Looking for #GalaxyS7 solutions? This post may help you. Below are some of the issues we’ve receive from our Galaxy S7 users for the past several days. We hope that the solutions we provide here can help our Android community.

1. Galaxy S7 default Messages app randomly converts texts into MMS
2. How to lock the Galaxy S7 screen everytime the device is locked? | Gmail and Hotmail emails all go to one inbox in Galaxy S7
3. How to unmute a previously blocked contact in Galaxy S7
4. Solutions to delays in sending Galaxy S7 SMS or text messages

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.

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Problem #1: Galaxy S7 default Messages app randomly converts texts into MMS

Ref: Default Messages app

At random times, my text messages are turned into MMS messages with a picture attachment. The instances of this is random. The pictures are random from my album. It doesn’t matter if I am sending to a group or an individual. However, the receiver doesn’t seem to receive the picture, just the text message, so far as I can tell. When it first happened, I was also receiving random pictures from 2 individuals in my group message where it was first noticed but the pictures were from my previously received messages from them to me and/or picture I have sent to them. One person has the iphone SE and the other has Samsung S7, same exact phone as mine.

I have cleared cache from Messages and any other messaging app I have installed and also wiped cache partition. It acted normally for couple of days but resumed random picture attachment…

Yesterday, my phone was not responsive/slow to respond from AOD screen and resumed normal operations when I wiped the cache partition couple of times. I haven’t performed a factory reset yet. I have tried to search forums for someone else maybe having the same problem, but I couldn’t find any…Please help! — MJ

Solution: Hi MJ. This is our first time to hear such a problem ourselves so it may be an isolated case. It’s good to hear that you’ve initiated wiping the cache partition as that appears to fix the issue temporarily. This means that either there’s a firmware glitch that develop after some time, leading to the issue, or that a third party app is causing a conflict with the operating system.

The first thing that we’d want you to do in this case is to boot your phone in safe mode for as long as necessary so you can observe the phone. While in safe mode, no third party apps will run so if the issue won’t occur, that suggests that you’ve installed a problematic app along the way. To restart your S7 in safe mode, follow these steps:

• Press and hold the Power key.
• As soon as you can see the ‘Samsung Galaxy S7 EDGE’ on the screen, release the Power key and immediately hold the Volume Down key.
• Continue holding the Volume Down button until the device finishes rebooting.
• You may release it when you can see ‘Safe mode’ in the bottom left corner of the screen.

Try to leave the phone in safe mode state for at least a day so you have enough time to replicate the problem.

Another good thing to do is to uninstall third party apps you’re not using. Not only do they clutter your device’s memory but one of them is probably the reason for the issue.

If nothing appears to change while in safe mode and after uninstalling apps, consider doing a factory reset as the last resort. Doing so will address a potential problem that may be caused by a bad firmware. Restoring all software settings to default usually fixes a lot of ills.

Problem #2: How to lock the Galaxy S7 screen everytime the device is locked? | Gmail and Hotmail emails all go to one inbox in Galaxy S7

Screen lock password. Is there any way i can change this option to ask for my password everytime i lock my phone? Currently, right now, my phone will only ask for my password if i lock my phone for over 1 minute. But if i lock my phone for only 20-30sec and need to use it again, it doesn’t ask for my password and you can just access my phone right away. is there any way i can change this for more security reason? i want my phone to ask for my password everytime i lock the phone whether if its only for 20 sec or for over 1 minute.

How do i separate my Gmail emails from my Hotmail emails? Currently on my phone, i have set up both my gmail and hotmail account on here but my gmail account email always show the emails from my Hotmail account. how do i stop this? i want the Gmail account to only show emails from that account and the hotmail to only show emails from the hotmail account. i would get a notification for my gmail account that i have 4 new mails, when i click on it, it’s message from my hotmail account instead. how do i stop this? Thanks. — Kevin

Solution: Hi Kevin. We’ve decide to fuse your two issues into one in this post so we can address them together.

The answer to your first question is yes, there’s a way to do what you want. In order to force the phone to ask for your screen password right after locking the screen, go under Settings>Lock screen and security>Secure lock settings. Once you’re in this section, be sure to select “Immediately”. Alternatively, you can also enable the “Lock instantly with power key” option under Secure Lock options section to manually lock the screen using the power button.

Are you using the default email app? If no, then we try to look for options under settings of that email client to un-combine your email inboxes. The options may vary from client to client so try to find to find a way to do that.

If you’re using the stock or default email app, you’ll notice that each account is usually separated from another, though there’s still a “Combined inbox” that stores all incoming emails from multiple accounts like the ones in the image below

. We don’t think you’re using the default email app though so kindly provide us more information about the issue so we can assist you further. We need to know what exact email client/app you’re using.

