Galaxy S7 don’t receive group responses after sending a group message, other issues

Welcome to our #GalaxyS7 post for today. As usual, we bring you more S7 and S7 edge issues submitted to us by some members of our Android community for the last few days.

Here are the specific topics we cover for you:

  1. Galaxy S7 screen remains black and won’t turn on
  2. IMAP account can’t send emails using Galaxy S7 native email app
  3. Galaxy S7 keeps saying there’s an unread SMS even when there’s none
  4. Galaxy S7 multiple problems
  5. Galaxy S7 randomly receives SMS in multiple parts
  6. Galaxy S7 messaging app can’t download a music track
  7. Galaxy S7 don’t receive group responses after sending a group message
  8. Photos stored in Galaxy S7 SD card looks distorted

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 S7 screen remains black and won’t turn on

Hello. My cellphone’s screen was detaching a little bit from the upper left corner. Last week I was at the beach, standing on a coral reef, when all of the sudden a huge wave came out of nowhere and crashed on the rocks and got me wet. My cellphone was inside my pocket. I am guessing that water got into the cellphone through the screen. At first, the screen did not turn on. I was still getting all the notifications but I was not able to see them. A few days after, whenever someone called, the screen would turn on, because of the vibrations I think, but only half of the screen and for a few seconds. Can I fix this at home or should I have it fixed by someone who knows about this? Thanks in advance. — Angel

Solution: Hi Angel. You clearly have a hardware problem so unless you have the expertise and right tools to perform a do-it-yourself repair, we strongly suggest that you send the phone in. contact Samsung first and see if you can let them fix the phone for you. Keep in mind that they may declare the warranty void if the phone shows signs of misuse such as broken screen, scratches, or other obvious physical damage. This means that the repair will not be free and you will probably be paying over $200 for it. The exact charge varies, depending on the damage.

If there’s no nearby Samsung service center in your area, consider bringing the phone to your local electronics shop.

Problem #2: IMAP account can’t send emails using Galaxy S7 native email app

The native email app refuses to send emails from my IMAP account. It receives them fine, but anytime I try to send, it just sits in my outbox and eventually say “sending failed.” The outgoing server settings check out when the phone tries to ping them, but that’s all I can do. Hope you can help, thanks in advance. — Andrew

Solution: Hi Andrew. The first thing that you want to do here is to check whether this is an account issue or not. To do that, you must log in to your email account in a web browser and replicate the problem. If the account continues to fail when sending an outgoing email, you should work with your email service provider for direct assistance.

If sending works in webmail, that’s the time that you want to proceed with app and device troubleshooting. The next best thing to do then is to ensure that it’s not an app bug problem. To do that, you want to clear the cache and data of the stock email 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.

Tapping the Clear Data button will revert the apps settings to their defaults, erasing your email account from it. Be ready to reconfigure your email after doing it.

Should the problem continue, consider using another email app to see if that will make a difference. There may be a firmware or app bug that persists. You can download a number of free email apps from Google Play Store so feel free to try as many as possible.

We don’t think you’ll need to do a factory reset but if nothing works, you should consider doing it as a drastic solution. Here’s how to do it:

  1. Turn off your Samsung Galaxy S7.
  2. Press and then hold the Home and Volume UP keys, then press and hold the Power key.
  3. When the Samsung Galaxy S7 shows on the screen, release the Power key but continue holding the Home and Volume Up keys.
  4. When the Android logo shows, you may release both keys and leave the phone be for about 30 to 60 seconds.
  5. Using the Volume Down key, navigate through the options and highlight ‘wipe data / factory reset.’
  6. Once highlighted, you may press the Power key to select it.
  7. Now highlight the option ‘Yes — delete all user data’ using the Volume Down key and press the Power button to select it.
  8. Wait until your phone is finished doing the Master Reset. Once completed, highlight ‘Reboot system now’ and press the Power key.
  9. The phone will now reboot longer than usual.

Problem #3: Galaxy S7 keeps saying there’s an unread SMS even when there’s none

I have a Samsung Galaxy S7. Yesterday my message icon kept displaying that I had an unread message when I didn’t. I touched the icon and held it down until the option came up to delete the number 1. Well today it no longer says I have an unread message, instead the icon doesn’t display the number of unread messages I have. I had 6 unread texts but the icon didn’t not display the number 6. What is going on and how do I fix it? I’ve went through all the settings and everything is on. Please help. — Kittysoftpaws1029

Solution: Hi Kittysoftpaws1029. To fix the problem, you should clear the cache and data of the messaging app. Steps on how to do this are provided above. If you have multiple messages you want to save, make sure to back them up first before clearing the app’s data. You can use Samsung Smart Switch for this task.

