Galaxy S8 shows black screen when lock screen is unlocked

It’s not everyday that we receive real problems about a Galaxy device lock screen. Today’s troubleshooting article addresses a particular #GalaxyS8 lock screen issue where the screen turns black instead of showing the main Home screen.

Today’s problem: Galaxy S8 shows black screen when transitioning from lock screen turns to Home screen

My phone will display the lock screen perfectly fine (the time and date and notifications), but when I try to open it to the main screen(I have no lock on the phone) the display is black. However I can hear the buttons on the side working and can hear that I’m randomly selecting apps while taping on the screen. I tried doing a normal reboot of the phone and when that is done the main screen is what it opens to and it works fine, unless it locks again due to inactivity or if I hit the lock button. When the black screen is occurring, if I take a screen shot once the phone is rebooted I can view the screenshot in my Gallery and it is of whatever random app I had pressed, with a normal screen (not just black like what is being displayed). Basically as long as I won’t let the phone go to the lock screen I’m fine but that’s causing me to be extremely attentive to the phone. It seems to be an issue transitioning from the lock screen to the app screen. I’ve considered doing a factory reset but don’t want to go to those measures if there’s no chance it’ll help. Anything you can offer me at this point will be appreciated greatly, thanks. — Shelbyrenee1696

Solution: Hi Shelbyrenee1696. We haven’t heard of this issue before and a scan of popular third party Android forums and sites don’t mention it as well so it may just be an isolated case. There may be some unique variables in your S8 Plus that causes Android to not work properly when switching from the lock screen to the Home screen. As far as possible coding issue is concerned, we don’t think an issue such as this will go unnoticed this long. Coding problems tend to affect huge numbers of users at once. Even if, say, it’s a coding issue with the current crop of firmware version running on your device, there should be others who’ll be reporting the same or similar situation somewhere. So far, we haven’t detected other sites talking about this issue so let’s treat it as a unique issue for your device.

How to fix your Galaxy S8 lock screen issue

An S8’s lock screen is a core feature that’s generally bug free. In our years of troubleshooting Samsung Galaxy devices, we rarely come across problems involving lock screen bugs. Samsung has done and Google has done a good job in ensuring that such an important feature is not troubled by whatever app you install or modifications to the software. Even custom ROMs don’t cause much problems when it comes to the lock screen so any of our solutions below should help you fix your issue.

Solution 1: Clear the system cache

All sorts of problems can happen if your phone uses a corrupted system cache. To see if this lock screen problem is due to a bad system cache, make sure to wipe the cache partition. Here’s how:

Turn off the device.
Press and hold the Volume Up key and the Bixby key, then press and hold the Power key.
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).
Press the Volume down key to highlight wipe cache partition.
Press the Power key to select.
Press the Volume down key to highlight “yes” and 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.

Solution 2: Verify if third party app is to blame

Android is a complex software environment so its interactions with apps can also lead to potentially countless problems. To check if an app you downloaded is interfering with how lock screen works, you can restart your phone to safe mode. While in safe mode, third party apps won’t run so if your lock screen works seamlessly, that’s a clear indication that an app is the reason for the trouble.

To run your S8 to safe mode, follow these steps:

Turn the device off.
Press and hold the Power key past the model name screen.
When “SAMSUNG” appears on the screen, release the Power key.
Immediately after releasing the Power key, press and hold the Volume down key.
Continue to hold the Volume down key until the device finishes restarting.
Safe mode will display in the bottom left corner of the screen.
Release the Volume down key when you see Safe Mode.
Uninstall apps that are causing a problem.

Solution 3: Install updates

Though we don’t think it’s a coding issue, this issue may be directly or indirectly comes from an Android bug or a poorly-coded app. To minimize the chance of bugs in your system, you want to always ensure that your apps and software are up-to-date. We suggest that you manually check if there’s any pending Android update under Settings, or to check Play Store app for app updates. If you are the adventurous type who allows apps from outside the Play Store, make sure that those apps are not buggy.

Solution 4: Check for possible malware

Malware, or malicious software, can sometimes cause core features to behave erratically. If you suspect that your phone may be infected by an Android virus or malware, try to install a legitimate antivirus to scan your device.

Solution 5: Factory reset

Obviously, this is your final option in this case. We know for a fact that lock screen behavior of a new S8 does not work like what it’s doing in your device right now. Doing a factory reset is an inevitable option that you’ll have to use if all the solutions above won’t work at all. Be sure to create a backup of your important files first before you do it.