The "Unfortunately, Touchwhiz has stopped" error is not new in Samsung devices but to all android platforms in the market today. The fact, that your phone is able to power on there is a big chance that this is just a minor software issue. It could be the firmware was bugged or there were some third-party apps conflict the system that resulted the error message to show up without apparent reason.
So, in this post, I"ll discuss this issue to help those Galaxy S3 users whose experiencing the same problem and get rid of it. We will try to determine all possibilities through following the step by step procedure on your phone until we can create a resolution and resolve the issue. To start the troubleshooting, here are the methods that we would like you to perform:
Step 1: Perform Battery-pull procedure
In this method, we have to refresh phone's memory by doing the so-called battery pull procedure to see if a glitch in the system is causing it. Just remove the battery of the device and press the Power key for 10 seconds to discharge all electricity stored in the hardware components stored in it. After you do so, place it back the battery and turn on your device. But if the error message still appears after the method, proceed to the next step.
Step 2: Boot your Galaxy S3 in Safe Mode
The purpose of booting your phone in Safe mode is to eliminate the suspicion that a third-party app is causing the issue. This will temporarily disable all apps you downloaded from Play Store and letting the pre-installed ones run in the system. So, while in this mode and the error message is not showing up, then, there's a culprit you need to uninstall to fix the issue. This is how you restart your S3 in safe mode.
- Turn off your Galaxy S3.
- Press and hold the Power button.
- Immediately after the Samsung Galaxy S3 screen appears, release the Power button and press and hold the Power button.
- The phone would restart and the Safe Mode text will be visible in the lower-left corner of the screen.
While in Safe mode, observe closely if the error message still showing up. If it is, follow the next step.
Step 3: Wipe the System Cache Partition
Since, we still not sure what really the caused the problem, so, this time what we have to do now is to delete the system cache partition. Meaning, we have to wiped out all old caches stored in the directory so that newer ones will be replaced and could run smoothly once it will be loaded in the firmware. Here's how:
- Turn off your Galaxy S3.
- Press and hold the three buttons: the Volume Up, Home and Power buttons at the same time.
- When the phone vibrates, release the Power button but continue to press and hold the Volume Up and Home buttons until the Android System recovery screen appears.
- Use the Volume Down button to highlight 'wipe cache partition' and press the Power button to select it.
- The phone will reboot automatically after the cache partition was wiped out.
Step 4: Perform Master reset
Assuming that the error message still pops-up after all the methods you performed, so, the last thing that you should do is to perform a reset. It will bring your phone back to its factory default and all files and data saved in the internal storage will be deleted. So, prior the reset we suggest you to create first a backup or transfer all your files to your SD card or personal computer. Here's how to reset your phone:
- Turn off the device.
- Press and hold the following three buttons simultaneously: Volume Up, Home and Power buttons.
- When the phone vibrates, release the Power button but continue to press and hold the Volume Up and Home buttons.
- When the Android system recovery screen appears, release the Volume Up and Power buttons.
- Press the Volume Down button to highlight 'wipe data/factory reset.'
- Press the Power button to select it.
- Press the Volume Down button and highlight 'Yes- delete all user data.'
- Press the Power button to start the reset.
