13 Samsung Galaxy S6 Problems And Its Troubleshooting Joyofandroid

There is no perfect device in the smartphone market. The Samsung Galaxy S6 is pretty close to it, but it’s not flawless. If you have Galaxy S6, or you’re considering it as your new smartphone, here are the most common problems that you might encounter. We experienced some of them ourselves, and some are from the users’ feedback online. Most of them aren’t hard to solve.

1. Wi-Fi Connectivity Issues

Poor Wi-Fi connectivity is the most common problem for smartphones, and Galaxy S6 is no exception. There are problems with slow connection, phone dropping from the network, or not being able to connect. Here are the potential solutions:

1. Restart the router and your phone. Make sure your internet router and modem are in working order. Perform the restart sequence for each of them – unplug the power for the 15-30 seconds and then turn them back on. After your router and modem start, refresh the Wi-Fi networks on your phone; the network should appear. Our recommendation is to also restart your S6 in this situation. This method usually solves the problem when your S6 won’t connect, or cannot find your home Wi-Fi network. Additional info: Make sure that your router and modem firmware is up to date. Some of the devices firmware doesn’t connect well with Galaxy S6. You can check out five best Wi-Fi apps for connectivity to make sure the network is broadcasting signal properly, or how crowded the channel is.
2. Forget the Network Go to your Wi-Fi settings, and then long press on your home network. Tap “Forget Network”. Then rescan, and try connecting again. If you have a password on the network, make sure you type it correctly.
3. Always allow Scanning Go to the Wi-Fi settings and tap ‘Advanced’, and ensure that ‘Always allow scanning’ is turned on. ‘Keep Wi-Fi on during sleep’ should be set to ‘Always.’
4. Delete Cache Partition Sometimes third party apps may cause problems and glitches with Wi-Fi connectivity that can require you to restart your phone’s Wi-Fi manually to connect to your wireless network. To rule out third party apps as the problem, boot the phone into Safe mode by pressing both Power button & Volume down button. When the phone vibrates, and screens light up, you can release Power button, but don’t release Volume down button. Your theme will set to default one, and you’ll have ‘SAFE MODE’ sign down below. All third party apps are disabled in this mode, and you need to test the phone for some time to see how it works. If the connectivity is fine on safe mode, you have to find and delete an app that causes problems. If the problem persists, you should delete the cache partition in the recovery mode. To enter the recovery mode, you have to turn off your Samsung Galaxy S6 and turn it on by pressing Power button + Volume down + Volume up buttons. After the vibration, release the Power button, and keep Volume buttons pressed. This sequence will start the Recovery mode; choose the options with Volume keys. Scroll down to the ‘Wipe Cache Partition’ and select it using the Power button. The process takes some time, and after it’s done, you need to restart the phone. Additional Info: This process usually solves problems with many other issues too.

2. Signal Strength Issues

Dropped calls, bad reception, and not being able to call are the problems related to signal reception on Galaxy S6. Here are the solutions:

1. Switch the Mobile Network Mode Go to Settings / Mobile Networks / Network Mode and choose LTE/WCDMA/ GSM (Verizon & Sprint). For other networks, WCDMA/GSM network mode is a better solution.
2. Reboot The Phone / Try Airplane mode Often a simple reboot can help; Airplane mode is the alternative. Turn Airplane mode on for a minute (this will disable all connections on the phone) and switch it back off. Allow your phone to connect to the network. If the problem persists, you might have the hardware issue and need to check the device with the service. Additional info: Check the connectivity with the signal tower, and with other people’s phones. The area of coverage sometimes might be the problem.

