Question Samsung Galaxy A15 5G - Home button and show recent apps button randomly stop working sometimes. How to fix/stop/what's going on?

[PleasantFlight6]

I got a Galaxy A15 5G around a month ago and sometimes the home button on the bottom menu just randomly stops working. It only starts working if I turn the phone off and then restart from the lock screen and ONLY the lock screen. It won't turn off all the way if I'm signed in all the way I've already tried updating my phone and clearing the cache partition but the issue keeps coming back. The only button on the bottom menu that DOES work when this happens is the back button. I'm running One UI 6.1 and Android version 14. Help!!!! I'd really like to NOT do a factory reset if possible.

 

[B. Diddy]

Welcome to Android Central! How often does this happen? If it's pretty frequent, then try booting into Safe Mode and see if the problem goes away. If it does go away in Safe Mode, then something you installed is the culprit -- but you may have to uninstall apps one by one to figure out the cause.

Power on your Galaxy phone or tablet in Safe mode

You can use Safe mode to remove problematic third-party apps from your Galaxy device.

www.samsung.com

 

[PleasantFlight6]

Welcome to Android Central! How often does this happen? If it's pretty frequent, then try booting into Safe Mode and see if the problem goes away. If it does go away in Safe Mode, then something you installed is the culprit -- but you may have to uninstall apps one by one to figure out the cause.

Power on your Galaxy phone or tablet in Safe mode

You can use Safe mode to remove problematic third-party apps from your Galaxy device.

www.samsung.com

Hey! It happens anywhere from 2 weeks to 3 days apart and I can't find any consistent triggers. Would booting in safe mode still help in this case?

 

[B. Diddy]

Hey! It happens anywhere from 2 weeks to 3 days apart and I can't find any consistent triggers. Would booting in safe mode still help in this case?

That's probably unfeasible, since Safe Mode disables any 3rd party app you installed.

Another approach is to look through the list of apps that have the ability to Display Over Other Apps. Go to Settings>Apps, then tap the 3-dot menu button at the upper right, then Special Access>Appear On Top. Look for any 3rd party app that has the toggle turned on, and try turning that off if it's not really necessary.

 

[PleasantFlight6]

That's probably unfeasible, since Safe Mode disables any 3rd party app you installed.

Another approach is to look through the list of apps that have the ability to Display Over Other Apps. Go to Settings>Apps, then tap the 3-dot menu button at the upper right, then Special Access>Appear On Top. Look for any 3rd party app that has the toggle turned on, and try turning that off if it's not really necessary.

Thanks so much! I'll go try that. Are there any apps or types for apps you especially think should or shouldn't have that enabled?

 

[B. Diddy]

This page might be helpful to learn why an app would need that feature: https://dev.to/thomas_4b3207adb1a95...llows certain,you're using other applications.

If you see a 3rd party app that doesn't seem to need any of that, you can try turning the permission off and see if (a) the app's functions are hampered, and (b) if the problem goes away.

 

[PleasantFlight6]

Thanks so much! I'll go try that. Are there any apps or types for apps you especially think should or shouldn't have that enabled?

Nevermind-- Looks like there weren't too many third party apps that had that activated. I turned it off for AR Emoji, browsers, Google, One UI Home, Find My Mobile, Modes and Routines, and Samsung Visit In. I still have it on for: camera, clock, device care, digital wellbeing, messages, my files and Samsung notes. Should I change any of those to be on/off again?

 

[PleasantFlight6]

This page might be helpful to learn why an app would need that feature: https://dev.to/thomas_4b3207adb1a95f6d5b/how-can-i-enable-or-disable-the-display-over-other-apps-feature-on-android-ekj#:~:text=The "Display Over Other Apps" feature on Android allows certain,you're using other applications.

If you see a 3rd party app that doesn't seem to need any of that, you can try turning the permission off and see if (a) the app's functions are hampered, and (b) if the problem goes away.

