Why does Messenger keeps crashing on my Samsung Galaxy S8? Here’s how you fix it…

Only Facebook comes pre-installed on your Samsung Galaxy S8. It’s Messenger, you really have to download and install it to be able to read and write private messages. But the thing is these apps are deeply integrated that if one crashes, the other might certainly be affected and crash as well.

We’ve already addressed the issue wherein Facebook keeps crashing on Galaxy S8, so in this post I will address almost similar problem but this time it’s the Messenger. We have actually received quite a lot of complaints from our readers suggesting this app also crashes as much as Facebook that’s why we need to write a separate post for it.

Based on our experience, the most common causes of app crashes are the following:

The app that crashes may need to be updated
Its cache and/or data may have been corrupted and needs to be deleted
Other apps may have crashed and affected the app in question
Your phone might have some issues with its firmware

With these things in mind, we try to troubleshoot your Galaxy S8 with its Messenger app crashing but we’ll do it in a safe way–safe for both your phone, your files and data.

But before anything else, if you’re currently experiencing different issues with your phone, then I suggest you visit our Samsung Galaxy S8 troubleshooting page for we’ve already started providing support to our readers who own this device. We understand your phone is still brand new and it should work perfectly without a hitch but not even Samsung can guarantee there won’t be any problems. What we do here is provide help to our readers the best we can so if we haven’t published posts about your concern, feel free to contact us by filling up our Android issues questionnaire.

Troubleshooting Galaxy S8 with Messenger app that keeps crashing

When an app crashes, two things might happen; either it closes without any warning or shows you an error, in this case, it would be “Unfortunately, Messenger has stopped” and you’ll have only two options to temporarily get rid of that small window on your screen, either you hit OK or REPORT but none of them actually fixes the problem.

But don’t worry as problems caused by third-party apps are easy to fix this is no exception. So, continue reading below to know what steps to take in order to fix this error:

Step 1: Update the Messenger if possible

We have seen similar cases before that were caused by a compatibility issue. For instance, your phone has recently updated its firmware and shortly after that, this error shows up, then there’s a chance that the version of Messenger is no longer compatible with the new firmware. But the good thing about apps developed by big companies like Facebook is that they are always up-to-date. The moment a new firmware is rolled out, developers would also roll out a new update for their apps to patch the issue. You might get notified of a new update and you might not so it’s better that the initiative to know if there’s an available update would come from you. With that said, here’s how you find out if there’s an update for Messenger:

From the Home screen, swipe up on an empty spot to open the Apps tray.
Tap Play Store.
Tap the Menu key and then tap My Apps. To keep your apps automatically updated, tap the Menu > Settings then tap Auto-update apps to select the check box.
Find and tap Messenger and then tap Update. If the Update button is greyed out, it means there’s no update available for the app.

After doing this, try to find out if there’s also an update for the Facebook app itself and update it if possible. These apps are deeply connected to each other and one may cause the other to crash.

Step 2: Clear cache and data of Messenger

Regardless whether you updated the app or not, if the error still pops up every time you use it, then you should try clearing its cache and data to reset it. You won’t lose anything if do so because the app works as a client and your messages are actually stored in Facebook servers under your account. So basically, this procedure is safe:

From the Home screen, swipe up on an empty spot to open the Apps tray.
Tap Settings > Apps.
Find and tap Messenger.
Tap Storage.
Tap Clear cache.
Tap Clear data and then tap OK.

If this is an app-level problem, then this step might be the only thing you have to do. However, if the problem persists, then move on to the next step.

Step 3: Restart your phone in Safe mode

First off, restarting your phone in safe Safe Mode won’t fix the problem but will give you a clearer perspective on what really is going on with your phone. This will isolate the problem immediately as all third-party apps are temporarily disabled. So, if the problem is caused by one or some of the apps you downloaded and installed, the error may not show up while your S8 is in this environment. Now, here’s how you boot your phone in safe mode:

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.

After you’ve successfully booted your phone up in this mode, try to use Messenger to know if the error would still greet you and if so, then move on to the next step otherwise, find out which app is triggering it and then uninstall it:

From the Home screen, swipe up on an empty spot to open the Apps tray.
Tap Settings > Apps.
Tap the desired application in the default list or tap 3 dots icon > Show system apps to display pre-installed apps.
Tap the desired application.
Tap Uninstall.
Tap Uninstall again to confirm.

Step 4: Uninstall Messenger and then re-install it

Assuming the problem still occurs while your phone is in safe mode, then you should try to uninstall the Messenger app and then re-install it. This is how you uninstall it:

From the Home screen, swipe up on an empty spot to open the Apps tray.
Tap Settings > Apps.
Find and tap Messenger.
Tap the desired application.
Tap Uninstall.
Tap Uninstall again to confirm.

And this is how you download and re-install Messenger:

From the Home screen, navigate: Apps > Play Store.
Tap the Google Play search bar (at the top) then enter Messenger and select it from the list.
Now tap Install.
To continue, review the required app permissions then tap Accept.

After uninstalling and reinstalling Messenger and the error still pops up, you have no other choice but to reset your phone.

Step 5: Backup your files and data and then reset your Galaxy S8

As I said earlier, the error “Unfortunately, Messenger has stopped” is a minor problem and very easy to fix but if it continues to haunt you after doing all the steps above, then you must resort to a reset. This will certainly fix the problem but then you will have to go through the hassle of backing up your important files and data as they will be deleted.

After the backup, follow these steps to disable the Factory Reset Protection so that you won’t be locked out of your device:

From the Home screen, swipe up on an empty spot to open the Apps tray.
Tap Settings > Cloud and accounts.
Tap Accounts.
Tap Google.
Tap on your Google ID email address if multiple accounts are setup. If you have multiple accounts setup, you will need to repeat these steps for each account.
Tap 3 dot icon.
Tap Remove account.
Tap REMOVE ACCOUNT.

Then, follow these steps to reset your phone:

Turn off the device.
Press and hold the Volume Up key and the Bixby key, then press and hold the Power key.
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).
Press the Volume down key several times to highlight “wipe data / factory reset.
Press Power button to select.
Press the Volume down key until ‘Yes — delete all user data’ is highlighted.
Press Power button to select and start the master reset.
When the master reset is complete, “Reboot system now” is highlighted.
Press the Power key to restart the device.

I hope we’ve been able to help you fix the problem with your phone.

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