3. GPS Issues

People reportedly had issues with their GPS, especially if the device is brand new. The accuracy problems are common as well. Here are the possible solutions:

1. Change Location Method Turn on the GPS Go to Settings / Personal / Privacy and Safety / Location / Location Method. Select ‘GPS Only’. Next, switch to ‘GPS, Wi-Fi and Mobile Networks’. Wait for the phone to obtain the location. Additional info: try other choices in this setting to find your position as well.
2. Reboot If the above mentioned method fails, try to restart your phone.
3. Improve Accuracy Set your GPS to ‘High Accuracy’.
4. Turn off Power Saving Mode Sometimes this settings overrides GPS functionality. Go to Settings / General / Battery and uncheck the ‘Power Saving Mode’. After this sequence, reboot your Galaxy s6 and search your GPS location again.
5. Look for a possible app interfering with your GPS

4. Bluetooth Issues

Bluetooth problems with mobile devices are among the most common in the industry today. Not being able to connect, losing connection, and not seeing devices in your nearby surroundings are most mentioned problems. Select the app that you think interferes with GPS, and Clear the cache and data of the app. Additional info: Boot your Galaxy S6 into Safe Mode and check out your GPS connection without third party apps. Additional info: Before pairing with somebody by Bluetooth, make sure you both have checked the visibility option under Bluetooth options, as it happens many times that users simply forget to turn on the visibility. Here’s how to fix Bluetooth issues with Galaxy S6:

1. Reboot the Bluetooth A simple off – on sequence will usually solve the problem connecting to another device. Make sure both devices are visible to others and set up correctly.
2. Forget previous connections In Bluetooth Settings, choose the connection that causes problems, long press it, and tap ‘Forget’. After this, just reconnect. Advanced info: Do this method in Safe Mode to erase all connections if regular sequence didn’t produce results
3. Clear Bluetooth cache Go to Settings / General /Application Manager.  Swipe right to ‘All’ and tap on Bluetooth app. Tap on Clear Cache, and Clear Data. After this sequence is done, restart your phone.

5. ‘Call Volume too Low’ Issue

There have been many complaints about weak volume during calls on Samsung Galaxy S6. Sometimes the microphone can be the issue, and sometimes the speaker on the other side. To inspect and solve this problem, try these methods:

1. Turn on the speaker During the call, turn the speaker on, and test the volume on the speaker. If it’s loud on the speaker, you have a hardware problem, and should take your device to the location where you bought it for service.
2. Try Bluetooth headset This method is similar to the above mentioned. Try using the headset and test the volume. If it’s equal to the in-call volume, you should test the volume rocker, and if it’s at max, you should contact the professional service. Additional info: ‘Extra Volume’ option is located in the phone icon in the middle while you’re on a call. Tap and activate it.

6. Performance Problems

Even though Galaxy S6 is a powerhouse, there have been many reports of lags, crashes, and slow functioning of the device. Many factors cause these issues. Here are some other methods to deal with performance problems:

1. Update your Galaxy S6 Manufacturers and operating systems providers always work on improving their systems. Many bugs are dealt with every day, and updates to the system might solve your problem the easy way. Go to Settings / General / About Device / Software updates Make sure to check the ‘Auto Update’ option
2. Wipe Cache Partition Boot your smartphone into Recovery mode. (Power button + both Volume buttons) and use the ‘Wipe Cache Partition’ option with Power button. Wait for the process of wiping to end. Restart your phone.
3. Replace the stock TouchWiz launcher Stock Samsung launcher usually has a lot of ‘bloatware’– preinstalled services that you might not use, that run in the background – that slow your phone down. Apps you have installed might also be bogging your S6 down as well. Downloading and installing a new launcher might help you with performance issues since other launchers won’t use the services that you most likely won’t use, and improve the performance. Additional advantage of this method is customization of your smartphone.
4. Restart your phone occasionally Besides having this method as a ‘last resort’ when having any problem with your phone, there is another benefit in restarting your phone. Many users don’t ever reboot their phones ever. A good practice to use is to reset your device now and then. When you do this, your phone gets a fresh reboot, frees the RAM. This method helps to reduce the amount of processes that your phone has to perform in the background.
5. Perform a Factory Reset The ultimate routine to execute on a phone when you don’t have any more possibilities is factory reset. Warning: This will erase all the data on your Galaxy S6. When you’re sure that you want to do this, go to Settings / Personal / Backup and reset. Tap on ‘Factory Data Reset’. The device will inform you what you’ll lose, and what accounts you have logged on. The new model of the Samsung flagship has one significant flaw. You can’t remove the battery from the glass casing of S6, and its 2,550 mAh can drain pretty quickly. Intense gaming or power usage can drain the battery fast, and many people complain about this issue. This issue can be resolved only with additional sources of energy, like external batteries, and using your device the smart way to save battery life. To extend battery life of Galaxy S6, you can carry out these methods:
6. Monitor your connections and use them according to your needs You don’t need 4G, Wi-Fi, or GPS all the time. Turn the unnecessary functions off when you’re not using them and provide much-needed battery juice when you’re in need.
7. Take care of your phone’s brightness levels Turn off the automatic brightness in the notification area, and manually adjust your brightness to suit the light in your environment. The ambient light sensor measures the environment and adjusts the brightness to suit the light conditions. This feature is a big spender. Turn it off to save your battery life.
8. Use the power-saving mode The power-saving mode is under Battery settings. Ultra-power-saving mode is set up to trigger when your phone reaches 15% or less. But, you can use regular power-saving mode to prolong the battery life drastically. This power-saving mode will lower the CPU cores speed, but won’t affect the performance drastically.
9. Background synchronize This service will connect to the internet every few minutes to fetch new updates to your email, social networks, and messaging apps. If you use some of those all the time (think about this), you can leave sync turned on. But, if you understand that you don’t need all that synchronizing, you can set your apps not to sync all the time. The apps will sync when you check them, saving you some precious energy. Additionally, go to Settings / Wi-Fi / More, and turn Smart Network Switch off. Additionally, go to the ‘Advanced’ tab and turn ‘Always Allow Scanning’ off as well. This setting will disable constant searching and attempting to connect to Wi-Fi networks around you.
10. Try some of the  battery saver apps, like Pixel Battery Saver.

8. Fingerprint Scanner is not Working

This feature is improved from the last Galaxy model, and now it has better functionality and usability. Unfortunately, sensor occasionally stops working, causing problems. When your S6 don’t recognize your fingerprint, try to wipe the sensor with a clean cloth, clean your finger, and remove any possible obstacles that might interfere with the fingerprint reader. If this doesn’t help, you can try to restart the phone by holding down the Power button for 10 seconds. After the boot, try the fingerprint reader again. When your device doesn’t recognize your thumbprint after several attempts, you have the option to unlock the device with your Google account. If this method fails, you have to bypass the security measure by signing in to your Google account on another device and use the password. Disable the 2-step verification in the security section of your account in Google. This action will remove the 2-step verification, and you should be able to log into your phone with your Google password. When you manage to unlock the phone, it’s advisable to remove the previously saved fingerprints and insert new to the phone.

9. “Unfortunately, Contacts has stopped.”

This problem is related to the majority of the Android smartphones, and S6 is not an exception. This is a well-known issue that happens when you try to make a call. Here’s what to do when attempting to solve this issue:

1. Clear Cache & Data Go to Settings / Application manager – swipe to ‘All’ tab and find Contacts App. Clear the cache and data.
2. Clear Cache & Data of the Dialer App The process is the same like in sequence mentioned above, only with ‘Dialer’ app.
3. Remove & Disable the Google+ app This one is a stock Google app, and you’re unable to uninstall it. Go to Settings / Application Manager/ scroll to ‘All’, and find Google+ app. Tap on ‘Uninstall Updates’, and then click on ‘Disable’. This method helps because the service of Google+ tries to connect & sync with your contacts.

