We welcome you to our first troubleshooter series that addresses all app issues on an S5. The topic is broad and takes many forms. Because apps is the core feature of an S5, we expect to receive all sorts of problems from you.

If you want to contact us for your own app-related trouble, please use the link provided at the bottom of the page.

We hope you will find this post informative and solutions helpful.

Problem #1: Samsung Galaxy S5 calendar app suddenly stops working

I use the S5 calendar all the time. One day I opened it, and it looked completely different. I couldn’t add reminders to any new events. I tried your recommendations to clear cache  under application manager, but the calendar can’t be found under the application manager. I live by my S5 calendar, please help me to remedy this. I would really appreciate it. Thank you. — Susan

Solution: Hi Susan. Did you download anything prior to noticing the problem? Updates and even new apps may have modified your calendar app causing it to behave erratically. If you can’t find the specific app under application manager, simply delete the cache partition. Here’s how:

• Turn the phone off.
• Press and hold the following buttons together: Power, Volume Up and Home.
• Release the buttons once the Android system recovery menu appears.
• Use the Volume buttons to navigate to Wipe Cache Partition option.
• Press the Power button to confirm selection.
• Select Reboot System Now option after deleting the cache. Wait for the phone to reboot.

With the new cache, the apps work back to normal. If the problem remains though, you can also try to reset the phone to its factory defaults or simply use a different app.

We have compiled a short list of the best Android productivity apps in this post: Top 15 Android Apps To Boost Productivity.

Problem #2: Unable to log in to a Galaxy app?

Won’t let me log in to my Galaxy app. — Rob

Solution: Hi Rob. Please give us more information about your problem in order to help you effectively. If you can include the error message you are getting as well as other relevant circumstances that you think may have led to this problem that would be nice.

Problem #3: Amazon app in Galaxy S5 keeps showing it has stopped after updating to Lollipop

Since the last system update, I keep getting constant messages that Amazon has stopped. — Lee

Solution: Hi Lee. If this is the only app giving you problems after updating to Lollipop deleting its cache and data may help.

Problem #4: Random pop ups appear on Galaxy S5 Chrome browser

Random websites pop up in Chrome and the plastered opens to random apps to install, gets annoying. Seems to happen when phone is picked up after sitting for an hour or longer. — Rick

Solution: Hi Rick. Those random pop ups in your phone’s browser are not random at all. They are being generated by probably another malicious app in your phone, or by an installed adware in Chrome browser itself. To be safe, please do a factory reset and make sure that you install only trusted apps. Avoid installing unreliable or less popular apps as they are more likely designed to compromise personal data or generate revenue via illicit means. Downloading banned APK files or Android app installer packages may also contain malicious software that can compromise information security on your phone.

Problem #5: Galaxy S5 app updates stored in the SD card keeps getting transferred to internal memory

Every time an app updates, the phone takes it off of the SD card and puts it back on the device memory. — Kari

Solution: Hi Kari. Some apps are designed to work only when their core system files including the updates and APK, or installation package file, are stored in the phone’s primary storage memory (internal memory). If the device’s operating system finds out that associated files of apps are stored in the SD card, it will initiate the transfer of those files to device memory itself. That’s the reason the issue you are raising with us today.

Problem #6: How to remove locks on apps from Galaxy S5

When i first got this phone i was messing around with the locks. So I individually locked a few of my apps and now they require me to unlock them every single  time i try to open them. I didn’t download any special app to lock them individually but i don’t know how to take it off. Please help me. This is so frustrating. It has to be something already in the system because i never downloaded an app for app locks. — Alexis

Solution: Hi Alexis. The only effective means to remove individual locks on your apps is factory reset. That will force the phone to bring all apps to their default settings. There’s just no other way than that.

Here are the steps to factory reset your S5:

• Power down the Galaxy S5.
• Press and hold the Volume up button, the Home button, and the Power button together until you see the Android on screen.
• Use Volume down to highlight the wipe data/factory reset option and press the Power button to select it.
• Use Volume down again to highlight Yes – delete all user data and press Power to select it.
• Use the Power button to select Reboot system now.
• When the S5 restarts it should be completely wiped and ready to set up again.

Problem #7: ‘Unable to connect to email server to verify your account information. No response from server.’ error keeps on popping up when setting POP3 email

When I go to create an e-mail account (POP3) after I’ve double checked all the information is correct and reconfirmed with IT, It still comes back at me when I go to input the incoming mail settings stating that ‘Unable to connect to email server to verify your account information. No response from server.’ However it works on other colleges devices and IT has assured me that everything on the back end is running fine. — Marc

Solution: Hi Marc. Make sure that you type in the server address accurately. Sometimes, an extra space before and after letters may count as an additional character.

If that’s not it, the phone may have simply failed to connect to a remote server for some reason. You may want to check the following:

• The email address domain is currently active and has not expired.
• Your Nameservers are pointed to the correct DNS host.

