Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge Most Common Problems Reported By Users & How To Fix Them

Dear readers, welcome to the first part of our Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge troubleshooting series. In this post, I will tackle the ten most common problems reported to us by our readers. Some of them can be fixed by simple troubleshooting procedures while there are issues that can’t really be fixed. In this case, it would be wise to contact your provider and have the device replaced while it’s still inside replacement period.

Galaxy S6 Edge Auto Brightness Glitch/Bug

We did receive a few emails from early adopters of S6 Edge. It seems there’s some kind of a glitch or a bug in the system that affects the function of its light sensor, which is responsible in automatically adjusting the brightness of the screen depending on the amount of light it receives.

Only a few have discovered this problem and as early as now, there’s no fix to it. Again, it can only be considered as a glitch or a bug but it’s far from being annoying especially if you rely on the capability of the phone to adjust the screen brightness. But if you want to know about it, here’s how you can replicate:

Slide your finger from the top of the screen.
Tap the checkbox that says ‘Auto’ to turn it off.
Now drag the indicator next to the brightness icon and set it to the highest level.
With auto brightness off and screen brightness set to the highest level, go to a low-light area and you’ll notice the screen dims.
Use a flashlight and direct its light to the light sensor and you’ll notice the screen brightness will turn brighter.

Of course, when auto brightness is disabled, the screen should stay on the same brightness level you set it to. This problem happens only to S6 Edge and not to Galaxy S6.

There’s no available solution to this as of the moment. Factory or hard reset won’t work. Hopefully Samsung will release a patch that will address this issue, although, it’s not really a big one.

The following messages were sent to us by our readers who experienced this issue first hand:

Problem 1: Hi guys! I just received my Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge yesterday and I’m actually enjoying everything about it. It’s design is just superb and it’s performance, awesome. It’s probably the best device Samsung ever produced yet and for me, it’s the phone of the year! There is, however, one thing I noticed; it’s screen brightness still adjusts even if auto brightness is disabled and the screen is set to the maximum level of brightness. When I’m in a well-lit environment, the screen becomes even brighter, however, when in poor lighting, the screen also goes dim. My old Samsung doesn’t do this so I’m just curious to know if this is normal or what. Thanks. — Juve

Problem 2: I upgraded from S4 to Galaxy S6 Edge and this is my fourth Samsung phone. It’s working fine and all but I love to make use of its amazing display so I set the screen brightness to the max and turned off auto brightness. The display should not auto adjust regardless whether I’m in a dark area or in a well-lit environment but S6 Edge does. Of course, I double-checked the settings and auto brightness is off while screen brightness is set to the highest level. Is this a hardware issue or something? I called Samsung but its reps don’t know about this either. It’s not really a problem but I’m a bit worried that it might be a hardware issue. Please let me know. Thanks.

Setting Notifications For Specific Apps on Galaxy S6 Edge

Question: Hi droid guy. I’m new to Android and I just got the new S6 Edge. I still learning a whole lot of things with it and I’m actually enjoying the experience. There is one thing I haven’t figured out yet; how can I choose apps that will be allowed to push notifications on the lock screen? For example, I want to be notified immediately when new email comes in or a text message. How can I make the phone do that? Thank you! — Edgar

Answer: Hello Edgar! We’re glad to know you’re enjoying your new phone, so far. The new S6 Edge might become the best Android smartphone this year with its new design, edge screens, technical specs, etc. So, you did a good choice in choosing that one.

About your question, well you need to set app notifications as priority so that notifications will display on top of the Notification Panel even if your phone is in Do not disturb mode. To do so, follow these steps:

Go to Settings.
Tap Sounds and notifications.
Tap App notifications.
Now touch the apps you want to set as priority.
Tap the slider next to Set as priority to turn it On.

I hope this helps!

Recent Apps Not Displayed On Galaxy S6 Edge

Problem: Hello, I received last week my new Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge. The first day, whenever I touch the Recent apps key, I can see a list of all the apps that were recently opened. However the next day, whenever I touch the Recent apps key, there is no list anymore. The list was not deleted.

I was wondering if there is an option to turn off that key? Did I modify an option in my setting that does not allow me to see my list of recent apps anymore? Your help will be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Cinthia.

Troubleshooting: Hi Cinthia. Let’s make this as simple as possible. Open or launch as many apps you want and then hit the Recent apps key to see if those apps are listed on the Recent apps screen. If so, then there’s no problem with your phone nor was it modified. The reason why those apps may have disappeared from the list is because the device may have been rebooted and deleted the list. However, if you suspect there were some settings that were changed and that you don’t know how to set them back, then I suggest you perform full hard reset.

