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Help I recently put my phone into some strange state. Does anyone know how I can put it back?

Ali Shibaz

Newbie
Jul 3, 2015
46
8
I bought a Samsung Galaxy S4 about a month ago & I recently put my Home Screen into some kind of altered state that I don't recognize & I sure do hope someone here might be able to tell me how to put it back into its original state.

It may help if I told you that I recently discovered if I tap anywhere on an empty spot on my Home Screen, I go into a different kind of state other than t "Original State". I'm calling this "Altered State" - only because I don't know its correct name.

If you are not familiar with what happens when you Tap & Hold on an empty spot on t Home Screen, please try that & you will see what I am trying to describe below. The state is virtually identical to t state I'm trying to describe.

T following is my attempt to describe this "Altered State". Perhaps t best way for you to understand this state is if you will do t following: Just tap & hold on any empty spot on t Home Screen & t phone will go into this state.

If you are not familiar with what happens when you tap & hold on an empty spot on t Home Screen, please try that (if you can) & then you will see what I'm trying to describe.

I sure would like to change my Home Screen back to its original state & find out just how it got into this state & how I can get it back to its original state.

Sometimes I experiment with my phone & go exploring in different areas & I think this change ocurred when I was doing that. I believe this change may have something to do with "Screen Lock" because I first noticed it when I was experimenting with that feature & I noticed a picture of a "lock" on my Home Screen.

Somehow, what I did was to change t nature of t "Menu" button on t LHS (Left Hand Side) of t menu bar at t bottom of my Home Screen. It used to display a menu, but it doesn't do that anymore. Now, when I tap on t left side of t menu bar, it causes t Home Screen to go into a different state which you can duplicate if you tap & hold on any empty spot on t Home Screen.

I wouldn't say this "Altered state" is any better or worse than its "original state". But it sure is different & I sure would like to know how I got my phone into this state in t first place & how I can get it back.

When I tap on t Apps, I go into some other kind of state related to t Apps & then, when I tap on t left side of t menu bar at t bottom of t screen, I can once more access a menu. But this menu is related to t Apps & some of t entries appear very useful. This menu contains eight items & they are labeled:

1) Edit 2) Create folder 3) View as 4) Downloaded apps 5) Uninstall/disable apps 6) Hide apps 7) Show hidden apps 8) Help

The "Help" option provides Help for t Home screen & its seven pages. It has four options which are labelled:

1) Adding Items 2) Creating folders 3) Removing items 4) Changing t wallpaper

Can anyone tell me how I got into this "Altered state" & what it might be called & how I can get back to t Original state once more? Thank you.
 
Just off hand I would say that a factory reset would put you right back where you want to be and save you the headache of trying to figure this out. Just take out anything you want to save like pics and music and back up your apps if you want. Might be a bit "drastic," but I think it's certainly the "shortest distance from point A to point B" on this one.
 
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Just off hand I would say that a factory reset would put you right back where you want to be and save you the headache of trying to figure this out. Just take out anything you want to save like pics and music and back up your apps if you want. Might be a bit "drastic," but I think it's certainly the "shortest distance from point A to point B" on this one.

I have done a factory reset once before and it caused me the biggest regret I have ever had with this phone.

I forgot the password to my Samsung acct and the system told me ... Forgot your password? No Problem! Just click this link and we will reset it. So I clicked on the link and then in order to verify I was not a "bot", it insisted that I pass the Captcha test and the letters were so difficult to read, that I tried close to 50 times and could not pass the test. So I was stuck and it was the middle of the night and I couldn't get any help from Samsung. So I was just stuck and could not proceed.

My phone was about as useful as a ... what do you call it ... a brick. You know? A brick?

Well, I finally figured out a way to trick them into letting me past. But it was one of the most painful and frustrating experiences I ever had and I would not advise my very worst enemy to ever do a factory reset.

I'm sorry.

I realize you are probably just trying to be helpful.

But, I fear that many people who are not aware of the potential for disaster would just go ahead and blithely do a factory reset or - even worse - a Rooting and the result would be a very nice brick.

At least they could spend a little while cleaning their screen and so they would have a nice looking brick.

But for a few hours, it would still be a brick.

I would warn everyone to stay away from drastic actions like factory resets or "Rooting" unless they had a very knowledgeable user beside them to help guide them through any problems.

By the way, I'm just curious here. Would you mind if I asked how many times you have done a factory reset on your phone and where did you find the instructions for doing that?
 
