Hello guys! Welcome to another #GalaxyS7 article! As usual, we bring you more S7 issues by publishing the experiences of some of our readers when using their S7. We hope that this material will help not only the users mentioned here but also those who may be experiencing the same problem.

Below are the specific topics we cover for you:

Galaxy S7 won’t power back on
Accidentally dropped Galaxy S7 won’t boot back up
Galaxy S7 screen is unresponsive and flickering
Galaxy S7 apps stop responding | Galaxy S7 keeps vibrating in quick succession
Water-damaged Galaxy S7 won’t turn on
How to unlock Galaxy S7 edge when PIN fails
Photos taken by Galaxy S7 camera app do not show in Gallery

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 won’t power back on

Hi there. As of this afternoon, I’m having problems with my Samsung Galaxy S7. I’ve been using the Phone for a few months now, and I have to say it’s been quite a disappointment because of a variety of issues that have plagued me. The significant being that since the latest update my phone will do random restarts every 2 or 3 days. When it does, it seldom boots up successfully in one go. Usually it’ll freeze in the middle of loading the Samsung logo and then just reboot by itself starting all over again. After about 10 – 15 times it will boot up successfully and I’m able to use to phone without any issues. I have to say that even doing a factory reset has not solved this problem. While this is annoying, it’s not something I’m willing to bring my phone to a technician over, since that would be quite a hassle for me.

The real problem I’m facing is what happened today. This afternoon I was using my phone without any problems, and when I was done I pressed the button that locks the screen and put it on my desk. About 10 minutes later I wanted to check the time and the phone is just dead. No response to anything. I’ve tried troubleshooting it with help of this website, but I haven’t been able to get the phone to boot. It’s very cold, much colder than it usually is so I assume it’s turned off. The battery isn’t the problem because it was freshly charged, 90%+ when I was using it. Connecting it to the charger also doesn’t do anything. No screen, no LEDs, nothing at all. Neither does connecting it to my PC. The phone also stays cold, while usually when it charges it warms up quite a bit. I’ve tried the Power + Volume Down button, Volume Up + Power + Home button, All buttons at once, all to no avail. I also probably have to note that a few days ago my phone fell for the first time, on a tile bathroom floor, cracking the backside glass but it seemed to function fine until today. Is there anything else I can do or should I just go to a technician? Thanks in advance. — Tony

Solution: Hi Tony. The only thing that you can do in this situation is try to restart the phone to other modes by doing the steps below. If the phone remains unresponsive and continue to fail to boot in any way, your only option is to send it in. there may be a hardware problem that causes the phone to fail to start normally, or to accept a charge.

And just to be sure, try to use another USB cable and charger to see if that will change anything. You can also check the charging port for any debris or lint that may prevent good contact with the charger. There may be a damaged pin in the charging port as well so if you can, try to do a closer inspection of the port.

For the benefit of other readers, here are the steps on how to boot your phone to other modes:

Boot in Recovery mode:

Charge the phone for at least 30 minutes.
Press and then hold the Home and Volume UP keys, then press and hold the Power key.
When the Samsung Galaxy S7 shows on the screen, release the Power key but continue holding the Home and Volume Up keys.
When the Android logo shows, you may release both keys and leave the phone be for about 30 to 60 seconds.
Using the Volume Down key, navigate through the options and highlight ‘wipe cache partition.’
You can either wipe the cache partition or do a factory reset when in this mode.

Boot in Download Mode:

Charge the phone for at least 30 minutes.
Press and then hold the Home and Volume DOWN keys, then press and hold the Power key.
When the Samsung Galaxy S7 shows on the screen, release the Power key but continue holding the Home and Volume DOWN keys.
Wait until the Download screen appears.
If you can boot the phone in download mode but not in other modes, that means that your only way out may be to flash a stock or custom firmware.
Use Google to look for a guide on how to do it.

Boot in safe mode:

Charge the phone for at least 30 minutes.
Press and hold the Power button.
Once the ‘Samsung Galaxy S7’ logo appears, release the Power key and immediately press and hold the Volume Down button.
Continue holding the button until the phone finishes rebooting.
Once you see the text “Safe mode” at the bottom left corner of the screen, release the Volume Down button.
The only difference of safe mode from normal mode is that the former prevents third party apps from running. If you can boot the phone in safe mode but not in normal mode, uninstall all apps until the issue (that prevents you from booting normally) is eliminated.

