Samsung Galaxy Note 4 Tutorials, How Tos, Guides, FAQs

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Samsung Galaxy Note 4 has been around for quite some time now and if you got one shortly after it was released, then you must have already known the tutorials I included in this post. There are only ten how to guides here and they are basic procedures from booting the phone in safe mode to factory reset and clearing of the caches and data.

We find it necessary to publish posts like this so that it would be easier for us to help you with your problem and quicker for you to follow in case we will advise you to do any of the stuffs included in this post. This is just the beginning and I assure you that in the following weeks, we will be publishing more tutorial articles for Galaxy Note 4 including how to root and flash custom ROMs.

To our readers who have a Samsung Galaxy Note 4 and are currently experiencing problems, we already started publishing our troubleshooter series for the device. You may also contact us via email at [email protected] and/or post your concerns on our Facebook wall or Google+ page.

Browse through and list of tutorials below and click on the link to jump to it:

  1. Boot Galaxy Note 4 in Safe Mode
  2. Wipe Cache Partition
  3. Perform Master Reset
  4. Perform Factory Reset
  5. Perform Soft Reset
  6. Clear App Cache
  7. Clear App Data
  8. Uninstall / Disable App
  9. Turn Off Developer Options
  10. Turn On/Off Emergency Alerts
  11. Format microSD Card

Boot Galaxy Note 4 in Safe Mode

Booting Galaxy Note 4 in safe mode will temporarily disable all third-party or download apps leaving pre-installed ones and core services running. This procedure can help you determine which of your apps is causing a problem.

  1. Turn off the phone completely.
  2. Press and hold the Power key and the Volume Down key.
  3. When the phone starts to boot, release the Power key but continue holding the Vol Down key until the phone finished restarting.
  4. Safe mode will be display at the lower left corner; you may release the Volume Down key now.

Wipe Cache Partition

The cache partition is a directory where Android save files used for apps to run smoother and faster. If you’ve noticed, apps usually load slower during the first time you run it since installation. But the next time you open it, it would be faster and even smoother. Of course, not everybody can notice that.

Wiping the cache partition is one way to get the phone out of Safe Mode or from being stuck on the logo during boot up. This procedure will all files stored in the cache partition, and how it’s done on the Note 4:

  1. Turn off the Galaxy Note 4 completely.
  2. Press and hold the Volume Up and the Home keys together, then press and hold the Power key.
  3. When the Note 4 vibrates, release both the Home and Power keys but continue holding the Volume Up key.
  4. When the Android System Recovery shows on the screen, release the Vol Up key.
  5. Using the Volume Down key, highlight the option ‘wipe cache partition’ and press the Power key to select it.
  6. When the wiping of the cache partition is finished, highlight ‘Reboot system now’ and hit the power key.

Perform Master Reset

Master reset is very useful when the phone can’t boot in normally or stuck somewhere during boot up. The user will need to boot in recovery mode to be able to wipe the phone’s data partition and reset all settings to factory defaults.

  1. Turn off the Galaxy Note 4 completely.
  2. Press and hold the Volume Up and the Home keys together, then press and hold the Power key.
  3. When the Note 4 vibrates, release both the Home and Power keys but continue holding the Volume Up key.
  4. When the Android System Recovery shows on the screen, release the Vol Up key.
  5. Using the Volume Down key, highlight ‘wipe data / factory reset’ and press the Power key to select it.
  6. Now highlight ‘Yes — delete all user data’ using the Vol Down key and press the Power key to begin the reset.
  7. When the master reset is complete, highlight ‘Reboot system now’ and hit the Power key.
  8. The Note 4 will restart but it will be longer than usual. When it reaches the Home screen, then begin your setup.

Perform Factory Reset

When it comes to resetting the phone to its default settings, this procedure is often used. What it does is reset all settings to defaults and delete all third-party and services. It is also very effective in fixing app- and firmware-related issues. Before following the steps below, make sure you’ve made a backup of you important data.

  1. From the Home screen, tap the Apps icon.
  2. Launch Settings and scroll to ‘User and Backup’ section.
  3. Tap Backup and reset.
  4. If you want, you can tick the checkboxes next to Automatic restore and Back up my data.
  5. Tap Factory data reset.
  6. Touch Reset device.
  7. You may be asked to enter your PIN or Password.
  8. Tap Continue and then Delete all.

