Galaxy S6 Recent apps and Back buttons not working, other issues

For those of you looking for solutions to your own #GalaxyS6 issues, this article may help. We give you 5 other issues here including about an S6 Recent apps and Back buttons not working problem.

s6

Below are the specific topics we discuss today:

  1. Galaxy S6 freezes and showing steady green light
  2. Galaxy S6 Recent apps and Back buttons not working
  3. Galaxy S6 lost option to send SMS after tapping missed call number
  4. Apps on Galaxy S6 won’t load properly | Galaxy S6 calls keeps dropping
  5. Galaxy S6 GPS not working properly

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 S6 freezes and showing steady green light

I went to bed around 11 PM and plugged in my charger. I woke up around 4 AM and picked up my phone to check the time and it wouldn’t turn on. There was a green light in the top left of the phone that was on. Not blinking or going off and on it was just staying on. I tried unplugging the phone and nothing happened. I held down the power key and volume down key for about 10 seconds and it booted up asking what kind of mode I wanted to start my phone in. I selected normal mode and the phone started normally. Is there anything I should be worried about? What caused this? I notice when my phone goes into stand by the green light comes on and it looks like it did earlier, the only difference is now when I press the home button it comes back on. Earlier it would not come on when I pressed the home button. — Will

Solution: Hi Will. The only two behaviors a green light on a Galaxy S6 should do is either to glow and blink. Glowing green light is an indication that the phone has been fully charged or connected to a charger. A blinking green light on the other hand can also mean that the battery has been fully charged. We are not sure if you’re simply seeing a glowing green light but we haven’t heard of this issue happening on other Galaxy S6 phones, even more than a year this 2015 Samsung flagship has been released. This must be an isolated case so try to do a factory reset and see if that will change anything. For reference, here are the steps on how to do it:

  • Turn off your Samsung Galaxy S6.
  • Press and hold the Volume Up, Home and Power keys together.
  • When the device powers on and displays ‘Power on logo’, release all keys and the Android icon will appear on the screen.
  • Wait until the Android Recovery Screen appears after about 30 seconds.
  • Using the Volume Down key, highlight the option, ‘wipe data/factory reset’ and press the Power key to select it.
  • Press the Volume Down button again until the option ‘Yes — delete all user data’ is highlighted and then press the Power key to select it.
  • After the reset is complete, highlight ‘Reboot system now’ and hit the Power key to restart the phone.

Problem #2: Galaxy S6 Recent apps and Back buttons not working

Hi. So for a month or two I’ve been having issues with my Galaxy S6. It started simple with the recent apps and back button not working so I’ve been using the phone with the dexterity issue key map for 3 months. Then it started to shut down at random times and turn back on, sometimes it wouldn’t even turn back on. I took it to my local Verizon store, the guy said that it was because i had no memory left and the phone couldn’t function properly ( i had less than a GB of memory left) so I took about ten gigs of pictures and videos off my phone and the problem persisted. in the past day the phone has totally gone caput.

I was used to doing the restart where you press the power button and the volume down button so I’ve been doing that when the phone shuts down. the phone screen was black and there was a radiating blue light for a couple hours and the phone was blazing hot. finally it responded to the reboot. i plugged it into a charger left the room, came back and the phone had shut down again. however this time it was different: there is no red light while its plugged into the charger, and every time i press the power button the flash for the camera lights up. It does this when i plug in the charger. i kept it plugged in overnight and no change. it responds neither to the reboot nor the master reboot where you press the volume up key power key and home key.

I’m on vacation in Europe and have a lot of photos that i would like to be able to save. at this point i would normally just get a new phone but it’s the fact that i am out of the country that makes it a more dire situation. I’ve been trying to do some reading up on the situation and the one common thing that i cannot find anywhere else is the light flashing on  the back when i press the power button. i really want to know what you guys think and if it will be possible to save my photos. Thank you. — Slater

Solution: Hi Slater. That two touch buttons (Recent apps and Back buttons) are not working should have told you that you need to have the hardware checked. Add in other symptoms like overheating and failure to boot normally and you have a solid hardware malfunction case. You must have the phone repaired so you can turn it back on and save your photos and files. We can’t see the logic of having shortage of storage or memory space resulting to touch buttons to stop working properly. The Verizon representative you consulted must have surely misdiagnosed the issue. As far as solution on your end is concerned though, there’s nothing really that you can do. Bring the phone to a Samsung service center so they can take a look at it.

Problem #3: Galaxy S6 lost option to send SMS after tapping missed call number

So my Father’s Galaxy S6 is acting weird when he gets a missed call. if he wants to send a  text to that missed call number he usually swipes the missed call to the left and the screen takes you to the text app and inputs that phone number automatically. all you have to do is write your message in the text box.

3 hours ago, it stopped inputting the phone number automatically. When you swiped a missed call on the log to the left to send a message to that number, it no longer inputs the contact number for you. The text app asks you to enter a recipient as if you had not swiped the command on the call log to text that specific number from the missed call.

What’s up with that?

I know it’s working on my Note 5, I just checked it. But 3 hours ago it stopped working on my father’s S6.