This problem can also be caused by a corrupted system cache so make sure to refresh it by wiping the cache partition. Here’s how:

  1. Turn off your Samsung Galaxy S7.
  2. Press and then hold the Home and Volume UP keys, then press and hold the Power key.
  3. When the Samsung Galaxy S7 shows on the screen, release the Power key but continue holding the Home and Volume Up keys.
  4. When the Android logo shows, you may release both keys and leave the phone be for about 30 to 60 seconds.
  5. Using the Volume Down key, navigate through the options and highlight ‘wipe cache partition.’
  6. Once highlighted, you may press the Power key to select it.
  7. Now highlight the option ‘Yes’ using the Volume Down key and press the Power button to select it.
  8. Wait until your phone is finished doing the Master Reset. Once completed, highlight ‘Reboot system now’ and press the Power key.
  9. The phone will now reboot longer than usual.

Problem #4: Galaxy S7 multiple problems

I have had nothing but problems with Samsung Galaxy S7. This will be my 2nd time with this stupid phone and I had nothing but problems with every Samsung I have had! Paying the amount of money we have paid for phones is ridiculous. Even the place that fixes (well actually he can never fix, he always sends back the stupid phones which means I have to keep on redoing everything)! Even the geek guy told us last time that Samsung knows they are bad and sells them badly. I will never ever buy Samsung ever again. But you will fix this one or give me back our money. It only fails on one phone but this is her second bad S7. Come on now! We also have a brand new Samsung huge TV that shuts off..so sick of this!        — Prs_iii

Solution: Hi Prs_iii. There’s no perfect electronic device as of yet so all of us experience problems with our gadgets one way or another. Some may encounter serious trouble while others not as bad. If you think you need to return your phone and get a refund, don’t talk to us as you’re barking at a wrong tree. You want to talk to either Samsung or the store where you got the phone from for that.

Also, we don’t work for Samsung or for any retailer so we cannot give you any refund. We publish solutions for Samsung Galaxy devices for free. Again, you’re barking at the wrong tree.

Finally, the most important thing that we want to remind you of is the fact that you did not even mention what is the specific problem you’re having. Next time you rant about your trouble in this blog, kindly include the specifics so we can help you properly.

If you have bad experiences with Samsung products, talk to them directly about them.

Problem #5: Galaxy S7 randomly receives SMS in multiple parts

I’ve had an issue since my phone updated to Android S7. I receive texts from Twitter and ones with links or emoji come through whole and then a few minutes later will come through in multiple parts. I can’t find anything anywhere about this issue and how to fix it. I don’t think it’s a Twitter problem, because I can force stop Messages, reboot, and it will work correctly for a while. The past few days, however, that time has grown much shorter. The reboot only lasts a day. — Vickie

Solution: Hi Vickie. If Force stopping the messaging app fixes the issue temporarily, something must be causing the issue to come back later on. This can be due to a unknown firmware glitch or an app bug. Try to observe the phone in safe mode and observe the phone for at least 24-48 hours. If a third party app is the culprit, the problem will not occur while the phone is in this mode. These are the steps you must take in order to boot the device to safe mode:

  1. Turn your Galaxy S7 off.
  2. Press and hold the Power button.
  3. Once the ‘Samsung Galaxy S7’ logo appears, release the Power key and immediately press and hold the Volume Down button.
  4. Continue holding the button until the phone finishes rebooting.
  5. Once you see the text “Safe mode” at the bottom left corner of the screen, release the Volume Down button.

If it’s the same problem while phone restarts to safe mode, try to do a master reset to fix a possible firmware issue. Here’s how:

  1. Create a backup of your important files such as photos, videos, etc.
  2. Turn off your Samsung Galaxy S7.
  3. Press and then hold the Home and Volume UP keys, then press and hold the Power key.
  4. When the Samsung Galaxy S7 shows on the screen, release the Power key but continue holding the Home and Volume Up keys.
  5. When the Android logo shows, you may release both keys and leave the phone be for about 30 to 60 seconds.
  6. Using the Volume Down key, navigate through the options and highlight ‘wipe data / factory reset.’
  7. Once highlighted, you may press the Power key to select it.
  8. Now highlight the option ‘Yes — delete all user data’ using the Volume Down key and press the Power button to select it.
  9. Wait until your phone is finished doing the Master Reset. Once completed, highlight ‘Reboot system now’ and press the Power key.
  10. The phone will now reboot longer than usual.

