see if the problem is software-related or not. If nothing changes after doing it, you can then try a new battery. Lithium-ion batteries like the one in your phone has a limited lifespan and will eventually deteriorate after some time. If you’ve been using your Note 4 for over a year now, it’s probably high time to replace the battery at this time.

Should battery replacement won’t fix the problem, considering the phone in for repair or replacement.

Problem #4: Galaxy Note 4 shutting down on its own when using the internet, won’t stay on unless connected to charger

What is the main problem with my phone shutting often 5-10 minutes even at 90% battery life once i started browsing?
Why is it that when the charger is connected after shut down many times the battery life will immediately go up to 40-50% but once i turned it back on, it shuts down again?
Why is it that whenever it shuts down, it started turning on and off by itself and if the charger is not connected to it in 5mins. time the phone starts to get hot? — Courtney

Solution: Hi Courtney. Your Note 4’s battery may be dying at this time so we suggest that you do the things we provide for Jay above. You can also physically check the battery for any sign of damage. You can take it out and check if there’s any apparent bulging at the sides. Bulging in a battery is a tell-tale sign of battery malfunction so that may be the reason why the phone keeps rebooting on its own.

Problem #5: Galaxy Note 4 screen not working after dropping it in water

Hi Droidguy. So one day i dropped my phone into the water. So i quickly took it out. The screen didn’t turn off but the menu button and the back button is some sort of glitching. Then i took it and put it in front of a fan. after that, the screen was flickering. so i turn it off and tried to turn it on. then, the screen went blank. but i was able to turn it on and the touch screen is working. i knew the touch screen was working because a was able to feel the vibration when i typed in my password. so can you help me? — Annas

Solution: Hi Annas. Unlike the Galaxy S7 and S8, the Note 4 does not enjoy water resistant protection so dropping it into water is not only a mistake but can spell a disaster for it. If your phone’s screen was working normally prior to the dropping incident, stop looking for solutions on your end. Simply turn the phone off, remove the battery, and take it to a service center. Drying it at this time will not matter much, especially that water damage is already apparent. If you’re lucky, a technician may still be able to dry the phone properly after dismantling it and save it for good. Unless you have the expertise to fix Samsung hardware and the tools to do it, there’s nothing that you can do at this time.

Problem #6: Galaxy Note 4 battery replacement

Hello. My name is JJ and I have a question regarding battery numbers. I’ve been looking for a replacement battery for my Samsung Galaxy Note 4 EB-BN910BBZ battery and was wondering if I have to get a replacement that matches the battery number above. The reason I ask is I’m having trouble finding that particular battery number and was wonder if any battery for the Note 4 would do. Thanks in advance for your help. — Jj

Solution: Hi Jj. As long as you specify a Galaxy Note 4 battery when buying it, the number above won’t matter. We suggest though that you get one from Samsung. If you can no longer get a Samsung original at this time, make sure that you get one from a reputable third party retailer.

Problem #7: Unable to move apps from Galaxy Note 4 to SD card

I got a SanDisk Ultra 128GB micro SDXC 1 for my Galaxy Note 4 for extra storage space. I can’t even update apps due to limited space. I formatted and mounted it, the phone said “Your SD card is ready to use.” It came up as “SD Card For transferring photos and media.” It is listed in storage as “SD card, 5.25GB used of 110GB.” The problem is that when I go to transfer apps, there is no button there at all next to the word “Storage.” With my other SD cards there’s a button that says, “transfer to SD card.” The card seems to work in my laptop. I deleted the files on the card and reformatted. This didn’t help. After reformatting the 2 files that were there before were back: 1. Android 2. LOST.DIR Any ideas?

I’ve read online that people use a 128GB in their Note 4’s with no problems. Thank you. — Sandi

Solution: Hi Sandi. Not all apps can be moved to a secondary storage device or SD card. If you can’t find an option to move an app to SD card under Application Manager, your particular SD card has nothing to do with it. An SD can’t tell your phone’s operating system to have an option to move an app to SD card or not. Any of the following may be happening right now:

the app you are trying to move to SD card is not designed to work in secondary storage
the current Android version does not allow moving apps to SD card

Make sure the Android version on your phone is either Marshmallow or Nougat so you’ll have an option to move apps to SD card.

If the phone is already running any of these Android versions right now, then the app you’re moving is simply not designed to work off an SD card.

