Samsung S7 Home and Recent Button not working (Airwatch)

[ScotsScouser]

Hi,

I'm having a problem with Samsung S7, Android 6.0.1, where after a few months of stable usage the Home and Recent buttons have stopped working.

I have an Enterprise build with Airwatch supporting device management. I have narrowed down the Airwatch application as being somehow involved with the buttons being disabled: if I perform an Enterprise Wipe, then uninstall all Airwatch applications, then perform a power-off/on reset the Home/Recent buttons are restored.

If I reinstall Airwatch and re-enroll the device to the Enterprise then buttons are once again disabled.

The exact point at which buttons are disabled are when the Airwatch enrollment asks me to confirm that "The Agent would like to manage your device - ACTIVATE' (this is a compulsory request as part of the enrollment).

Yet the Airwatch client appears to work mostly OK on other Samsung S7's.

Are there any other suggestions out there on how to resolve this? I haven't yet performed a factory reset as am trying to avoid if possible.

Thanks

 

[Thomas Deverell]

Did you find a solution to your issue with AirWatch breaking the Home/App buttons? I have a User in my company that just ran some updates on Android 6.0.1, and now his s7 is having the same issue. We did an enterprise wipe (removed AirWatch), and the buttons started working again. Re-installed AirWatch and the buttons stopped working, again. I'm also going to follow up with AirWatch forums for a solution.

Thanks!

 

[filipeforneck]

Any news? I have a S6 on 6.0.1 with Airwatch Enterprise, and I'm facing the same issue. It started about 1 week ago. One day I unlock the device and got a screen asking to update the password. Before I could confirm the new password the screen went away. I can't enter the settings screen to update password anymore, and home and recent buttons have not worked since then.

 

[filipeforneck]

My issue was solved. O contacted Samsung support through the chat and was instructed to reboot the device into safe mode. Once in safe mode, the first thing that was shown to me was the screen to update the password, which I did (I had to enter a new one). Once that was done, home and recent buttons started working again, and security settings too, even after rebooting out of safe mode. So I guess my problem was an expired device password all along.

Here's how to enter safe mode:
1. shut the phone off;
2. hold power button until the Samsung logo screen appears;
3. When the logo appears, release the power button and immediately hold the volume down button;
4. Keep it pressed until booting is over, which in my case was when the password for decrypting the device is asked;

HTH.

 

[daninobrown]

Hi,

I am having the same issue on my S7 Edge with 6.0.1

I have booted into safe mode but do not get the password prompt you speak of.

To clarify, are you saying you changed the startup/lock screen pin for your phone or changed a password related to one of the Airwatch apps (i.e. Airwatch Inbox). Or did you change your SSO passcode?

Thanks for any help you can provide, this issue is driving me (and our IT guys) crazy....

 

[filipeforneck]

It was not an Airwatch apps password, it was the phone's password.

 

[drakhi]

FYI you can also just have your Airwatch Administrator force a password reset on your phone. Once you enter that, it will force you to set a new password, and that will restore the button functionality as well. I am an Airwatch Administrator with a Galaxy S7, so unfortunately I found this out the hard way. =)

 

[xano66]

Hi Thomas and all

immediately after I placed my S7 in a Samsung flip wallet I lost the home button function, the recent apps button, the screen lock type screen (that now remains blank), and the smart lock function that is now locked. I cannot reset settings, nor can I access fingerprints anymore. I noticed the phone was downloading an update right after I used the wallet (accessories). I didn't pay attention to it, and then realised the home button wasn't working anymore.
I restarted the phone several times, also in safe mode, but couldn't figure out which app was the accessories update that probably conflicted with the smart lock and screen lock type.
I also have Airwatch installed and have lost my company email...
Any idea anyone how the layman I am can fix this?
Thanks for your assistance

Christian

 

[xano66]

Issue solved. Since reset wasn't working through the menu I had to reset the phone by pressing on/off + volume up + home (data wipe), insert the phone in the flip wallet, and reinstall Airwatch. It's working fine now. I just hope I won't get another accessories update that will conflict with the settings of Airwatch again (if that was the issue)...

 

[zoeyelijah]

My Gs7 edge crashed twice already… The screen freezes followed by a loud screaming noise, then the screen blacks out then resets. Currently it’s frozen again after using the vr headset for the first time. The screen is black with the buttons at the bottom lit up. Can’t do anything

 

[Dmorton1971]

Hi,

I am having the same issue on my S7 Edge with 6.0.1

I have booted into safe mode but do not get the password prompt you speak of.

To clarify, are you saying you changed the startup/lock screen pin for your phone or changed a password related to one of the Airwatch apps (i.e. Airwatch Inbox). Or did you change your SSO passcode?

Thanks for any help you can provide, this issue is driving me (and our IT guys) crazy....

Reset my PIN and it solved the problem immediately.

 

[ScotsScouser]

Hi,

Thanks all for the feedback on your experiences. I just wanted to provide an update as I have learned the hard way how to recover from this, as it has now happened several times.

My Enterprise was reluctant to contact Airwatch as they claimed it was a unique problem to my phone so just wanted to factory reset.

As pointed out above, the bug is somehow related to the security settings. If the home/recent buttons stop working, it is also the case that the Security Settings become disabled. It seems to be that resolving/resetting the password (as pointed out above) is the solution .. but its not always consistent how to resolve this. Sometimes you can be lucky in that a safe-mode reset forces a request for a new password, but this is not reliable.

The process I have followed recently is:
1) Attempt safe-start reset. If you're lucky you might be request to reset the phone password (6 characters).

2) Unenroll from Airwatch; this recovers access to the security settings on the phone.

4) Restart in normal mode

5) In phone security settings, reset password to 4 character password

6) Restart in normal mode.

7) Re-enrol with Airwatch. This forces a prompt to reset password to 6 characters.

8) Compete enrollment and install inbox.

Or if you have a friendly IT support team in your Enterprise that's not been outsourced and charged by the second, I suspect that the easiest route is to force the password reset remotely! The Airwatch settings that I have access to don't seem to be able to force a password reset remotely.