Welcome to our first #GalaxyS6 post for this day. In this article, we discuss 8 S6 issues that were reported by some members of our community. As usual, we also provide respective solutions for each case so we hope that this article will become another good source of information for Android community.

Below are the specific topics we’re covering for you:

1. Galaxy S6 charging issue, charging on and off
2. Water-damaged Galaxy S6 screen won’t turn on
3. Messaging app and other apps not working on Galaxy S6 | Galaxy S6 “Unfortunately com.android.phone has stopped” error
4. Galaxy S6 edge plus charging port broken and won’t charge | Workarounds for Galaxy S6 won’t charge by USB cable issue
5. Galaxy S6 “com.android.phone has stopped working” error when texting
6. Galaxy S6 won’t allow adding of contacts
7. Galaxy S6 keeps saying to use original charger
8. Galaxy S6 reboots randomly

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.

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Problem #1: Galaxy S6 charging issue, charging on and off

I’m having trouble with my Samsung Galaxy S6. The issue with my phone is complicated: It won’t charge properly (It does sometimes – but most often it doesn’t, if it charges it’s not constantly charging as the process gets interrupted frequently). It’s not the socket I’m using to charge as i tried several and also 2 different houses. Sometimes i get the notification that i should install the Powersharing app to use the power sharing function (the phone wasn’t even plugged to a charger when i got this notification). When the phone is powered off and i try to charge it , i get the yellow warning triangle sign and it doesn’t charge at any given time.

Now to the interesting part: My S6 started this disease at the exact same time (middle of the night i suppose) as the Galaxy S6 of my Girlfriend An old S2 and an old IPhone started to get suspicious behaviors concerning their battery when testing different setups of chargers, sockets, and simultaneous charging with my S6 (Maybe random because of battery-age and not being used for years) What could be happening? Is my S5 infected with battery-AIDS? Is my phone frying other phones? — Erik

Solution: Hi Erik. There’s no such thing as “battery-AIDS” or “infectious” battery troubles. The problem may have simply coincided with whatever your friends were doing. An issue like this is most likely hardware-related as most charging on and off issues we encounter are not fixable by doing software solutions. The best thing that you can do to see if yours is different is by doing a master reset. This type of reset will restore all software settings back to their defaults, effectively eliminating whatever software glitch that may have developed over time. Once you’ve done that, observe the phone for at least 24 hours without installing anything — apps or updates. Use the phone throughout the day and ensure that you drain the battery. Once the battery has been exhausted, observe how charging works. If the phone charges normally, that’s a sign that an app or update you installed before may be the cause of the problem. On the other hand, if the issue remains, you can bet bad hardware is causing the trouble. In this case, you want to send the phone for repair or replacement.

For reference, below are the steps on how to master reset your S6:

1. Create a backup of your important files such as photos, videos, etc.
2. Turn off your Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge.
3. Press and hold the Volume Up, Home and Power keys together.
4. When the device powers on and displays ‘Power on logo’, release all keys and the Android icon will appear on the screen.
5. Wait until the Android Recovery Screen appears after about 30 seconds.
6. Using the Volume Down key, highlight the option, ‘wipe data/factory reset’ and press the Power key to select it.
7. Press the Vol Down button again until the option ‘Yes — delete all user data’ is highlighted and then press the Power key to select it.
8. After the reset is complete, highlight ‘Reboot system now’ and hit the Power key to restart the phone.

Problem #2: Water-damaged Galaxy S6 screen won’t turn on

Hi There. I dropped my Samsung S6 down the toilet – submerged for less than 3 seconds. It’s been in a bag of rice on a low heat radiator for the last 3 days and I just charged it today. It charged fine, turned on fine, I can hear emails, messages etc coming through on it but the screen is black and I can’t see anything. I have tried to plug it into the laptop to download pictures of my brother’s wedding and it is saying there are no files on the phone. I checked the water damage indicator and it had turned red. is there anything I can do to fix this – preferably without losing the photos on the phone? — Cathalmolloy

Solution: Hi Cathalmolloy. You should know by now that “bag of rice” trick is not always effective. At best, all it can do is dry up the phone and its internal components but it cannot fix the damage already done on the phone. It’s more like a “first aid” procedure meant to mitigate or prevent further damage but not the cure in itself. In an ideal world, a user is supposed to do the following steps for this issue:

1. immediately remove the phone from water,
2. dismantle the phone and immediately cut power by removing the battery (leaving the battery connected to a wet motherboard can cause permanent hardware damage),
3. clean the phone and internal components with appropriate alcohol (not drinking alcohol) to remove dirt
4. dry the phone and its components in a bag of rice (this will allow alcohol and water to be absorbed by rice) for at least a week

Waiting for at least a week to dry out the phone is a safe length of time to ensure that no moisture remain in hard to reach parts of the logic board. Turning on the phone or charging it when there’s still moisture somewhere can result to damage later.