Already called Sprint & Samsung. They reset the phone remotely, restarted it, but it hasn’t fixed that issue. They’re stumped.

Same as if you are listening to a voicemail and from the voice mail application you click the button to send an sms to that number that called and left that voice-mail message, it won’t input the number automatically in the recipient portion of the text app.

It asks you as if you had never already chosen what number to text. — J.R.

Solution: Hi J.R. Did your father install anything like an app, app update, or Android update prior to noticing the problem? If he did, try to wipe the Messages app cache and data. Here’s how:

  • Go to Settings app.
  • Tap on Applications.
  • Select Manage Applications.
  • Tap the All tab.
  • Look for and tap the messaging app.
  • Tap Storage.
  • From there, you will see the Clear Cache and Clear Data buttons.

Keep in mind that tapping on Clear Data button deletes existing SMS and MMS logs. Make sure to save important conversations first before you do this solution.

If nothing will change after wiping the cache and data of the Messages app, the next logical solution is refreshing the cache partition. Here’s how:

  • Turn off the device.
  • Press and hold the following three buttons at the same time: Volume Up key, Home key, and Power key.
  • When the phone vibrates, release the Power key but continue to press and hold the Volume Up key and the Home key.
  • When the Android System Recovery screen appears, release the Volume Up and Home keys.
  • Press the Volume Down key to highlight ‘wipe cache partition.’
  • 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.

Problem #4: Apps on Galaxy S6 won’t load properly | Galaxy S6 calls keeps dropping

Hello. Admittedly I did drop my phone, but i looked it over immediately after and it was completely fine and worked fine too. About a month later l was walking around and my phone was in my pocket. When i took it out i noticed that the white sheet on the back was separating from the plastic back cover (which has since fallen off completely).

Since then I have noticed some of my apps taking longer than usual to load like Chrome and Uber partner. this lasted for maybe a couple weeks and now, since a couple days ago it has been having major issues. My phone will say it’s getting 4G and a few bars and the apps will start up but not load at all. Chrome says I’m offline, Uber just loads and loads, Facebook will just be blank.

A few bars has always been more than enough, plus I live in LA where there is service everywhere. It will work fast and fine on Wi-Fi and even if I have completely full bars, but nothing less. It will also drop calls, I have to make calls on wifi. If it helps, the battery does get very hot and it seems not to hold a charge as well.

I have talked to T-Mobile and they said everything looks fine, but I had full bars there so couldn’t demonstrate. I tried a factory reset, I read the articles on this site and have wiped the cache and started it in safe mode as well. None of these have resolved the issue. Please help if you can. Thank you. — Elisha

Solution: Hi Elisha. There’s only so much a user like you can do on his or her end to fix a smartphone problem. If our suggestions did not help in any way, there must be something else that’s beyond a software solution to fix. Wiping the cache partition and doing a factory reset are more than enough to usually fix software issues. Because nothing changed after doing them, you can safely assume that hardware must be to blame. Phone replacement should be the only resolution left for you.

Problem #5: Galaxy S6 GPS not working properly

I have a Galaxy S6. I’m experiencing difficulties with the GPS not being able to find a signal.  I have downloaded the apps GPS Status, Active GPS, and GpsFix, all to relatively no avail.

I do not have the Yahoo Weather app installed, which I know has been known to cause an issue.  I even tried disabling Unified Daemon(EUR) to see if that would help.

Eventually, I tried uninstalling the updates for the Maps app. This actually did have success as the GPS Status app told me I was able to connect to 10-12 of the 28 satellites. But, once I went inside and back outside, it has not been able to connect again. It cannot find any satellites.

I tried the method I had read on this website about clearing the cache on the whole phone. That did not work.  I’m so confused as to what my next step should be to get my GPS to work! Thanks for any advice! — Mitchell

Solution: Hi Mitchell. Like any other issues for the Galaxy S6, your GPS problem can either be caused by a software glitch or a hardware malfunction. The general rule in fixing your issue therefore does not change. If you’ve already tried all the software troubleshooting like wiping the system cache or factory reset did not work, the next thing that you want to do is to have the phone replaced.

Like any component in smartphones, the GPS sensor may come with or without an issue after unboxing your device. As far as software tweaks are concerned, you are limited to changing the GPS sensor accuracy level such as selecting High accuracy as your Locating method under Settings>Privacy and safety>Location>Locating method.

Making sure that Location Services are properly configured under Settings>Privacy and safety>Location>Google Location Reporting may or may not help.

Sometimes, refreshing a device’s GPS data does the trick. You can do this with the help of a third party app from Google Play Store. Simply install  GPS Status & Toolbox and start deleting the GPS data.

In some cases, calibrating another sensor, the compass, has helped improved GPS accuracy. Both the compass and GPS aids a user in giving accurate location and bearing so making sure that the compass is working properly is a must. The easiest way to calibrate an Android’s compass is through an app. Try to use apps like GPS Essentials to do the job.

Again, if you’ve already tried all the tips above, you can bet the GPS sensor problem is hardware related.

 


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