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Just off hand I would say that a factory reset would put you right back where you want to be and save you the headache of trying to figure this out. Just take out anything you want to save like pics and music and back up your apps if you want. Might be a bit "drastic," but I think it's certainly the "shortest distance from point A to point B" on this one.

If it puts me right back where I was, then it wouldn't really be very drastic.

But you are correct insofar as it is indeed very drastic because it wipes out a whole bunch of items that a novice user may or many not have backed up and may or may not be able to recreate. As I recall when I did a factory reset, it wiped out a bunch of data that I really did not want to have wiped out and that caused me a whole lot of misery.

I would not advise my worst enemy to perform a factory reset unless they knew all about it - all the pros and cons and knew how to deal with any and all problems that can result from such a drastic action.
 
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Just tap and hold any empty spot on your home screen and you will experience it first hand.
Not seeing it, whatever it is.
I have taken a screen shot of this state and I have a photo in my Gallery. Can you advise how I can take that photo and get it into this forum?
Check out "Forums for Android™"

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.tapatalk.androidforumscom

That's our official app, makes uploading pictures and screen shots easily done.

Btw, many of us use the factory data reset regularly - the key to success is having a good backup - I recommend Helium Backup as part of the non-root strategy, so it's a matter of backup, reset, restore.

But let's see if some screen shots can help clarify.

Are you using your phone's built-in launcher (desktop app) or an add-on like Nova, Apex, Go, etc etc?
 
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I don't have much experience with the samsung launcher, but it sounds like you've just gone into the homescreen editing mode (where you can add/remove widgets and app icons, and change the homescreen order and wallpaper). Pressing and holding an empty spot of the homescreen is an almost entirely universal shortcut to do this, and the options you're seeing there sound like what you would expect in that mode.

Usually hitting the back button, the home button or an on screen X icon is all you need to do to get back to the regular homescreen. Certainly, a factory reset is overkill in this instance.
 
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This looks like it, although the exact options listed probably changes with every phone/firmware release:

How-to-Customize-App-Drawer-on-Samsung-Galaxy-S4.jpg


hide-apps-on-galaxy-s3.jpg


That would make it the edit-mode for the app drawer (rather than the homesc, rather than the homescreen itself. But it should be exitable the same way, by hitting the back or home key.
 
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I would warn everyone to stay away from drastic actions like factory resets or "Rooting" unless they had a very knowledgeable user beside them to help guide them through any problems.

By the way, I'm just curious here. Would you mind if I asked how many times you have done a factory reset on your phone and where did you find the instructions for doing that?

Rooting is certainly not for everyone, and as you say, not advisable if you have limited knowledge or understanding of the process, unless you're feeling adventurous. That being said, after you have done it a couple of times you realise the benifits were worth it....however, this is drifting off topic now.

I've factory reset my phone, and got it back to factory state one way or another dozens of times, when you root you have to, but when you root it is easier to take backups. I hate doing it too though as setting everything back up and restoring all the information can be a pain.

I have taken a screen shot of this state and I have a photo in my Gallery. Can you advise how I can take that photo and get it into this forum?
There should be "Upload File" at the bottom of the writing post screen. You will need to transfer the picture to your PC first if you are using a computer, or upload straight from phone if you are on that.


But you are correct insofar as it is indeed very drastic because it wipes out a whole bunch of items that a novice user may or many not have backed up and may or may not be able to recreate. As I recall when I did a factory reset, it wiped out a bunch of data that I really did not want to have wiped out and that caused me a whole lot of misery.
I don't use them myself as I am rooted and use Titanium, but does anyone else here know if Helium backs everything up? Or another app? I think the Kies software should back everything up shouldn't it?
 
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Wow, lot's of replies in the time it took me to write that.
I don't have much experience with the samsung launcher, but it sounds like you've just gone into the homescreen editing mode (where you can add/remove widgets and app icons, and change the homescreen order and wallpaper). Pressing and holding an empty spot of the homescreen is an almost entirely universal shortcut to do this, and the options you're seeing there sound like what you would expect in that mode.

Usually hitting the back button, the home button or an on screen X icon is all you need to do to get back to the regular homescreen. Certainly, a factory reset is overkill in this instance.

That's what I was thinking, but thought it best to check in case I was misunderstanding.
 
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I agree with both of you - as @Xyro said, a factory data reset may not be warranted yet - and @SavageRobot is right, Kies is probably a better choice here as it's a Samsung.