10. Email Doesn’t Work

Many have problems with email app from Samsung, and usually avoid using it. There have been connectivity issues, no fetching & syncing, not response from manual refreshing, and so on. These problems put the app “out of business”, and there are an extensive array of alternatives from the market to help solve this problem easily. Here are some solutions for the email problems:

1. Delete, reboot, and add again from scratch. Look at this method as a reboot. Delete your email from the phone, and add it again after reboot. This simple solution usually solves problems with email connectivity.4 Additional info: Make sure to have the right parameters to connect to your email properly.
2. Wipe the cache partition Boot to Recovery mode, and wipe the cache partition, and try your email app again. If it isn’t working, refer to the step 1.

11. App Problems

Smartphone freezing, apps crashing and rebooting without any reason are the issues Galaxy S6 users encounter after some time of usage. The usual cause of these problems is bad software. People install all kinds of apps from the market or the internet, without checking the app’s security certificates, the liability of the manufacturers, and the possible outcomes. We are bombarded with loads of apps and services on the Play Store, and numerous websites around the web force us to install some“newest”, “hottest”, or “might save your device from viruses” app. Many advertisements are placed to force the user to download and install the app, just for commercial gains, and not any functionality or usability. You should beware from the non-trusted sources for apps, and install apps only from verified sources. Make sure you’re downloading an app from trustworthy service, like the Google Play Store. Internet websites often lure visitors in with free downloads of the premium apps and games. But in exchange, you have to watch annoying ads, you got several popups and forced new tab openings, and several potential threats to your system. “Unfortunately, the process com.google.process.gapps has stopped.” This message often occurs when you install untrusted apps, and backdoor viruses get into your system and interfere with Google Play database. To solve this issue, perform this sequence:

1. Clear Cached Data Go to Settings / Storage / Cached Data. Press the Cached Data, and accept the cleaning message.
2. Wipe Cache Partition Like we mentioned several times, wiping the cache partition (Power off, and then press Power + both Volume buttons) helps with many problems. It’s advisable to perform this when in need. Temporary cached data causes problems and clearing of this data let the phone execute a new caching.
3. Reset the phone to the factory settings If none of the provided solutions helps, you have to reset your phone and start from scratch. Make sure to backup your important files before performing this operation, because  all of your data will be lost.

12. Phone Overheating

There have been many complaints from the users about S6 overheating. If you’re a power user, juggling multiple apps, playing games with demanding graphics, and using your phone ‘to the max’, you will encounter this issue for sure. To overcome the overheating problem, you can restart your device, or boot into Safe mode. This sequence will cool down the phone faster than just leaving it to cool off by itself. If your Galaxy S6 overheats on some basic usage, you probably have an app that causes problems in the background. Apps get stuck closing and re-opening in an endless cycle in the background, and cause the processor to work hard, and heats up. To deal with this unwanted overheating, you should inspect your installed apps. Check the apps running in the background first. Tap on recent apps button on the phone, and choose the small icon on the right. This action will bring out the Ram Manager, which will show the occupation of RAM memory. Tap on the Active applications and look what is running background. Inspect the running applications and see what of them causes the problem. The alternative is to go to Battery Settings and check the battery usage. Usually, the problematic app spends the most resources. Inspect the app, and delete its cache & data. If the overheating still happens, you’ll have to uninstall the app.

13. Missing Some Quick Toggle Buttons

Mobile data and hotspot buttons disappear from the S6 smartphones, leaving the users in questioning. This problem occurs for the specific firmware versions, and Samsung was noticed about it. The solution came as an app called Quick Panel Restore. Solving this issue with Quick Panel Restore app:

1. Install the Quick Panel Restore app You can find it on Samsung Store, or Samsung’s website.
2. Tap on ‘Restore’
3. Reboot the phone

Conclusion

There are the most common problems for the Galaxy S6. Have you encountered any of the issues listed? Let us know how you managed to solve it? If you encountered any problem not listed today, let us know in the comments, and we’ll do our best to help you out!