The home button on my Samsung S5 often goes to google instead of the home screen

[Ian Wood]

It does it intermittently, and I suspect it's because the whole phone is lagging - too many little background things running I suppose.

First, do others have this problem? Does anyone have more than a hunch as to whats going on?

Second, assuming it's the lag problem (making a single press lag so long it seems like a long press), what are some strategies for clearing out less necessary tasks the phone is doing?

 

[Tahoe916]

I had this problem for awhile on both my s5 and tab s. I finally got so fed up I uninstalled a lot of my less important apps which showed as running in the background even after a restart. It's gone away, I figure one or more of the apps was lagging the system. It's really annoying that so many apps run in the background when you don't need them to, and no way for most of them to disable that behavior. You can use application manager in settings or a task killer program to find the apps that do this, reboot first and give it a little time.

 

[Ian Wood]

Thanks Tahoe, that's more or less what I figured. It's a bit sad that OS lag affects the measured time the home button is held down! And especially annoying that the google app itself seems to lag badly, so I can almost never go direct to the home screen from there ):

Anyway, I found a temporary work-around for anyone else who runs into this: if you tap the task switcher button first, then the home button I found it goes to the home screen every time -- it lags getting to the task switcher

 

[mary beth hale]

Try disabling SVoice . That affects use of the home button. Long press on the home button should open Google Now. With SVoice disabled, the home button responds immediately. (for me)

 

[BerryBubbles]

Hi!
My home key always launches 'Google Now' with a long press.
If I tap the home key, I'm fine, but if I linger, Google Now pops up.
That's how it's setup (T-Mobile Carrier).
It doesn't happen to me as much as when I first purchased the phone.
I must be getting better at tapping versus pressing.

Oh...Mary Beth beat me to the Google now, but I didn't know about the SVoice...Thanks!

 

[kingkiller2]

Stated happening to my phone and a friend's phone recently after the 4.4.4 update. Ready to run our phones over then chuck them at the AT&T store.

 

[ryetronics]

A simple restart fixed this on my AT&T 4.4.4.

 

[sapperguy]

I'm having the same intermittent issue. Already diabled S Voice and will try the quick tap instead of my normal tap to see if that helps. Wasn't a problem until a few days ago when I did (what I assume to be) the 4.4.4 update. I'm not that tech savvy so I don't know how to see if that's the update I'm running lol.

 

[jjacobs]

Having this same problem where when I use the home button to close out an app it will open a new search window instead. Different from the double press opening up a google now search.

 

[Howard Benson]

Posted on another site.... Try removing battery for 10 minutes... Mine was constantly going to Google Voice etc but this seemed to stop that. Alot of other peeps are having same problem in other threads.

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[PDXGlenn]

I have AT&T Galaxy S5 and noticed this issue after updating to 4.4.4. I and others have fixed this by doing a "cold" reboot. Remove battery for at least one minute. Put battery back in, start up the phone and presto! Should take care of the problem. I don't believe that SVoice has anything to do with this. However, I have read that with SVoice activited by a double tap on on the Home Key, normal connection to the home page is slowed a few milliseconds, but this is not related to the issue under discussion in this forum. SVoice can be disconnected from the Home Key in the app's settings. Then SVoice is launched directly through the app only rather than using the Home Key as a shortcut.

 

[Mpilot]

I figured it out! Its something within the google search engine. If you change it to Bing, Yahoo, etc.....it reverts the home button back to home instead of Google search. Its a new function by google to find apps and songs quicker. For example, when it pops up if you type the first letter of an app, it will allow you to select it from there instead of searching through your pages. It was annoying at first but since I now know what its doing...its kind of cool. If it still annoys you, just switch search engines. When the search page pops up for Google, you can even scroll to the bottom, click on settings, and adjust when that search screen pops up. I hope this helps!

 

[ZacAndre]

Don't touch the screen click the home button and it will go home barely touching the screen and clicking the home button and it will go to Google I know it works with s5 don't know with other phones

 

[Jeremy Blakely]

Don't touch the screen click the home button and it will go home barely touching the screen and clicking the home button and it will go to Google I know it works with s5 don't know with other phones

 

[Jeremy Blakely]

I had the same problem with my S5. I fixed it by trying a "hard boot". All you do is take the battery out while the phone is still on, then reinsert it.

 

[Micah Livingston]

I think I've got it. Next time it pops up, go to settings-phone search-and unclick all the buttons. Worked so far for me when nothing else did.

 

[Tiffani Hatcher]

Disable the app that says, "google." It's the search app. It's a blue square with the letter "G". Once it's disabled you will no longer have that issue. To disable simply hold down the app icon and move towards the top to "disable app". Works like a charm!

 

[Brad Vandehei]

I powered off, removed the battery for a minute and rebooted. Works great ... nothing easier. This way you don't have to disable the app if you use it.

 

[HelloMegs]

The only way to fix it permanently is to go into your app manager in your phone settings, scroll down to the Google app and then tap "uninstall updates". This will revert the Google app back to factory settings and you won't have to worry about that Google Now crap popping up when you hit your home button.

 

[jjacobs]

This is correct. You can touch somewhere on the screen and the home button and the search window pops up. Usually I am hitting the very edge of the screen and pressing the home button so the search pops up. If I am paying attention and just push the home button the search does not launch. Which is good as my next fix involved a hammer.