How to fix Samsung Galaxy S5 “Unfortunately, the process android.process.acore has stopped” error

One of our readers asked me what the sign is when the Android system crashes. I said there are a lot of signs the phone will show when the system crashes but there’s one error message that when it pops up, it automatically means Android stopped working–“Unfortunately, the process android.process.acore has stopped.”

This error message is very annoying because it keeps popping up every 5 seconds or so and you really cannot do anything with your phone as it is associated with freezes, lags and reboots. There are also instances where other apps and services crash as soon as Android system becomes functional after crashing. One error that often comes out after you dismissed the error I mentioned above is “Unfortunately, Settings has stopped.”

I will show you one email message from our reader that exactly describes this problem:

Hi, just wanted to add that I got back to the screen that displays the 2 messages to me and they are “Unfortunately, the process android.process.acore has stopped” and “Unfortunately Nfc Service has stopped” and they will not leave the screen, they just pop up one after another right after I close them. The only way to get out of this screen is to pull out my battery. — Nicole

As you can see, she mentioned two error messages she encountered with her Galaxy S5. But that’s actually not the worst situation. I encountered an issue before wherein the moment the phone reaches the Home screen error messages keep popping up one after another as if apps were queued to crash. It makes sense, though, because the platform the apps are running on is unstable and if Android stops, all that depends on it stop as well.

While this error message seems to appear like any other errors, it’s actually more serious than anything else. We already tackled a lot of error messages so if you are currently bugged by a different error, try to go through the list of errors I included below.

1. “Unfortunately, Contacts has stopped.”
2. “Unfortunately, Touchwiz Home has stopped.”
3. “Unfortunately, Internet has stopped.”
4. “Unfortunately, Facebook has stopped.”

Now, let’s go back to our troubleshooting.

This problem may be caused by unfinished or interrupted update, corrupt firmware, incorrect rooting method, corrupt data, conflicts in Settings, and the list goes on and on. So, the resolution depends on how observant the user is. Knowing what caused it is the key to its resolution.

If this problem happened to you after you updated your phone and the process was successful, then wiping the cache partition may fix it.

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.

In case the error showed up after you installed some apps or changed some settings, then all you got to do is reset app preferences. It fixes the problem most of the time.

1. From the Home screen, tap the Menu key.
2. Touch Settings.
3. Tap Applications, then Application manager.
4. In the All tab, touch the More options icon or hold the Recent apps key.
5. Touch Reset app preferences.
6. Tap Reset apps to continue.
7. Now, reboot your phone

However, if all else fails, the ultimate solution to this problem is full hard reset. I’m not sure if you can still backup your data. If you can, then do it, otherwise, just follow these steps below and you’ll be fine. But take note all your data will be deleted…

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 several times key to highlight ‘wipe data / factory reset.’
6. Press Power button to select.
7. Press the Volume down key until ‘Yes — delete all user data’ is highlighted.
8. Press Power button to select and start the master reset.
9. When the master reset is complete, ‘Reboot system now’ is highlighted.
10. Press the Power key to restart the device.

Here are more emails from our readers who are also experiencing this problem:

I am using Samsung Galaxy S5. I have been using this phone 9 months now. unfortunately on 7/04/2015 the phone started to misbehave. whenever I make a call or if someone is calling me the screen displays “unfortunately, the process.com.android.phone has stopped.” The call stops there I can’t make or receive a call am only relying on SMS and whatsapp calls. All the other applications are OK & intact. so how to fix that problem?

Here’s another one…

I just did the 5.0 lollipop update about a week ago and I’m so unhappy with it. First issue, Anything I do on the phone, an error message pops up that says-acore has stopped????. Second, the phone lags really bad which it never did before. Third, before the update, when I would search the web (chrome), I could just click on the chrome app and it would show all of my resent searches, it will not now. And finally, Some apps say connection lost when I have 4g. Thank you. — Sheena

And another…

Hi there, I have just seen your forum whilst looking for help with my phone and thought you may be able to help. I updated my Samsung Galaxy S5 this morning to the Lollipop 5.0, and now I am constantly getting a notification saying ‘Unfortunately, the process com.android.phone has stopped’ every time I touch my phone. Every time this notification pops up it turns off the internet or anything else making it impossible to use my phone.

I am desperate to sort it out ASAP as I do need my phone to make calls and contact people throughout the day as part of my work. Kindest Regards, Kelly.

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