Problem #2: Accidentally dropped Galaxy S7 won’t boot back up

My S7 edge turned crashed and then auto-restarted. Then it got stuck on the Samsung logo for a while after which it completely shut down out of the blue. Now it’s refusing to turn on no matter what i do. I’ve tried all the combinations mentioned in the posts but it just won’t turn on in any mode. I’m originally from India and here in USA for 2 weeks. I just wanted to check if there’s any other troubleshooting I can do on my own before I go searching for a nearby Samsung service center. — Mayur

Solution: Hi Mayur. As mentioned above, if you can’t get the phone going after attempting to boot it to alternate modes, you need to ask assistance from a professional. The accidental drop must have damaged a component/s in the logic board or affected the battery so a thorough hardware check is necessary. If the problem started right after the phone was dropped, that’s an obvious indication that there’s now a hardware problem.

Even when enclosed in a “shockproof” case, an accidental drop can still cause severe damage to an electronic device like an S7 because most internal components are made of fragile materials can only absorb so much shock.

We highly recommend that you send it to a Samsung service center but if that’s not possible, you can always try the services of an independent service center as well.

Problem #3: Galaxy S7 screen is unresponsive and flickering

I have Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge purchased this year. It has flickering only at the bottom 1/3 of screen so nothing can be read in that area. I have tried the resets and rebooting, however, I’m unable to complete. The touchscreen is not responsive most of the time. This just started happening about 4 days ago.

Also on the reboot, when the little Android man appears, he falls down with an exclamation point in a yellow triangle. — Croberts

Solution: Hi Croberts. Flickering and unresponsive screen are two of the common symptoms of a malfunctioning screen assembly. If you damaged the phone before either by exposing it to liquid or water or by dropping it, stop looking for solutions unless you are capable of fixing phone hardware problems (but we bet you’ll not contact us if you are). There’s no software tweak that you can do to fix hardware problems. Stop wasting your time and bring the phone directly to Samsung so it can be checked and repaired.

However, if your phone was never dropped nor exposed to water before noticing the problem, try doing a factory reset to see if there’s a difference. If nothing changes after resetting the phone, send it to a repair center.

Here’s how to factory reset your S7:

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

NOTE: Factory reset will delete all user data so make sure to back up your important files before doing it.

Problem #4: Galaxy S7 apps stop responding | Galaxy S7 keeps vibrating in quick succession

Hey guys. Firstly, I left my Galaxy S7 on charge overnight and it was working perfectly. When I woke up most of my apps stopped working. I got loads of pop ups saying; ‘Facebook is not responding,’ Twitter is not responding’ and so on. I tried to restart my phone and after I typed in my password for verification it is now stuck on a screen with an unlocked padlock with two half circles rotating around it.

It also vibrates on and then twice in quick succession every 4 seconds or so. Please let me know if you can help I’ve only had this phone for a week.

Also I selected Marshmallow on the Android Version but I’m not completely sure. Thanks for your time! — Zach

Solution: Hi Zach. Although smartphones are designed to automatically shut off charging functionality once the battery is fully charged, leaving a phone connected to a charger long after full charging has been attained may result to problems. We’ve encountered sporadic cases of phones failing to boot up after leaving connected to a charger overnight. For some reason, some smartphones can encounter problems when constantly left connected to a power outlet for long durations. Unfortunately, there’s not enough data that’s been collected to see a pattern to identify the cause of the problems in these cases. Our suggestion is to do your best to unplug the device from a power outlet when charging is done to avoid problems. We suspect that fluctuations in voltage is the culprit but other factors such as overheating or faulty chargers can be just as destructive. Investigating the cause in this case is beyond the scope of this article so let’s discuss some concrete solutions that you can try instead.

The first thing that you want to do is see if the problem is being caused by a bad system cache. To do that, you want to clear the cache partition. Here’s how:

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

Because you’re having problems with multiple apps at once, it’s very unlikely that the issue is on an app’s level. It must be something higher than that. It can also be due to some third party app so you also want to observe how the phone would work if it’s booted to safe mode. Safe mode blocks third party apps and services so if the errors won’t show and the phone will work normally, a third party app must be to blame. To boot your phone to safe mode, follow these steps:

Turn your Galaxy S7 off.
Press and hold the Power button.
Once the ‘Samsung Galaxy S7’ logo appears, release the Power key and immediately press and hold the Volume Down button.
Continue holding the button until the phone finishes rebooting.
Once you see the text “Safe mode” at the bottom left corner of the screen, release the Volume Down button.
Observe the phone for a few hours to see a difference.

