How to fix Nova Launcher that keeps crashing on Samsung Galaxy A5 (easy steps)

Nova Launcher is one of my favorite launchers out there and I’m using it on my phones. I’ve encountered a couple of minor issues with it but they were really not a bother since a reboot have fixed them immediately. Some of our readers that own the Samsung Galaxy A5, however, reported that the app keeps crashing on their phones. While it’s possible that the problem is with the app itself, it’s also possible that the crashes are just a sign of a more serious issue with the firmware. So, we have to address this problem for the benefit of our readers who contacted us asking for assistance.

In this post, I will walk you through in troubleshooting your Galaxy A5 with Nova Launcher that keeps crashing. There are two common symptoms of an app crash. The first is when you get the error that, in this case, says “Unfortunately, Nova Launcher has stopped.” The second is when your freezes for a few seconds when you hit the home button. It happens like this because Nova Launcher is used when you press the Home button and believe me, such issue is very annoying. So, if you’re one of our readers who contacted us or if you’re experiencing similar problem, continue reading as this article may be able to help you one way or another.

Before going further, if you found this post because you were trying to find a solution to your problem, then try to visit our troubleshooting page as we’ve already addressed most of the commonly reported issues with the phone. We’ve already provided solutions to some of the problems reported by our readers so try to find issues that are similar with yours and use the solutions we suggested. If they don’t work for you and if you need further assistance, fill up our Android issues questionnaire and hit submit.

How to troubleshoot your Galaxy A5 with Nova Launcher that keeps crashing

This is just a minor problem and the following procedures may be able to help you fix it. You may not have to do all of them so find out which one works for you…

Reboot your Galaxy A5 – app crashes are sometimes due to some minor glitches in the system and that’s the reason why you need to restart your phone first to address this problem. It might be the only thing you need to do to make Nova Launcher work perfectly again that is if you haven’t done it already. After the reboot and the problem continues, try doing the forced restart by pressing and holding the volume down button and the power key together for 10 seconds or more. This will refresh your phone’s memory and may fix the problem. However, if the issue continues, move on to the next procedure.

Clear cache and data of Nova Launcher – if this is just an issue with the application, then clearing the cache and data will get rid of the problem as it will reset it back to its default settings and configuration. You may lose your home screen customizations and app settings but that would be all worth it if the problem is fixed and you can continue using the app without any issues. You will need to go into the Settings menu and Application manager to be able to do this. But after clearing the cache and data and the problem continues, move on to the next procedure.

Uninstall Nova Launcher and reinstall it – another possibility we have to rule out is the chance that this could be just a compatibility issue between the app and the firmware but instead of just updating Nova Launcher, it would be better to uninstall it to clear all its associations with other apps and the firmware. After which, download and reinstall the app to make sure you have the latest version of Nova Launcher running on your phone. This is often the end of problems like this but if it so happens that the issue continues to bother you after this, then try doing the next procedure.

Wipe cache partition if the problem started after an update – it’s possible that this is just one of the results of corrupt system caches which often occur when the firmware is updated. To rule out such possibility, run your device in recovery mode and wipe cache partition so that all system caches will be deleted and replaced with new ones.

Backup your important files and reset your phone – a reset is more than enough to fix app-related problems but if you have to do it, then make sure you backup your files and data especially ones that are stored in your phone’s internal storage as they will be deleted during the reset process. I suggest you reset your phone through recovery mode as it’s more thorough than the reset through the Settings menu. Refer to the procedures below to reset your device.

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The following procedures are ones I mentioned in the troubleshooting guide above…

How to clear cache and data of Nova Launcher

  1. From a Home screen, touch and swipe up or down to display all apps.
  2. From a Home screen, navigate: Settings > Apps.
  3. Tap App Manager.
  4. Locate then tap Nova Launcher.
  5. Tap Storage.
  6. Tap CLEAR CACHE.
  7. Tap Cached data.
  8. Tap CLEAR.

How to uninstall Nova Launcher and reinstall it

  1. From a Home screen, touch and swipe up or down to display all apps.
  2. From a Home screen, navigate: Settings > Apps.
  3. Tap App Manager.
  4. Locate then tap Nova Launcher.
  5. Tap UNINSTALL.
  6. Review the notification then tap OK to confirm.
  7. Reboot your phone to refresh it’s memory and other connections.
  8. From a Home screen, touch and swipe up or down to display all apps.
  9. Tap Play Store.
  10. Type ‘nova launcher’ in the search box.
  11. Select Nova Launcher then tap Install.
  12. To continue, review the required app permissions then tap Accept.

How to wipe cache partition on your Galaxy A5

  1. Turn off the device.
  2. Press and hold the Volume Up key and the Bixby key, then press and hold the Power key.
  3. When the Android logo displays, release all three keys.
  4. An ‘Installing system update’ message will show for 30 – 60 seconds before the Android system recovery menu options appear.
  5. Press the Volume down key several times to highlight wipe cache partition.
  6. Press Power key to select.
  7. Press the Volume down key to highlight yes, them and press the Power key to select.
  8. When the wipe cache partition is complete, Reboot system now is highlighted.
  9. Press the Power key to restart the device.

How to perform the Master Reset on your Galaxy A5

  1. Turn off the device.
  2. Press and hold the Volume Up key and the Bixby key, then press and hold the Power key.
  3. When the green Android logo displays, release all keys (‘Installing system update’ will show for about 30 – 60 seconds before showing the Android system recovery menu options).
  4. Press the Volume down key several times to highlight ‘wipe data / factory reset’.
  5. Press Power button to select.
  6. Press the Volume down key until ‘Yes — delete all user data’ is highlighted.
  7. Press Power button to select and start the master reset.
  8. When the master reset is complete, ‘Reboot system now’ is highlighted.
  9. Press the Power key to restart the device.

I hope that this guide can help you one way or another. If you have other concerns you want to share with us, feel free to contact us anytime or leave a comment below.

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