Problem #8: How to stop spam in Android Gmail app

Gmail app – since last week I receive heaps of spam emails. I cannot stop them on my phone.  When going into my emails, I don’t have the “stop spam” option in the menu bar. The only options I have is Reply All, Forward, Add Star and Print.  All help sites refer to “stop spam” which I don’t have.  I have tried to delete the app and install again, but the spam comes back 🙁  There are literally hundreds of emails coming through per day.  I have managed to stop the spam coming through my emails on my computer. — Janetta

Solution: Hi Janetta. We have no idea why your Gmail app does not have the option shown below.

Reporting spam messages is an important feature in all email clients today so something is very wrong with your app there. You may want to do a factory reset and contact Google should the issue remain.

Problem #9: Themer app on Samsung Galaxy S5 keeps on crashing

I use the THEMER app for my home screen on my S5. While driving I have my S5 attached to a power source and run Escort Live in the background and WAZE in the foreground. I will occasionally listen to books on Audible, which also runs in the background. In the past all three apps have worked fine together but recently, THEMER frequently crashes and the Audible app frequently stops. I have to bring the frozen apps forward (THEMER and/or the audio book) and restart them.

I haven’t installed any new apps between the time that all of the above mentioned apps were functioning seamlessly and when they started getting buggy. — Gene

Solution: Hi Gene. Have you downloaded an update for Android operating system prior to noticing this problem? If not, here are things that you can try:

Delete the cache and data of apps in question

Interaction between apps is a complex process and may sometimes lead to some complications. A corrupted or outdated app cache can lead to slow performance or errors so minimizing the chance of this from happening may help.

You can check this previous post for more information on how to do it: Difference of Clear Cache and Clear Data in Android

Clear your Samsung Galaxy S5’s cache partition

Deleting the phone’s cache partition is more preferable over the first suggestion as it uniformly deletes and refreshes the cache of all apps. If you haven’t tried this before, here are the steps:

• Turn the phone off.
• Press and hold the following buttons together: Power, Volume Up and Home.
• Release the buttons once the Android system recovery menu appears.
• Use the Volume buttons to navigate to Wipe Cache Partition option.
• Press the Power button to confirm selection.
• Select Reboot System Now option after deleting the cache. Wait for the phone to reboot.

See also Reasons Why Android Apps Crash

Problem #10: Galaxy S5 loses S Planner details

I just got my Samsung S5 1 week ago, updated the calendar that came with the phone, which I really liked, and the next day my calendar data had disappeared and I know have a Goggle calendar which I did not want.  I prefer the calendar that came with the S5…how do I get my old calendar back with the year of information already loaded on?

Thanks so much for your help. — Julie

Solution: Hi Julie. If you are referring to the stock S Planner app, the answer depends on how much calendar information has been stored and synced somewhere. There are two ways to back up your S Planner details:

• via the cloud
• thru Kies application

Uploading your S Planner information to the cloud can be done if you signed up for Samsung’s own cloud services, or other third party services like the Helium – App Sync and Backup.

You can also sync your S Planner app via Kies application on a computer.

If you have done any of these prior to losing the information from S Planner, then simply use them to restore the information to your phone.

Otherwise, there’s really nothing that you can do as that means the information in the S Planner was only stored locally–in the phone’s internal storage.

Problem #11: Galaxy S5 unable to download shows via Droid TV

Can’t download shows from Droid TV app. — Diane

Solution: Hi Diane. Looks like the answer to your question can only be answered by the app’s developer. Please contact them and ask for assistance.

Problem #12: Galaxy S5 contacts won’t show up after the Lollipop update

My phone just did the latest software update, but now the contacts will not show under Contacts, Messaging, or phone calls. Any time contacts is opened it says Updating contacts…– Emily

Solution: Hi Emily. The Lollipop update must have modified the contacts app in some negative way. If restarting the phone won’t fix the issue, just delete the cache partition and you should be good to go.

Problem #13: Galaxy S5 email app randomly sync on its own

I have my work email through Mobileiron. I have set my exchange email to sync on ‘Manual mode’ with master sync off. On 4.4, when I opened up my email app it showed the emails when I sync’d last. I then used to attempt to ‘manually’ sync after which I could see my latest emails. All’s good!

On 5.0, regardless of what my email sync setting is, whenever I open my email app, it attempts to sync. Is there a way to stop this? I have master sync off here as well. Reason I ask is that randomly, when I open my email app and it attempts to sync on its own, (when it did not on 4.4) the email app hangs trying to sync forever. Or, if there is no way to get the email app to stop trying to sync on its own when I open it, how do I fix the issue of the phone hanging randomly when it tries to sync on its own? — Alan

Solution: Hi Alan. Lollipop update has been known for quite some time to cause all sorts of problems including a few email-related hiccups. Try the generic solutions we provide (clearing the cache partition and factory reset) and see if they make any difference.

Engage with us

If you are one of the users who encounters a problem with your device, let us know. We offer solutions for Android-related problems for free so if you have an issue with your Android device, simply fill in the short questionnaire in this link and we will try to publish our answers in the next posts. We cannot guarantee a quick response so if your issue is time sensitive, please find another way to resolve your problem. 

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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