If nothing will change when your phone is booted to safe mode, you should consider doing a factory reset to check if there’s a software-level glitch causing the problem.

The vibration issue may or may not be due to hardware malfunction so if factory reset won’t eliminate it, contact Samsung or the store and have the phone replaced.

Problem #5: Water-damaged Galaxy S7 won’t turn on

Phone fell in water and was completely submerged in 6-8 inches of water for about 15 seconds. I was not there when the phone fell in. I do not know what the person did with the phone after getting it out of the water. I was given the phone shortly after and I stood it up on end (charge port down) on a towel. It appeared to be dry and has been about 6 days. I could not discern any water coming from the phone after I got it. It will not power on. Plugging the charger in today = nothing. Wireless charger indicates charging. I have not attempted to disassemble the phone other than to remove the SIM card. Unfortunately I was unable to do the rice or 99% isopropyl alcohol things and decided I would like as much a chance as possible to recover my phone from certain doom. Look forward to hearing from you, thank you for your time and consideration. — Daniel

Solution: Hi Daniel. Although the Galaxy S7 is a water-resistant device, the protection may fail and allow some moisture to enter exposed areas. We’ve seen this happen a few times before, with the speaker the mostly affected component. We’ve heard of some S7s suffering from total boot failure after it was dropped in water or to high pressure liquid source like a faucet. Whatever the circumstances surrounding your case, the most pressing thing that you want to do now is to ensure that you have the hardware checked so it can be assessed if the phone has been permanently damaged or not. Because the Galaxy S7 is more difficult to disassemble compared to its predecessors, we recommend that you let a professional do the job for you.

Problem #6: How to unlock Galaxy S7 edge when PIN fails

Hey. I have a Galaxy S7 edge which belonged to my sister who recently passed away. We think there is some vital information on the phone due to the circumstances around her death.

We can’t get into her phone because of the PIN number lock. We have tried too many times now and every attempt locks you out for 1 hour. Hope there is some way you can advise or help us.

Many thanks. — One stop

Solution: Hi One stop. The only way to unlock a Samsung Galaxy S7’s screen is to enter the correct PIN, pattern, password, or registered fingerprint. Even Samsung can’t help you unlock a phone if you forget your own screen unlock code.

If the previous owner enabled Smart Lock feature on the phone, you may be able to unlock by doing the necessary Smart Lock actions. Smart Lock options include:

On-body detection
Trusted places
Trusted devices
Trusted voice

On-body detection keeps the phone unlocked if it detects that you’re carrying or holding it. It requires that you unlock it once though so this is definitely not enabled.

Trusted places prevents the device from locking itself up if it detects that it is a place previously registered such as the home of the original owner. This feature must be set up first in order to work. Try bringing the phone to the owner’s house, office, or favorite place to see if it works.

Lastly, Trusted voice feature, as its name suggests, only works if the phone hears the voice command set by the original owner.

If you think there may be something important on the phone that can help you shed light on the original owner’s death, we recommend that seek help from your government. Law enforcement agencies can use special software to help you unlock the phone after the legality of doing so will be established.

Problem #7: Photos taken by Galaxy S7 camera app do not show in Gallery

This been happening a lot and I can’t seem to find the cause. When i take a picture it’ll show in the little window my picture but when i go to the gallery to get a full view of the picture it’s not there. So, I’ll go back to my camera and still see it in the little window and try to open to view the picture but it won’t show it to me. It’ll just show the picture previous to that one. This is been happening quite frequently. I don’t take a lot of pictures but this seems to happen every other other picture. Any help would be greatly appreciated. — A.J.

Solution: Hi A.J. We don’t think we fully understood what you’re saying here but if you have a problem with the camera app, consider resetting its settings to return them to default. If that won’t work, delete the app’s cache and data by doing the steps below:

Open the Settings menu either through your notification shade (drop-down) or through the Settings app in your app drawer.
Navigate down to “Apps”. This may be renamed to something like Applications or Application Manager in OEM skinned versions of Android 6.0.
Once in there, click on an application.
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.
You should now clearly see the Clear Data and Clear Cache buttons for the application.

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Photos taken by Galaxy S7 camera app do not show in Gallery, other issues