Why are my applications crashing and all of my data has stopped working?

[AC Question]

my applications crash, all data stopped working

my phone is not rooted (don't know the purpose and don't care to do it) but does have this unlocked pad lock that shows custom underneath it. This icon showed up when it all crashed about two weeks ago. I purchased new and original owner of the phone in late 2013.
my issue is I'm not able to surf the web, use my apps either on 4g nor when i'm connected via wifi. i paid a visit to a samsung repair center and the manager tells me the browser got corrupted during an update and only solution is to reset. he acknowledged that my phone is not rooted. I would be fine doing a reset but i have tons of pictures i want to recover but i'm unable to access.
I'm currently using an old iphone but when the note crash i was able to make/receive calls and SMS text. i was not able to receive group texts as it's considered "data". Again all my data was disabled, ATT didn't put a block either. HELP please as i want my personal data.

 

[B. Diddy]

Re: my applications crash, all data stopped working

Welcome to Android Central! Are all of the photos in Internal Storage, as opposed to the microSD card?

Have you already tried booting into Recovery and wiping the cache? You didn't mention which Note you have, but since you bought it in 2013, I'll assume it's the Note 3: https://support.t-mobile.com/docs/DOC-11017

Are you able to get past the screen lock and get to the homescreen? If so, what happens if you plug the phone into your computer via USB? Can you access the photos using Windows Explorer on your computer?