Full Hard Reset

Turn off your Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge.
Press and hold the Volume Up, Home and Power keys together.
When the device powers on and displays ‘Power on logo’, release all keys and the Android icon will appear on the screen.
Wait until the Android Recovery Screen appears after about 30 seconds.
Using the Volume Down key, highlight the option, ‘wipe data/factory reset’ and press the Power key to select it.
Press the Vol Down button again until the option ‘Yes — delete all user data’ is highlighted and then press the Power key to select it.
After the reset is complete, highlight ‘Reboot system now’ and hit the Power key to restart the phone.

That’s it, your S6 Edge has already been reset to factory settings.

Galaxy S6 Edge Won’t Power On

Problem: Dear Sir, my daughter bought one Galaxy S6 edge from Singapore last two weeks ago.

This evening, that phone can’t open power any more. She just watch YouTube then connection is not good so she put it beside her, then phone is off. She try to open anyway but she can’t. Now she is in Thailand. So please advise us how we should do. Best Regards, Kyaw.

Troubleshooting: Hi Kyaw! Based on your description, it seems like the phone has drained its battery. Please tell her to connect the phone to its charger and plug it in to charge for, at least, 10 minutes. After that, let her try to turn it on to see if the phone responds to that. If not, then there is a couple of procedures she needs to do to further assess if the problem is with the hardware or firmware:

Boot in Safe Mode

This procedure will tell if the problem was caused by a third-party app or pre-installed ones. If it were a third-party app that caused it, then the phone should be able to boot in safe mode without a problem. Here’s how you do it:

Turn off your Galaxy S6 Edge.
Press and hold the Power key.
When ‘Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge’ appears, immediately release the Power key and then press and hold the Volume Down button.
Continue holding the Volume Down button until the phone finishes the restart.
When you see Safe Mode on the lower left corner of the screen, release the button.

If the phone refused to boot in safe mode, then you need to try to boot it in Recovery Mode just to find out if it can still power on, somehow.

Boot in Recovery Mode

In Recovery Mode, the phone will power up every component but won’t load the typical Android interface. The purpose of this procedure is to know if the hardware can still be powered up.

Turn off your Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge.
Press and hold the Volume Up, Home and Power keys together.
When the device powers on and displays ‘Power on logo’, release all keys and the Android icon will appear on the screen.
Wait until the Android Recovery Screen appears after about 30 seconds.

If the phone powers on, then there’s no problem with the hardware, otherwise, call tech support or call your provider and have it replaced.

Just in case the phone successfully booted in recovery, wipe the cache partition and the problem must be fixed after that.

Can Galaxy S6 Edge Power Up A USB Drive

Question: Hi should my Galaxy S6 Edge be able to power a usb drive? I had an s5 up until yesterday and that had no problem doing so.

Related Question: Provided I have that special cable, can Galaxy S6 Edge read directly from a USB drive or flash drive? Considering Samsung omitted a lot of features like microSD card slot and removable battery, I am worried it also took away the capability of the phone to read from a USB drive. Your answer will be much appreciated. Thank you!

Answer: Yes! The new Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge should not have problem reading directly from a flash drive provided the owner has a USB OTG (On The Go) cable. This feature has already become one of the standards of the new generation of Android smartphones considering these mobile devices have become alternatives of computers and/or laptops.

Galaxy S6 Edge Fails To Auto Rotate

Problem: Hi guys! I just got my new Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge and I’m with Sprint. The first few days have been really good with no problems whatsoever but today, I was surprised when the screen failed to auto rotate. It seems like it’s stuck now in portrait mode and whatever I do, it just won’t rotate to landscape. Earlier today, though, it was working fine, responsive and all but now it’s like this. It’s very frustrating having a very expensive phone to fail in just a few days since it was bought. Can you guys suggest a solution to this? Thanks!

Related Problem: Good day! I upgraded from Galaxy S4 to Galaxy S6 Edge and my provider is Verizon. It seems like I’ve messed up the settings in my phone because the screen will not rotate anymore. I was able to find the setting for auto rotate but the display is stuck. Yesterday, the screen will rotate immediately after I tilt it even a little but now it’s just not working. I’m very disappointed that I got a device like this but I’m willing to do everything just to try to fix this problem. Help me please.

Suggestion: Hi guys. There have been several reports that some S6 Edge units have been plagued with auto rotate issues. There were cases wherein the screen rotates from portrait to landscape and get stuck in that orientation. Others just won’t rotate like the issue you currently have. Based on those reports, it seems that Sprint- and Verizon-branded models are the ones with issues with the accelerometer. Users reported they already tried (many times) rebooting their devices while many said they already did perform hard reset to no avail. It seems like it’s really a hardware issue and it couldn’t be fixed, at least, for now. The best option is to have the device replaced as soon as possible or while your provider is still obliged to replace it.