As a workaround, you can also use separate app for each email account as Gmail and Hotmail have their own independent app.

Problem #3: How to unmute a previously blocked contact in Galaxy S7

In the stock text messaging app, I blocked a specific contact. The next day, I unblocked them. While their messages do go to my inbox,  I don’t receive any notifications for their texts. No sound, no icon in the top of the screen or the drop down menu. All other texts from others come through fine. I’ve checked. The contact isn’t blocked. The contact is set to have sound for all calls and texts. In the messaging app there is a “mute” symbol next to their name on the message screen.

I receive phone calls from this contact normally. I’m at a loss. I’ve tried blocking, restart, unblocking, restart. I’ve tried soft reset. Nothing has worked. — Dorothy

Solution: Hi Dorothy. There’s a simple solution to this problem. Simply follow the steps below:

• Open the Messages app.
• Tap on the conversation thread of the muted contact.
• Tap on the phone number on the top left.
• Tap enable notifications.

Problem #4: Solutions to delays in sending Galaxy S7 SMS or text messages

I have the Galaxy S7. The phone itself is maybe a few months old. I had to buy a new one because the other one lagged any time that I used it. So the phone is new. I just recently, like within the past week, noticed that I am not receiving SOME texts and sometimes people don’t ever receive the texts I send them. I’ll be texting someone and then they will send a text asking why I didn’t respond or answer their question and I’ll have no clue what they’re talking about. And I’ll be waiting hours for a reply from someone when it turns out they never got my text even though my side says that it sent. OR they will receive it hours later. For example, I sent my mother a text at 9pm one night and asked her what she was doing in the morning, and she didn’t receive it until early morning. It didn’t happen SO much at first, but now it’s happening very frequently. I’ve even tried to clear up storage space in general and delete old texts.. To sum this all up, I’m not receiving random texts and mine are not showing up on others phones sometimes, either. Thank you in advance. — Pamela

Solution: Hi Pamela. Text messaging issues like what you’re experiencing are mostly due to a transmission  error on the side of your carrier but we still recommend that you try to troubleshoot your phone first to eliminate possible issues with it.

Wipe the cache partition

The first thing that you want is to ensure that the phone’s system cache is refreshed. Simply follow the steps below on how to clear the cache partition:

• Turn off the phone.
• Once the phone has completely shut down, press and hold Volume, Home, and Power buttons at the same time.
• Wait until the Samsung logo appears before releasing the Power button.
• Once the Android logo shows up, release the two other buttons.
• Wait for the Recovery menu to appear (may take up to a minute).
• Go to wipe cache partition option using the Volume buttons, then press Power button to confirm.
• Wait for the device to wipe the cache partition
• Once the cache has been deleted, Reboot system now option will then be highlighted.
• Press Power button again to confirm the reboot.

Wiping the cache partition forces the phone to delete the system cache and replace it with a new one over the course of time as you use the device. Sometimes, a corrupted or outdated cache can lead to app problems so it’s always good practice to keep it clean and fresh. You will have to observe the phone again for some time to see if wiping the cache partition has any positive effect.

Uninstall apps or boot the phone in safe mode

If the issue remains, the next thing you want to do is uninstall apps you’re not using. While this may not really be an accurate fix, it minimizes the chance of apps causing conflicts with the operating system which may be causing the messaging app to act up. If you don’t want to uninstall apps, simply boot your phone in safe mode for several days to observe how SMS works.

Restore settings to default via factory reset

As a final troubleshooting step that you can do on your end, consider wiping the phone by doing a factory reset. This will ensure that firmware bugs that may have developed overtime is addressed. Keep in mind that if the issue caused by an app, the problem may occur again after a factory reset. We recommend that you observe the phone for at least a day after a factory reset without installing anything. The messages app is pre-installed so you should be able to continue sending and receiving text messages even without the rest of your third party apps. Here are the steps on how to perform a factory reset:

• 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.

Important: Performing a factory reset will erase everything on the phone’s internal storage device. Make sure that you create a copy of your personal data like photos, videos, contacts, etc., before you do it.

Contact your wireless carrier

If SMS continues to be erratic after a factory reset and without any apps, that’s an indicator that the problem is network related. Although we’ve become accustomed to thinking that SMS technology is reliable, it’s always not the case. The operators or carriers still operate SMS in best-effort support only, meaning they don’t guarantee that all text messages are transmitted properly every time. There may be some outages in your area that you’re not aware of, or the network may have some server problems affecting SMS service. Contacting your wireless carrier is a logical final step towards resolution in this case.

 

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