Perform Soft Reset

A reboot is also soft reset but the procedure I cited below is a step further. The term “soft reset” could also mean “refreshing the device’s memory” and more often many would think it doesn’t do anything to fix the problem. Its effectiveness, however, depends on a given situation. That said, soft reset is effective when it comes to minor software and hardware glitches like the phone refuses to turn on, boot up or refuses to charge. Here’s how you do it:

  1. Either the phone is on or off, pull the battery out.
  2. Without the battery in the compartment, press and hold the Power key for 1 minute.
  3. Replace the battery and secure it with the back cover.
  4. Turn the phone on.

Clear App Cache

When a specific app malfunctions, there’s a possibility that its cache was corrupted for some reason. If not cleared and the phone continue to use it, the problem will never be fixed. Therefore, it is necessary to delete the app’s cache so that the system will be forced to create a new cache for the app.

  1. From the Home screen, tap the Apps icon.
  2. Tap Settings and scroll to ‘Applications’ section.
  3. Touch Application Manager.
  4. Swipe left or right to display contents of ‘ALL’ tab.
  5. Scroll to and tap the desired app.
  6. Tap the Clear cache button.

Clear App Data

Clearing app’s data means resetting it back to its default settings deleting all user’s preferences. For game apps, progress may also be deleted if data are stored locally, and for apps that need to download additional data during the first run, the user may need to download those data again.

  1. From the Home screen, tap the Apps icon.
  2. Tap Settings and scroll to ‘Applications’ section.
  3. Touch Application Manager.
  4. Swipe left or right to display contents of ‘ALL’ tab.
  5. Scroll to and tap the desired app.
  6. Tap the Clear data button.
  7. Tap OK.

Uninstall / Disable App

An application that causes conflict with the phone’s normal operation should either be disabled or uninstalled. Only third-party or downloaded apps can be deleted totally from the phone’s memory. Pre-installed ones stay especially if the phone is not rooted. Uninstalling and/or disabling an app is easy:

  1. From the Home screen, tap the Apps icon.
  2. Tap Settings and scroll to ‘Applications’ section.
  3. Touch Application Manager.
  4. Swipe left or right to display contents of ‘DOWNLOADED’ tab.
  5. Scroll to and tap the desired app.
  6. Tap Uninstall/disable app.
  7. Now follow on-screen instructions to either uninstall or disable the app.

Turn Off Developer Options

There are reasons why Developer Options is disabled by default. Among the issues you may encounter if it’s turned on are red border on the screen and errors when the phone is trying to connect to a computer. If you are just an average user, it would be better if you kept this option turned off and in case it’s already turned on, here’s how you do it:

  1. From the Home screen, tap the Apps icon.
  2. Tap Settings.
  3. Now scroll down to ‘System’ section and tap Developer Options.
  4. Slide the switch to the left to turn it Off.

Turn On/Off Emergency Alerts

Emergency Alerts are important especially when calamities strike but at times, they, too, are very annoying because you couldn’t tell how many alerts you could receive daily. If you want to know how to turn it on and off, follow these steps:

  1. From the Home screen, tap Messages.
  2. Touch the Menu icon in the top right.
  3. Choose Settings when the drop down shows.
  4. Scroll to and touch Emergency alerts.
  5. Tap Emergency alerts so you can set which type of alerts you want to receive.
  6. You may uncheck any of the following checkboxes: Imminent extreme alert, Imminent severe alert and AMBER alerts.

Format microSD Card

It happens all the time the phone can no longer read from your microSD card. When things like this happen, it means one thing, the SD card needs to be reformatted. So, backup all your data using your computer (if possible), then mount the SD card back to your phone and follow these steps to reformat it:

  1. From the Home screen, tap Apps.
  2. Launch the Settings app.
  3. Touch Storage.
  4. Touch Format SD card and follow on-screen instructions.

Engage with us

Feel free to send us your questions, suggestions and problems you’ve encountered while using your Android phone. We support every Android that is available in the market today. And don’t worry, we won’t charge you a single penny for your emails. Email us via [email protected] any time. We read every email but can’t guarantee a response. Lastly, if we were able to help you, please help us spread the word by sharing our posts with your friends or visit our Troubleshooting Page. Thanks.


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