Galaxy S6 Edge Camera Failed Error

Problem: Hi guys! I recently encountered a problem with my new Galaxy S6 Edge and I think you’d be the first one I’d tell you about it. I am not so sure what happened or what I’ve installed but the phone will now pop up the error message “camera failed” every time I open the camera. Prior to this, I was able to take a lot of pictures and it just frustrates me to be greeted with this error message every time I want to use the camera. I am not new to technology but this is my first Android phone (I’m a long time iPhone user) so please don’t be too hard on me. Thanks. — Sarah

Troubleshooting: Hi Sarah! I am sorry to hear your first Android experience is not so smooth. I really can’t tell what’s wrong with the camera of your phone based on your description but if it’s not the firmware, then it’s gotta be the hardware that has a problem. But first of all, I will assume that the phone doesn’t have physical or liquid damage.

The first thing you need to do is determine whether it’s a third-party app (which you may have installed) that’s causing the problem or anything else. To do that, boot the phone in safe mode:

Turn off your Galaxy S6 Edge.
Press and hold the Power key.
When ‘Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge’ appears, immediately release the Power key and then press and hold the Volume Down button.
Continue holding the Volume Down button until the phone finishes the restart.
When you see Safe Mode on the lower left corner of the screen, release the button.

If it were just a third-party that caused it, then the camera should work in safe mode. If not, then it must either be the firmware or the hardware itself.

A hard reset is necessary to determine if bringing the phone back to its factory settings will fix the problem. If not, you need to talk with your provider and have the tech take a look at it or request a replacement unit.

Full Hard Reset

Turn off your Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge.
Press and hold the Volume Up, Home and Power keys together.
When the device powers on and displays ‘Power on logo’, release all keys and the Android icon will appear on the screen.
Wait until the Android Recovery Screen appears after about 30 seconds.
Using the Volume Down key, highlight the option, ‘wipe data/factory reset’ and press the Power key to select it.
Press the Vol Down button again until the option ‘Yes — delete all user data’ is highlighted and then press the Power key to select it.
After the reset is complete, highlight ‘Reboot system now’ and hit the Power key to restart the phone.

How To Transfer Files From MicroSD Card To Galaxy S6 Edge Storage

Question: Before anything else, I want to thank you guys for providing this very great service for us. Honestly, I’ve been an avid reader since last year when I bought my Samsung Galaxy S5 and I really had a lot of problems that you guys fixed through your posts.

Now, I upgraded to the new Galaxy S6 Edge without researching further. So, I didn’t know it doesn’t have a microSD card slot like the Galaxy S5. I have a lot of data saved in the card that I want transferred to my new phone. Now, I’m at a loss here. Can you guys help me one more time with this? Please advice me what to do. Thanks. — Mary Joy

Answer: Hi Mary Joy! Yeah, I remember you. You emailed us a few times before and I even addressed two of your problems. Well, about your problem with your S6 Edge, there’s nothing we can do about the phone not having a microSD card slot. We really cannot hack our way into the S6 Edge. However, there’s a workaround and the best I can see, so far, is to use the memory card USB OTG (refer to the picture below).

Just copy everything from your microSD card to the internal storage of your phone and that will take care of everything else. Of course, you don’t want the dongle to be attached to your phone all the time so, you really have to transfer the data you want transferred to your phone.

Get Rid Of Bloatware On Galaxy S6 Edge

Question: Okay, so it’s not new to every user that Samsung installed a bunch of bloatware in its devices. So, my question is, how do I get rid of them? I have a Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge and I’m just new to Android and I really don’t know how to go about them. Thanks for your time.

Answer: There’s an EDIT button in the top-right of the apps screen; you can hide the bloatwares you don’t want in your device, although, there are some you really can’t bin like Galaxy Apps. The best thing you can do about it is to create a folder and place all them in that folder and tuck it in the last page of apps.

Galaxy S6 Edge Drains Battery So Fast

Problem: Hi Harold! I’ve been enjoying your S6 Edge tutorials. You guys are doing a great job! I have a problem with my phone, it drains its battery so fast that I have to charge it in the mid-afternoon after a minimal use. My S5 could last until midnight but not the S6 Edge. The phone is pretty new and it’s always been like this out of the box. What should I do?

Answer: Well, if the phone is problematic out of the box, then you have no other option but to have it replaced. There’s no use in troubleshooting a problem that comes with the phone itself. I’m sure your provider will be happy to provide you with a new unit.