I think it's important advice for the future as a factory data reset ought not be something to fear. And clearing main cache from recovery is often all that's needed and that loses no data - but won't help here.

If I'm not mistaken, using the browser to upload an hd screen shot will be a problem because of size, and often the additional hassle of resizing the shot comes in to play along with moving the shot from phone to pc.

Our app handles all of that automatically. Picture quality is lost but for something like this it's usually good enough. If you don't want it otherwise, just using or deactivate, bring it online when facing this sort of need.
 
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I don't have much experience with the samsung launcher, but it sounds like you've just gone into the homescreen editing mode (where you can add/remove widgets and app icons, and change the homescreen order and wallpaper). Pressing and holding an empty spot of the homescreen is an almost entirely universal shortcut to do this, and the options you're seeing there sound like what you would expect in that mode.

Usually hitting the back button, the home button or an on screen X icon is all you need to do to get back to the regular homescreen. Certainly, a factory reset is overkill in this instance.

Yes Indeed! Home Screen Edit mode. That is exactly what I think this is.

Thank you so much. But I still don't know how to get back to the normal state.

Once in Home Screen Edit mode, it's easy to get back by tapping the menu bar at the bottom of the screen.

But I still have a problem in that whenever I tap the menu button, I go into this Edit mode. This is not the normal way that things happen when you tap the menu button and I'd sure like to know how I got into this state of affairs and how I can go back to normal.

Thanks again.
 
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Wow! I'd just like to say that I am very impressed with the number of posts made in the time since I posted this thread and the quality of the posts seems to me to be wonderful.

I have tried several other forums - at least 5 - which I won't name to prevent any invasion of privacy. But I'd like o say thank you very much to everyone and even tho I still have not figured out my problem, it is not a very serious problem and it has been one of the best learning exercises I have yet encountered with my phone.

It's very easy to get out of this HS Edit mode by tapping anywhere on the menu bar or most anywhere on the screen.

But my problem remains. That problem is that for some reason, when I press the Menu Button (different from the Menu Bar) I don't get any menu displayed and instead, I go into this HS Edit more.

I just had a flash! Is it possible this problem might have anything to do with the setting:

Settings -> Home Screen Display -> Touch key light duration

I set mine to "Always Off"

The reason I did that is because I know where the Menu button and Back button are and I don't need to see them. They are just a small way to use the battery and I have a list of many techniques I use to avoid using my battery.

This happened around the same time I set that "Touch key light duration" to "Always Off".

Could they be related?
 
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Oh I see what you mean now, so when you press your menu hard button (I think on Samsung phones if I remember right is Menu-Home-Back) that takes you to the screen edit? What should it do on home screen? I can't remember but can't think what else a menu button should do on home screen.
-Edit-
Never mind, you have posted and answered what it should be. I will have a think and find someone with a Samsung for me to play with.
 
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I'm trying to reply to EarlyMon who said "I'm not seeing it - whatever it is".

For some reason, I can't seem to get that quote into this message. But I'll worry about that later.

Perhaps the reason you are not seeing it is because, that technique (tap and hold on any empty spot on the home screen) is related to the problem and perhaps that techque is not working for you because you are in the Normal State. Perhaps it only works for me because I have gotten into this altered state somehow.

I will try to remove that "Always off" settting and see if it does anything.
 
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I'm trying to reply to EarlyMon who said "I'm not seeing it - whatever it is".

For some reason, I can't seem to get that quote into this message. But I'll worry about that later.

Perhaps the reason you are not seeing it is because, that technique (tap and hold on any empty spot on the home screen) is related to the problem and perhaps that techque is not working for you because you are in the Normal State. Perhaps it only works for me because I have gotten into this altered state somehow.

I will try to remove that "Always off" settting and see if it does anything.
I'm not seeing it because I'm running Nova on a different phone right now, and was running a Samsung earlier when I posted that - but the Samsung drove off with one of our friends so no telling when I can try to recheck it - sorry. :(
 
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Oh I see what you mean now, so when you press your menu hard button (I think on Samsung phones if I remember right is Menu-Home-Back) that takes you to the screen edit? What should it do on home screen? I can't remember but can't think what else a menu button should do on home screen.
-Edit-
Never mind, you have posted and answered what it should be. I will have a think and find someone with a Samsung for me to play with.

What do you mean by "menu hard button"? What is that? The menu button on the S4 is not a hardware button but a software button located at the bottom LHS (left hand side) of the screen.
 
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