We understand you did not open the phone up and follow the recommended steps so it’s safe to assume the device has physical damage at this time. This must be the reason why the screen no longer powers on at this time. Unfortunately, you need a good working touchscreen to access the contents of the phone so moving your data is out of the question. To fix the problem, you must send the phone to Samsung or to an independent service center so the screen can be replaced.

Problem #3: Messaging app and other apps not working on Galaxy S6 | Galaxy S6 “Unfortunately com.android.phone has stopped” error

So my Samsung is having this odd issue. Every second this notification pops up that says, Unfortunately com.android.phone has stopped, and then every once in a while I’ll get a notification that says Mobile Tracker has stopped. I can’t use my phone or messaging app and none of my phone apps work. I can use Snapchat, Facebook etc. but nothing that was put on my phone. — Smit.sien055

Solution: Hi Smit.sien055. Try wiping the cache partition first and start from there. Doing this procedure will force the phone to delete the existing system cache to make way for a new one. Sometimes, installing apps and updates can corrupt the system cache, resulting to erratic app behaviors. If you haven’t done this before, here are the steps that you want to do:

1. Turn off the device.
2. Press and hold the following three buttons at the same time: Volume Up key, Home key, and Power key.
3. When the phone vibrates, release the Power key but continue to press and hold the Volume Up key and the Home key.
4. When the Android System Recovery screen appears, release the Volume Up and Home keys.
5. Press the Volume Down key to highlight ‘wipe cache partition.’
6. Press the Power key to select.
7. When the wipe cache partition is complete, ‘Reboot system now’ is highlighted.
8. Press the Power key to restart the device.

Once you’ve cleared the cache partition, head over to Google Play Store and ensure that ALL your apps are updated. You also want to ensure that you install any available system update under Settings app.

If the phone is already running the most recent update and the issue continues after wiping the cache partition, boot the device to safe mode. This will let you check if one of the third party apps is preventing the messaging app and others from working. Here’s how:

1. Press and hold the Volume Down and Power keys for 20 to 30 seconds.
2. Once you see the Samsung logo, release the Power key immediately but continue pressing the Volume Down key.
3. Your phone should continue booting up and you will be prompted to unlock your phone as usual.
4. You will know if the phone successfully booted in safe mode if the text “Safe mode” is displayed at the lower-left corner of the screen.
5. Observe the phone and check if previously non-working apps are now working.
6. If the issue won’t occur and all apps are now working, that’s proof that one of your apps is to blame. Uninstall third party apps until the issue is gone.

Keep in mind that pre-installed apps may not work if you are using the device in another network. For example, if this phone came from T-Mobile but you’re not using it on AT&T network, some T-Mobile apps may be incompatible with AT&T system and hence won’t work.

If all else fails, do a factory reset and see if that will make a difference.

1. Create a backup of your important files such as photos, videos, etc.
2. From the Home screen, tap the Apps icon.
3. Find and tap the Settings icon.
4. Under the ‘Personal’ section, find and tap Backup and reset.
5. Tap Factory data reset.
6. Touch Reset device to proceed with the reset.
7. Depending on the security lock you used, enter the PIN or password.
8. Tap Continue.
9. Touch Delete all to confirm your action.

Problem #4: Galaxy S6 edge plus charging port broken and won’t charge | Workarounds for Galaxy S6 won’t charge by USB cable issue

I have Samsung Galaxy S6 plus edge. I charged my mobile in the van & I broke the inside of the charging port. Now I can’t use the mobile because the port to charge my mobile is flat dead. I can’t charge it up by Samsung charger. I have lost everything including photos of my 21-month son. No SIM card like IPhone can be used to store your personal things. What can I do? I was planning to buy Samsung S8 when I sell my S6 but I can’t as it got all my personal things & photos on S6. Please can you help. Thank you. — Ruth

Solution: Hi Ruth. The only effective solution for your problem is repair. The charging port must be replaced in order to fix the problem. There’s no amount of software troubleshooting that can fix it. As a workaround to charge the phone, you can try using a wireless charging pod. If you don’t have it, you can purchase one from your local Samsung store. A wireless charger for an S6 looks like this.

