Samsung Galaxy S3 Display Always On [How To Fix]

We’ve received emails asking us how to fix the problem on Samsung Galaxy S3 whose screen is always on. So, this post will answer those questions and explain why the problem happens. I will also provide some troubleshooting procedures that even average users could follow.

Since the problem has something to do with screen timeout, that’s where we need to look into firsthand.

1. From the Home screen, touch Apps.
2. Choose Settings.
3. Tap Display.
4. Touch screen Timeout.
5. Tap the required duration.
6. Now screen timeout has been set.

After doing this, put the phone on the table and don’t touch it until it has gone beyond the threshold of the screen timeout you just set. If the time elapses with the display still on, it’s time to dig a little deeper into the device to solve the problem.

Many of the owners who reported to have encountered this problem said that the problem was caused by a rogue app or service. There could be a single service running in the background that’s keeping the phone active, which hinders the device’s ability to turn its display off automatically.

Reboot Galaxy S3. If you haven’t rebooted your phone yet since the problem started, you need to. This is one way to isolate the problem. Restarting would also stop third-party services, well, most of them. After doing this try to see if the phone automatically times out the display. If not, continue with the rest of the steps.

Reboot To Safe Mode. Rebooting the phone to safe mode means only factory-installed apps and services will run during boot up, thus disabling all unnecessary applications. Doing this confirms the suspicion that the problem was caused by a rogue app or service. Here’s how you boot to safe mode on Galaxy S3:

1. Turn off the device and wait for few seconds.
2. Turn the phone on.
3. When the Samsung logo appears, press and hold the Volume Down key.
4. Release it once you enter the Safe Mode.
5. You will see a label that says ‘Safe Mode’ in the bottom-left corner of the screen.

Now, see if the screen timeout works. If it does, then it’s confirmed an apps or a service is causing the problem. You need to boot up normally to see what those services are.

At this point, if you feel like it would be to hassling for you to find the services that are causing the problem, we suggest you backup all your data (every bit of them) and do a factory reset. That’s the easiest way to solve this problem. Otherwise, continue with steps below.

Determine Which Apps Cause The Problem. This is a very complicated step since we really don’t know which service or app is causing the problem. If you’ve installed new ones prior to this problem, however, that’s where you have to look first.

The wisest thing to do is to disable recently installed applications.

1. Go to Settings.
2. Application Manager.
3. All tab.
4. Find newly-installed apps (one-by-one), and disable them.

After this, try to see if the screen times out on specified time or if it will turn itself off automatically without you having to press the lock button. If it does, you must enable the apps you disabled one-by-one.

There is one last thing I want you to try in case the procedure above failed to fix the problem: clearing data and cache of Google Services Framework.

1. From the Home screen, tap the Menu key.
2. Tap Settings.
3. Scroll to and tap Application Manager.
4. Swipe left to choose All tab.
5. Scroll to and tap Google Services Framework.
6. Tap Clear Cache button.
7. Tap Clear Data button.
8. Reboot device.

Now check if the problem was fixed after this.

If all else fail, factory reset is advised.

Having problems with your phone?

Tell us about them by emailing us at [email protected]. Make sure to include as much details as possible so that we could understand the problem well and find the best solutions for you. If you can share a screenshot or two, that would be better.

We may not be able to respond to every email we receive but rest assured we do read them… yes, all of them even if some do look like spams.