Problem #8: Galaxy Note 4 won’t turn back on after downloading the update

Hello. Today I tried doing a factory reset on my Note 4. After it went through all of the updates it shut down and wouldn’t come back on. I removed the battery and put it back in and turned the phone back on. Once it powered up it said recovery boot and the Android guy popped up and said installing software update. Eventually it went in to Android recovery where I tried the wipe cache partition, the wipe data/factory reset option and then tried to reboot. Needless to say the same thing happened again and I haven’t gotten any further. I appreciate any help in advance. — Robert

Solution: Hi Robert. We’ve only seen this situation happen if a user tries to install an OTA update to a rooted device, or a phone running a non-official Samsung firmware. If your phone has been running official firmware and was never rooted, then your only way out right now is to force an update via Odin. If you haven’t done is before, do some research on how to flash stock firmware to your phone model and you should be good. Just make sure to use the correct firmware for your phone and to follow the steps on the guide correctly.

Alternatively, you can also try to flash the bootloader on your device first and see if that will fix the trouble. Below are the general steps on how to do this procedure. The exact steps may vary for your device so be sure to do some research ahead of time before doing our suggestion.

Look for the correct firmware for your phone model and download it. Make sure that select the right one. It should be the same exact firmware that ran previously on your device. We assume that you list down the firmware version somewhere. If you did not take note of it before, there’s a chance that you may pick the wrong one. As you may know now, using an incorrect firmware can cause complications so good luck with that.
Let’s now say that you have identified the correct firmware. You then want to download it to your computer. The firmware file should have a bunch of files in it like AP_, BL_, CSC_, etc.
Look for the file that starts with a label BL; this should be the corresponding bootloader file for this firmware. Once you’ve identified the bootloader file, copy it to your computer’s desktop or to any other folder that you can easily access.
Proceed with the rest of the flashing procedure using the Odin program.
In Odin, click on the BL tab and make sure to use the bootloader file you’ve identified earlier.
Now, make sure that the “Device Added” status and its “ID:COM box” has turned blue before hitting the START button. This will initiate the flashing of your phone’s bootloader.
Restart the phone once the procedure is finished.

Problem #9: Galaxy Note 4 losing battery power fast

I am at my wit’s end with my Note 4, which is only 17 months old. I am going through a minimum 3 full battery charges during an 8 hour work day. The phone dies anywhere between 15% – 30%, but used to die when it reached 0%. I am continuing to use the original battery that came with the phone AND have purchased a brand new battery. I have also purchased a Samsung external battery charger and have to carry it with me everywhere I go to keep one of the dead batteries charging. The new battery lasts from approximately 8 a.m. – 11:30 a.m., then I insert the fully charged original battery. With the original battery, the charge goes from 100% to 49% in ONE HOUR. Furthermore, when I plug in the original factory charger, I get a banner on the screen that reads something like, “for faster charging, use the Samsung charge cable that came with the phone.” By the time I get home around 5 p.m., the only way to keep my phone powered on without having to continuously switch batteries every 3 hours is to plug the phone in and leave it on the charger until I have to leave the house.

I don’t remember exactly when this started, but it seems like it was after a March update. (There was another update in April, and the only change I can detect after it installed is the battery dies even faster than after the March update.) There is no way this can be normal and I need advice! — Ray

Solution: Hi Ray. The first thing that you want to do in this case is to make sure that you recalibrate the battery, especially the most recent one. If that won’t fix the problem, you can do the other basic stuff such as cache partition wipe and factory reset. Any of these procedures should fix whatever software issue is causing this trouble.

A good tip that you may want to do to save battery power, should you need to extend usage time, is to use Power Saving Mode or Ultra Power Saving mode. They may not be the permanent fix you want but they can come handy should you need to squeeze some extra time off your battery. Power saving mode will lower screen brightness, turn off haptic feedback, and throttle down the phone’s processing power in exchange for longer usage. If you use your Note 4 mostly for texting or calling, using Power saving mode or Ultra Power Saving mode can significantly lengthen battery performance.

To turn Power Saving Mode, follow these steps:

Open Settings app.
Scroll to and tap Power saving.
Tap Power saving mode.
Tap Power saving mode slider to turn it on.

Engage with us

If you are one of the users who encounters a problem with your device, let us know. We offer solutions for Android-related problems for free so if you have an issue with your Android device, simply fill in the short questionnaire in this link and we will try to publish our answers in the next posts. We cannot guarantee a quick response so if your issue is time sensitive, please find another way to resolve your problem.

If you find this post helpful, please help us by spreading the word to your friends. TheDroidGuy has social network presence as well so you may want to interact with our community in our Facebook and Google+ pages.

Galaxy Note 4 calls goes straight to voicemail, can’t receive SMS, other issues