How do I stop the fingerprint lock screen from freezing my phone?

[AC Question]

I have a Note 4 running Android 5.1.1. The fingerprint lock is enabled on my phone because I use Android Pay which requires it to be on. However, while it is enabled, my phone will constantly freeze. While using it, the device will randomly freeze for a minute and then kick me out to the lock screen even though the lock button wasn't hit and the screen didn't time out. Also, sometimes while trying to unlock the phone, it will become unresponsive and the screen will stay black for a few minutes and then eventually the screen will turn on. At that point it will either let me sign in or stay frozen with only the background showing.

 

[nahoku]

The fingerprint lock is enabled on my phone because I use Android Pay which requires it to be on

When did this happen? I thought you could use a pin or password too. Curious.

 

[mastermind1412]

It happened months ago whenever they rolled out the Android Pay. Activating Android Pay makes it so you can't even take off the lock screen. The option is grayed out.

 

[nahoku]

I know about the lock screen... I was wondering about you specifically stating "fingerprint".

Can you disable the Android Pay app so you can troubleshoot. You will probably need to remove it as a Device Administrator before you can disable the app. Once disabled, you may be able to disable fingerprint and choose some other form of lock... ie, pin, password... as it may un-grey the option.

If you can do that, try starting your phone in Safe Mode. Safe mode will disable apps you installed yourself and then you can see if the freezing or other problems still persist. If your phone works fine, you will need to 1 by 1 uninstall apps until you find the culprit.

 

[mastermind1412]

I don't believe the Android Pay has anything to do with it. Any other lock screen (i.e. Pin, Password) can be activated and won't freeze the phone. Also, the fingerprint lock continues to freeze the phone even with Android Pay disabled.

In safe mode, it seems to be working fine with no freezes. Seems like it's an app that's freezing the phone. Looks like I'm going to have to find out which one.

 

[mastermind1412]

Spoke too soon. It froze while in safe mode.

 

[nahoku]

The only other thing I can think of is wiping the cache partition in recovery. Have you done that already. Last option, if your phone is new or under warranty is to contact whoever sold you the phone, your carrier, or Samsung to get the phone replaced.