Ahhh gotcha! Thanks so much then! I'll see if anything changes and check back in if the problem comes up again

 

[B. Diddy]

Nevermind-- Looks like there weren't too many third party apps that had that activated. I turned it off for AR Emoji, browsers, Google, One UI Home, Find My Mobile, Modes and Routines, and Samsung Visit In. I still have it on for: camera, clock, device care, digital wellbeing, messages, my files and Samsung notes. Should I change any of those to be on/off again?

Those are all system/preinstalled Samsung apps, so I doubt any of those would be problems.

Do you have a screen protector on? Have you considered switching to gesture navigation, which might simply bypass this issue?

 

[PleasantFlight6]

Those are all system/preinstalled Samsung apps, so I doubt any of those would be problems.

Do you have a screen protector on? Have you considered switching to gesture navigation, which might simply bypass this issue?

No screen protector. I just switched over to gesture navigation and we'll see how it goes! If you don't mind me asking though, what about swiping vs tapping do you think helps circumvent the issue? I believe u + not saying that in a condescending way, just genuinely curious ^^

 

[B. Diddy]

No screen protector. I just switched over to gesture navigation and we'll see how it goes! If you don't mind me asking though, what about swiping vs tapping do you think helps circumvent the issue? I believe u + not saying that in a condescending way, just genuinely curious ^^

It's just a different mechanism for accessing the Home function -- if there's some glitch with the UI where the Home button on the screen is acting up, or if there's a problem with the touchscreen in that area, it can probably bypass it.

 

[PleasantFlight6]

It's just a different mechanism for accessing the Home function -- if there's some glitch with the UI where the Home button on the screen is acting up, or if there's a problem with the touchscreen in that area, it can probably bypass it.

Makes sense! Thanks again!!!!!!!!

 

[PleasantFlight6]

It just happened again even though I switched to gesture. Cant access home even though I'm swiping and getting feedback. This is more frequent than usual too -- had this happen yesterday when there's usually multiple days between instances. Any advice? Wasn't doing anything weird either - was trying to get home from Pokémon Sleep's no wifi menu. It also seemed like spell check/predictive text broke when this happened? Was able to get to home screen by spamming back but that's it.

 

[B. Diddy]

Since it's happening more frequently, try booting into Safe Mode and see if the problem goes away. You may have to deal with using the phone without any of your 3rd party apps for the better part of the day.

 

[PleasantFlight6]

Since it's happening more frequently, try booting into Safe Mode and see if the problem goes away. You may have to deal with using the phone without any of your 3rd party apps for the better part of the day.

I've been in safe mode for a while now and it hasn't happened. Does that mean the problem is probably an app? How do I go about identifying which one?

 

[B. Diddy]

That can be tedious, if you don't have an idea of which app might be the problem. If this only recently started, you could start with apps you recently installed.

Are you using a 3rd party launcher, like Nova?

 

[PleasantFlight6]

That can be tedious, if you don't have an idea of which app might be the problem. If this only recently started, you could start with apps you recently installed.

Are you using a 3rd party launcher, like Nova?

Nope, nothing like that. Unfortunately it's been going on for around a month too - would that conversely eliminate any recently downloaded apps? thanks so much again for your help, I really appreciate it

 

[B. Diddy]

Another tricky thing is that sometimes, an update to an app can cause problems, and apps can get updated pretty frequently depending on the dev, so that can make it harder to figure it out.

No accessibility options are turned on, right?

 

[PleasantFlight6]

Another tricky thing is that sometimes, an update to an app can cause problems, and apps can get updated pretty frequently depending on the dev, so that can make it harder to figure it out.

No accessibility options are turned on, right?

Sorry for the delay! No accessibility options are on. It also hasn't happened again since Feb. 23rd for whatever that's worth.

 

[B. Diddy]

How many 3rd party apps have you installed? If it's not too many, maybe you can share a list of them and we can make some educated guesses as to which might be a culprit.