Fixed! Unfortunately Settings Has Stopped Error

So many of us have become so reliant on using mobile applications (apps) that we often do not know what to do when anything goes wrong. If you are an Android user, you may have been unfortunate enough to experience the following error: “unfortunately settings has stopped error”, here is how to fix it.

Luckily, this error can be easily fixed. That is the good news. But you might have to try a few different methods before you are able to fix it once and for all.

 

If you are worried about this, you have come to the right place. Why? Because I have done all the necessary research, and I am in a position to show you all the different methods there are to fix this error.

Before we go any further, I would like to make clear what error we are talking about here. The last thing I would want you to read a whole article about an error and go through all the methods just to find out that the error that you are experiencing is not the one that you have been reading about.

What Is This Error? 

So, this is an error that only affects smart mobile devices that run on the Android operating system (OS), as I said in the introduction to this article.

This error could happen when you are using any application (app). You could be in the middle of using an app when you are activity gets suddenly interrupted and the following message displays on your mobile device’s screen:

“Unfortunately, [Name of the app you were using] has stopped unexpectedly.”

 

As scary as this message may seem when you first getting, there is not really anything to worry about. One thing that often works to fix it: restarting your device very often does the trick.

“The iPod is a proprietry integrated product, although that is becoming quite modular. You can download your music from Amazon as easily as you can from iTunes. You also see modularity organized around the Android operating system that is growing much faster than the iPhone. So I worry that the modularity will do its work on Apple.” – Clayton Christensen. 

Believe it or not, some people never turn off their mobile devices and may not even know how to do so. There’s nothing to be ashamed of if you happen to be one of those people. So, just in case you don’t know how to turn off your device, here’s how:

1. Grab your Android device.
2. Press the Power button and hold it down. Wait until pop up menu displays on the screen.
3. Once the pop menu displays on the screen, release the Power button.
4. Then, tap on the following menu on the pop up menu: Restart (some devices may not have that specific option but there will be something similar and self-evident for you to tap on).
5. You will then be asked to confirm that you would like to restart (or reboot) your device. So, do so.

Once you have successfully rebooted your Android mobile device, you should check whether the problematic app is now working or not. Although this simple solution very often does the trick it is not actually the most effective method to fix it.

So, if this error comes up again, then you should go ahead and try out the different two methods that make out the remainder of this article.

As you will see, each of the two methods I will discuss in this article relates to the two possible causes for this error: lack of RAM space or corrupted cache file.

If you have a strong reason to believe that you know what the actual cause of the error, then you might as well go to the relevant method straight away.

If you do not really know what is causing your app to fail and force shut down, then my suggestion would be that you try the possible fixes in the order in which I will present them. The reason for this is that the first possible fix relates to a RAM problem, which is, by far, the most likely cause for this error.

You can also approach this differently. If you prefer you could begin by the second possible method, first. The order in which you have done this is not all that relevant because both of them are extremely simple. Also, as you will find out, each of the methods presented in this article takes remarkably little time.

Anybody should be able to follow both methods. So, even if you have never tried to fix a mobile device error before, you should be able to follow the steps and get rid of this error easily.

Possible Fix Number One:

Although restarting your device is the first time that most people would be inclined to do. And here, I’d certainly recommend that you do that before anything else.

So, if you get the error again even after you have rebooted your Android device, you should try the present method.

The first real fix involves clearing your Android RAM (Random Access Memory). This is because one of the main causes for this error is running out of RAM free space. If that were what is causing the error in your case, the only solution would be to clear your RAM in order to free up space. This should allow you to use your apps again.

Although this may sound more serious than rebooting your device, it is not really all that different.

In case, you do not know how you go about clearing your Android RAM, here are the steps that you will need to follow:

1. Grab your Android device.
2. Then, head over to the onboard RAM Manager of your Android device.
3. Next tap on the Clear RAM option (some devices may not have that specific option but there will be something similar and self-evident for you to tap on).
4. Finally, go to the Settings app and run it.

Once you have cleared the RAM, you should be able to use your apps again without getting this error if, indeed, the cause of the error was the lack of RAM free space.

 

Possible Fix Number Two:

If your device’s RAM was not responsible for this error, then it is likely that the problem is being caused by cache files that have become corrupted.

With this error, it can be hard to determine what the cause it. Normally, you would need attempt to fix it following a specific method if you want to rule out the causes. And, you never know, you might stumble into something that fixes the error for you on your first or second attempt.

If you would like to find out whether corrupted cache files are behind the error and fix it, if that were the case, all you would have to do is follow these simple steps:

1. Grab your Android device.
2. Launch the Settings app.
3. Next, go to your Android device’s application manager.
4. Then, you will have to swipe left in order to get to ALL.
5. Scroll through ALL until you find the Settings app.
6. Tap on the Settings app.
7. Then, you will need to tap on the Force stop option.
8. Next, you will need to tap on the following option: Clear cache.
9. Finally, close the Settings app and re-open it.

Once you have followed all these steps, you should try to use the same app that failed earlier and verify whether it now works or whether it keeps failing.

Although one of these two methods should work for most users in most cases, there is still a small but real possibility that it may not.

If you have tried both methods that the error persists then there is a chance that the error could be caused by a Google bug. There is a still a way of fixing this but you should only try this once you have exhausted all other possibilities.

Some users have reported that there is a bug that affects Android mobile devices after updating Google Play services. So, one way of getting rid of this bug would be to remove the update. The problem with doing this is that all the Google apps that you may have installed on your Android devices will stop working if you remove the Google Play services update.

If you would like to do this, here are the steps you will need to follow in order to do this:

1. Grab your Android device.
2. Go to Settings.
3. Then head over to Security.
4. Next, tap on Administrator.
5. Finally, un-check the Android administrator.

Once you have followed these steps, you will need to go to Google Play services and disable it.

Then, you will need to wait until a new Google Play services release a new update and install this. This action will then restore access to all the Google apps such as Google Hangouts, Google search, Google Maps, etc.

This has been Fixed! Unfortunately settings has stopped error. If you have any feedback for us or would like to share your own experience when dealing with this error, please leave us a message in the comments section below!