Once you’ve charged the phone back up, you can then move your photos to another device via Samsung Smart Switch (by using its wireless feature) or other free apps like SHAREit – Transfer & Share.

As a friendly reminder, make it a habit of always creating a backup of your important, irreplaceable files. Digital storage devices and phones can fail anytime and if you lose valuable files after this again, you only have yourself to blame.

Problem #5: Galaxy S6 “com.android.phone has stopped working” error when texting

When trying to buy data with +400, only* While texting the number the “com.android.phone has stopped working” appears. I have tried the phone resets and update resets but nothing fixes it. -Yes the phone recently updated. (Galaxy S6l — Ruanmigz

Solution: Hi Ruanmigz. If the error appears repeatedly when trying to send a text, the first thing that you want to do is to clear the cache and data of the messaging app. Here’s how:

1. Open the Settings menu either through your notification shade (drop-down) or through the Settings app in your app drawer.
2. Navigate down to “Apps”. This may be renamed to something like Applications or Application Manager in OEM skinned versions of Android 6.0.
3. Once in there, click on an application.
4. You’ll now see a list of stuff that gives you information about the app, including Storage, Permissions, Memory Use, and more. These are all clickable items. You’ll want to click on Storage.
5. You should now clearly see the Clear Data and Clear Cache buttons for the application.

If that won’t fix the issue, master reset the device (steps provided above).

Problem #6: Galaxy S6 won’t allow adding of contacts

I just bought my Samsung S6. It won’t allow me to add contacts. I have tried turning it off and on, waiting and putting it back and also going to settings, apps and into contacts but it shows that it already has permission. However when I go back and try to add a contact it still says that it has not been given permission. Could you please assist me with this? — Cherokeespirit04

Solution: Hi Cherokeespirit04. Is this a brand new device? If it is, do a factory reset to revert everything back to their defaults and try again. You can also try to wipe the Contacts app’s cache and data before a factory reset to see if it will make a difference.

If your phone is not brand new (pre-owned), it may be rooted or running custom firmware. If you are an advanced Android user, consider flashing the stock firmware to it to revert all settings back to factory settings. If you haven’t heard about flashing or rooting, simply have the phone replaced or get a refund for it.

Problem #7: Galaxy S6 keeps saying to use original charger

Hello. After I bought my brand new S6, two months later my S6 starts showing message like “to get faster charge, please use the original charger.” I do use the original charger.  I don’t understand why I get that message every time when it is being charged with original charger. So I have to use other unoriginal charger which is much faster than the original charger. The phone shows 2h 46 minutes to get fully charged when using the original charger, and it shows 1h 37 minutes when using the  other unoriginal charger. I tried several times and tried to turn off phone and turn on again, but still get same result. Can you help me on this ? Thank you. — Li

Solution: Hi Li. The current original Samsung charger you’re using may be malfunctioning or has some issues. Consider using another original Samsung charger and see if that will make any difference. Otherwise, do the basic software troubleshooting like wiping the cache partition and factory reset to troubleshoot the phone. If that won’t fix the issue, have the phone replaced.

Problem #8: Galaxy S6 reboots randomly

Phone was given to me is unable to boot. Left it on the charger overnight initially, nothing happened when plugged in, no screen activity or charge light after the night. I hit the power button and it attend tped to boot. it got to the Samsung logo and shut off. Now, it wouldn’t attempt to boot again.

Finally one time after being left to charge for hours again. It booted up. While it was up, it ran normally,  no issues to speak of. I did a FDR on it and it came right back up so went on to root the device and when I shut it off to boot into recovery, it wouldn’t come up. went into the same routine and eventually opened into recovery as rooted. Successfully got it back up again. once it is in, it ran great had to boot to recovery again to set up super user and am back to trying to get the bastard to boot.

It gets power, it runs fine on but it’s like it forgets what to do 9 out of 10 times. it boots my best guess is the battery can’t produce the amperage needed maybe?

I’m at a loss I’ve had it apart to make sure connections were good and there was no obvious hardware failures and nothing stood out.

My knowledge is basic which is why I am trying to get his old phone going so you can play with it and learn about the software and changing g roms and all that fun stuff. —        Chrisam261

Solution: Hi Chrisam261. Frankly, it’s hard to say for sure where the problem lies for your case without us physically checking it first. You may be right about the battery causing the problem in this one so if you can manage to replace it yourself, we suggest that you go ahead with it. In some cases, random reboot issues can be caused by a bad power IC so try to check that as well.

Our blog does not provide hardware troubleshooting and diagnostics though so you want to do some research further if you intend to replace some specific components.

 

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