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How to Reset a Frozen Galaxy S8

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This guide will explain how to reset a frozen Galaxy S8 or Galaxy S8+. If your phone freezes or starts acting up, this will help owners reboot it rather than going to a carrier store for help. While Samsung’s new phone is extremely fast and powerful, issues do occasionally surface.

The new Galaxy S8 and S8+ have a beautiful design with massive 5.8 and 6.2-inch screens. Samsung returned the great camera, water resistance, microSD slot and much more. However, the all metal and glass design means the battery isn’t removable. As a result pulling the battery to reset an unresponsive phone isn’t an option.

Read: Galaxy S8 Warranty: What You Need to Know

A quick reboot will solve almost any minor Galaxy S8 problem owners have. Which is what I tell all my friends and family to try first. So, if your Galaxy S8 or S8+ is frozen and unresponsive, below are the quick steps you can take to fix it.

For 2017 Samsung delivered one of their most powerful smartphones ever. The Galaxy S8 and S8+ use an all-new quad-core Snapdragon 835 platform processor, and 4GB of RAM for smooth performance. The company also doubled the storage by adding 64GB, there’s a microSD slot for more space and plenty to love.

That said, as more and more users pick it up after the April 21st release date reports and problems will begin to arrive. No phone is perfect, although Samsung’s latest sure comes close. Overall owners don’t need to worry about it freezing often, if ever, but in case it does you’ll want to know how to fix it.

Read: 8 Best Galaxy S8 Screen Protectors

As we’ve seen in previous years, Samsung added a quick button combination that owners can press and hold to reboot a frozen Galaxy S8. This is required because the battery isn’t removable. A similar method is used on the iPhone. Without further delay, here’s how to do it.

Reset a Frozen Galaxy S8 or S8+

During the initial setup you likely missed this quick tip or notification, but Samsung mentions how to do what’s called a “hard reset” to fix any issues or freezing. It’s worth noting that resetting a frozen Galaxy S8 will not erase any data. It just reboots the phone.

“If your device is unresponsive, press and hold the Power key and the Volume down key simultaneously for more than 7 seconds to restart it.”

Push and hold both Power and Volume down at the same time for 7 seconds

To take a screenshot press and hold the power and volume down key simultaneously, then let go. That same button combination is how to reset a frozen Galaxy S8. Only you’ll need to press both buttons at the same time, and hold down for roughly 7-8 seconds. Next the phone will vibrate, turn off, and reboot.

No data will be lost or erased, although any apps or browser windows will be closed. It’s worth nothing that if it was extremely frozen or unresponsive the Galaxy S8 could boot back up into what’s called a maintenance or “safe” mode. Follow the instructions on-screen to navigate with the volume keys. Scroll down to reboot, and hit power to reboot normally.

That’s it, we’re all done. As a quick note, this process is the same on the Galaxy S8, Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge, Note 5, Galaxy S6 and many other Samsung devices. Most Android phones actually use this button combination. The more you know, right? Now all problems should be solved and the phone is ready for use. Drop a comment below with any questions or concerns. While you’re here take a look at the best S8+ cases below.

20 Best Galaxy S8+ Cases

Samsung Alcantara Case ($20)

Samsung Alcantara Case ($20)

A neat case from Samsung for the Galaxy S8 is the Alcantara case. It's a beautiful and durable hard case that's covered in Suede-like material. It looks good, feels incredibly soft and is "stain-resistant" too. This is our first recommendation of many. Your phone will be safe, and look good doing it. Since it's a fabric the first few days it may shed, but that quickly went away on ours. 

Samsung makes some of the best cases, of course, and this will be no exception. It comes in four different colors and looks pretty unique. Get one for your Galaxy S8+. For whatever reason, most of Samsung's best cases aren't available on their own online shop. If you want one, check out MobileFun.com for all your needs. 

Buy it Now on Amazon for $20

11 Comments

11 Comments

  1. Audrey

    04/24/2017 at 4:05 pm

    It worked! Thank you! My Plus was completely frozen. Nothing was able to be used, and the time didn’t even change.
    This reboot worked, and didn’t even go into safe mode.

  2. Remco

    04/28/2017 at 12:46 pm

    This and all other possible button-combinations did not work at all on my frozen S8+. It went to black screen last sunday, only 4 days after I got the beauty.
    Went back to the store and even they couldn’t manage to start it up.
    So they ordered a new one for me, but well… that still leaves me without the phone
    I was waiting for for a long time. Still waiting for it now :(

  3. Kelley

    04/28/2017 at 11:55 pm

    Thank you for this! I panicked a pit when the phone froze. I remeber when I got the S6 edge flagship the same thing happened and it took me forever to find how to reset!
    So far this is the 1st freeze for my S8 Plus. I’ll keep you posted if it continues to happen!

  4. Leo

    04/30/2017 at 9:32 pm

    Thanks for this help. However my S8 is so frozen, that does not even help anymore.
    I’m trying for 3 days now to run down on battery power but even that seems impossible.

  5. Kris

    05/17/2017 at 10:42 am

    My s8’s screen in unresponsive and I’ve done this technique to reset/reboot it. Unfortunately, after 10+ times of resetting, I think it’s time to bring it in to my carrier.

    What is happening is that there are blue squares flashing around certain places on my phone (outlining the clock, notifications, etc.) every second or so. At the same time, there is a beeping noise that my phone makes when the squares appear. It is a miracle that I can even turn my phone off, but I cannot swipe to unlock the lock screen when it is on.

    I never dropped my phone nor has it had contact with water, though I know that would not really be a problem.

    Aside from this, I also have Bluetooth connection problems. Music will skip, lag, and pause. Occasionally, Bluetooth would even disconnect by itself. Not really sure why this is happening as well, but I just wanted to report that.

  6. Anne

    05/18/2017 at 3:38 am

    Thank You! Saved my S8. Hope it was a one time glitch.

  7. James Blake

    05/29/2017 at 1:39 pm

    Thank you! This saved my s8.

  8. Fernanda

    07/10/2017 at 5:48 am

    Thank you so much for this tip!! It worked… my screen was also frozen couldn’t do anything… also you saved me a trip to the store….. I will bookmark this page……

  9. Curt

    07/17/2017 at 3:02 pm

    That was the best info ever..thanks!

  10. A.Bundy

    08/08/2017 at 4:15 pm

    well, its a good thing that they got rid of the removable battery, where you can just pop it out if the phone is unresponsive and in two seconds you are back up and running. now you have to waste your time to fiddle with it and see if you can figure out how to reset it, then if that dont work, waste your gas money, take it to the carrier’s store, waste their time, leave it there to be fixed, waste more time and gas going home and waste even more time and gas going back to the store to pick it up. great idea geniuses.

  11. Jason

    02/07/2018 at 1:43 am

    My phone freezes to the point where their is pixels /coding accross the screen. If you hit the power button you now have a black screen. I have already tried these rebot 1 to 8 times a day. No 2 apps are open at the same time, ive done 4 hard resets and also installed different apps not the same. I can wait anywhere from 5 mins to 5hrs before it desides to work, make sure you have a charger because while the phone is stuck in funny looking screen its killing you battery. Rebots only cause more flickering/ more black screens. If i left my s8+ to run out it would probably be one of those case where it wouldnt start up again. Might be so lucky. I have contacted samsung 3 times only received 1 phone call back. Going to the telstra shop tomorrow either they take the phone or i leave telstra. Samsung hasnt won me back, not with these major problems when i dont have a home phone. I stopped buying samsung when they removed us pulli g the batteries out. Having it sealed is stupid. 1 in every 1 million bloat and swell, hence why they arrnt allowed in cars.

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