Should factory/master fail to fix the problem, make sure to let your carrier know of the problem so they can help you fix it.

Problem #6: Galaxy S7 messaging app can’t download a music track

In Messenger, when I click on my name and bring it up, I have a music track listed in my messages. When I click on the track it comes up and says download or cancel. So I tap on download, then a message pops up and says can’t open attachment. When it was first sent to me I played it for ppl and listened to it. Worked just fine. No issues. But now it doesn’t play. The above is exactly how it does now. This is a track I recorded myself. And really would like to get it fixed asap. Then I would like to know how to add it to my music on my phone. I’ve tried everything I know. Can you please help me asap? — Lisa

Solution: Hi Lisa. “Can’t open attachment” error is usually indicative of an app being incompatible with a certain file it’s trying to open. If the app you’re using can no longer open a music file it previously can, something may have caused it to change. There may be an update that changes how it interacts with some file format, or there’s an unknown bug behind it. To fix the problem, make sure to wipe the messaging app’s cache and data first. If that won’t fix it, do a factory reset. Any of these two should fix the trouble unless the music file you’re trying to download is really not compatible with the messaging app you’re using. In that case, make sure to convert the file and try to use commonly used audio file format such as mp3, wav, wma, mid, ogg, etc.

Exact steps on how to add music to your phone depends on the music app you’re using. Once you have successfully downloaded the music track off the messaging app, you can then open your music app and add the music file to your library. Again, the exact steps depends on the music app so try to do some research on how to do it.

Problem #7: Galaxy S7 don’t receive group responses after sending a group message

I can initiate a group text but responses (by me or from others) aren’t reflected as a group text. So if I respond to the response, my response is sent to the single person instead of the group. I have had this trouble for 3 months and no one seems to know how to fix it. I am using the factory loaded messaging app that came with the phone. I am using Cricket Wireless. — Laurie

Solution: Hi Laurie. Sending a group text from your phone does not mean your message will arrive to its destination in the same form. If the recipient’s phone is not compatible, like for example, an iPhone, your group text will broken down into simple SMS form and thus the response will therefore be in normal text mode. The same is true even for some Android phones, especially if the messaging app on the recipient’s phone does not support group messaging.

Another factor that can affect group messaging is carrier-support. If the recipient’s carrier does not recognize the standard being used by your carrier in sending group messaging, your message will be converted to simple SMS.

Lastly, you have to make sure that you’re doing it right when it comes to sending a group message. Here’s how it’s done in a Galaxy S7:

  1. From any Home screen, tap Messages.
  2. Tap the Compose icon.
  3. Tap the Contacts icon.
  4. Drop down and tap Groups.
  5. Tap the group you want to send the message to.
  6. Tap Select all or manually select recipients.
  7. Tap Done.
  8. Enter message text in the Group conversation box.
  9. When done, tap the Send icon.

Problem #8: Photos stored in Galaxy S7 SD card looks distorted

Hi. Currently on a big travel trip so would hugely appreciate your help! 🙂 I have inserted an SD card and am finding that when i view the images in Gallery, some are appearing distorted – like half the screen with one image on the right and two on the left one above another, all with the colour sort of neon… it doesn’t seem to be specific to any type of picture- just random. It’s affecting about 4 per 25 pictures. I think some may be going missing, too. Previously had a “warning: camera failed” notification, but after re setting it’s been working ok. Thanks for your help! Best wishes. —  Jo

Solution: Hi Jo. “Camera failed” error is a general indication of a possible camera malfunction but it doesn’t point to anything specific and the “distorted” photos may be the result of such malfunction. In some cases, camera failed error can mean that the hardware has failed while in others, just a random software glitch. To see if there’s any permanent camera-related issue on your device right now, consider wiping the phone clean by doing a factory reset. After that, observe how it works by taking as many pictures as possible to simulate the stress of regular camera usage. If your pictures will look normal, then you can assume that the camera may be back to normal working order.

Abnormal camera output like the one you describe on your photos can also be caused by bad or corrupted storage medium. If the photos saved on the phone’s internal storage device don’t have the problem but the ones in the SD card do, get a new SD card or reformat the old one.

And remember, an SD card or phone can fail at any time. Make sure to back irreplaceable files regularly to avoid heartaches.

 


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1 thought on “Galaxy S7 don’t receive group responses after sending a group message, other issues”

  1. When sending a text message to multiple recipients on Galaxy 7 and one of those recipients replies , it also is sent to other recipient. Is this right and can that feature be turned off.

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