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How to Fix a Third-Party Launcher That Keeps Resetting on a Samsung Phone

Find out whether your Samsung phone changed its default Home app or restarted the launcher, then check the relevant settings in order.
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If your Samsung phone keeps returning to One UI Home, first check which app is actually selected as the default Home app. A changed default and a third-party launcher that crashes or reloads can look alike, but they call for different troubleshooting. Re-select your launcher, check whether Samsung has put it to sleep, and reserve resetting app preferences for the specific circumstances Samsung documents.

First, identify what is resetting

Notice what happens when you press the Home button or swipe up to go Home:

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  • The phone opens One UI Home instead of your chosen launcher: check the selected Home app.
  • Your chosen launcher appears briefly, then reloads or crashes: it may still be the selected Home app, but the app is restarting. Check its background status and note when the restart occurs.

These symptoms can look similar. The available Samsung guidance does not establish one universal cause for either behavior.

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Check and select the default Home app

On many Samsung phones, open Settings > Apps > Choose Default apps > Home app, then select the third-party launcher. This route is reported in a Samsung Community accepted answer; menu names and locations can vary with the phone and software version. Samsung Community: Default Launcher Reset

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After selecting the launcher, return to the Home screen and see whether the phone continues to open it. If the launcher remains selected but reloads, move on to the background-usage check.

See whether the launcher is sleeping

Samsung’s background-management documentation describes Sleeping and Deep sleeping app states, which restrict background activity, and provides a Never sleeping apps exception. To inspect the setting, open Settings > Device care > Battery > Background usage limits. On some software versions, labels or navigation may differ. Samsung Developer: application management and background usage

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  1. Look under Sleeping apps and Deep sleeping apps for your launcher.
  2. If it is listed, consider removing it from that list or adding it under Never sleeping apps.
  3. Use the phone normally and observe whether the launcher still reloads.

Samsung says background apps that have been unused for about three days and are associated with poor system health may be put into Sleeping mode. This is a Samsung description of its background management, not proof that a sleeping app causes every launcher reset. Treat the setting as one possible factor to check.

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Reset app preferences only if the documented condition fits

Samsung documents a Home Launcher restart issue after One UI 6.1.1 that may occur when certain system apps have been disabled through developer mode or a disabler app. For that situation, Samsung recommends Settings > Apps > More options (three dots) > Reset app preferences. Samsung Support: Home Launcher restart troubleshooting

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This is broader than reselecting a launcher: Samsung says resetting app preferences can reset defaults, notification settings, and permission restrictions, while leaving existing app data unaffected. Consider it when the restart began after disabling system apps, rather than as a first step for every third-party launcher problem.

Check updates and record when the problem occurs

Check for available updates to the launcher and to the phone’s software through their usual update channels. If the behavior began just after an update or after disabling a system app, note that timing. Samsung’s One UI 7 guidance discusses checking background apps in the context of post-update battery problems; it does not identify a specific cause or fix for third-party launcher resets. Samsung Support: One UI 7 troubleshooting

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If you are considering reinstalling the launcher or clearing its data as a later diagnostic step, preserve its layout and configuration first. Those steps are not established here as universal fixes, and clearing data can remove app settings.

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If it still happens, collect details before escalating

When contacting Samsung or the launcher developer, include:

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  • LIVE FAST. CHARGE FASTER: Focus more on the moment and less on your battery percentage with Galaxy A17 5G. Super Fast Charging powers up your battery so you can get back to life sooner.²
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  • Your Samsung phone model and Android and One UI versions.
  • The launcher name and version.
  • Whether the default Home app changes, One UI Home appears briefly, or the launcher crashes or reloads while still selected.
  • Whether it happens after a reboot, software update, or change to system apps.
  • Any message or screen that appears just before the behavior.

These details help distinguish a default-app change from an app restart; the available guidance does not establish a single fix that applies to every Samsung model, software version, or launcher.

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