On my Samsung S24 FE, while investigating problems with GPS, I came across many web pages illustrating how to get to a screen where one can choose, "Clear cache Partition". In the illustrations, a half-dozen or more
options are shown on that screen. But on my phone, there are only 3:
"Reboot System Now", "Wipe data/factory reset", and "Power off".
I don't want to do a factory reset, but I'm wondering if selecting, "Wipe data/factory reset" would then take me to "Clear cache Partition", or
simply drop me off the cliff.
A photo of the phone screen is here:
https://postimg.cc/p98wKrfJ
On my Samsung S24 FE, while investigating problems with GPS, I came across many web pages illustrating how to get to a screen where one can choose, "Clear cache Partition". In the illustrations, a half-dozen or more
options are shown on that screen. But on my phone, there are only 3:
"Reboot System Now", "Wipe data/factory reset", and "Power off".
I don't want to do a factory reset, but I'm wondering if selecting, "Wipe data/factory reset" would then take me to "Clear cache Partition", or
simply drop me off the cliff.
A photo of the phone screen is here:
https://postimg.cc/p98wKrfJ
Maria Sophia wrote:
I wrote up a tutorial long ago for these kinds of issues, but your
device is newer than any of the devices I had tested in my tutorials.
Since my extremely detailed Samsung recovery tutorial is old, I looked it
up for you and found this reference which may help you get back to normal.
*How to Clear System Cache on Samsung Galaxy (Android 12 and Newer)*
*What Replaced Wipe Cache Partition in 2026* <https://thedroidguy.com/clear-system-cache-samsung-galaxy-android-12-1244016>
Your S24 FE runs Android 14 / One UI 6, where Samsung removed the cache >partition entirely, so without that partition, on the Galaxy S22, S23, S24, >S25 series the "Wipe cache partition" option simply does not exist anymore.
*Recovery mode missing options* <https://r1.community.samsung.com/t5/galaxy-s/recovery-mode-missing-options/td-p/37579802>
On the Galaxy S24 series (including the FE), Samsung removed:
a. Wipe cache partition
b. Repair apps
c. Apply update from ADB
d. Apply update from SD card
e. Run graphics test
f. View recovery logs
The February 2026 security update removed nearly all advanced recovery-mode >tools from many Galaxy phones, leaving only:
a. Reboot system now
b. Wipe data/factory reset
c. Power off
*Recovery mode only has 3 options S24FE* <https://us.community.samsung.com/t5/Galaxy-S24/Recovery-mode-only-has-3-options-S24FE/td-p/3494422>
Even though you can't wipe the system cache anymore, you can still clear >cache for specific apps
Settings > Apps > (App) > Storage > Clear cache
Do that for all apps that use GPS, such as...
a. Maps
b. Waze
c. Samsung Location Services
You might also want to reset network settings
Settings > General management > Reset > Reset network settings
For your GPS issue you can reset AGPS data (indirectly) with this tool.
<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.eclipsim.gpsstatus2>
Let us know how it works out for you as you're half the equation in
any thread that you author in which others volunteer to help you out.
croy <croy@spam.invalid.net> wrote:
On my Samsung S24 FE, while investigating problems with GPS, I came across >> many web pages illustrating how to get to a screen where one can choose,
"Clear cache Partition". In the illustrations, a half-dozen or more
options are shown on that screen. But on my phone, there are only 3:
"Reboot System Now", "Wipe data/factory reset", and "Power off".
I don't want to do a factory reset, but I'm wondering if selecting, "Wipe
data/factory reset" would then take me to "Clear cache Partition", or
simply drop me off the cliff.
A photo of the phone screen is here:
https://postimg.cc/p98wKrfJ
https://www.reddit.com/r/samsunggalaxy/comments/1rj2a5x/its_official_samsung_is_removing_wipe_cache/
The unidentified GPS "problems" cannot be corrected by wiping the cache
for whatever app you are using for GPS?
The unidentified app might also be using A-GPS to augment GPS.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assisted_GNSS
I have the GPS Status app by MobiWIA on my phone. I paid $2.14 back 6
years ago to get its Pro version, so I cannot check if the free version
has the option to refresh the A-GPS data. When you open its menu (swipe
in from left-side of screen), there is a "Manage A-GPS state" option.
If A-GPS is not your issue, you'll have to divulge it if you want help
here on whatever are your GPS problems. I'm not a wizard on this. Just
use the apps that incorporate GPS. While the GPS Status app has an
option to refresh A-GPS data, not all apps do. You may have to go into
the Apps list, find your unidentified app, and flush its cache. Looks
like Samsung took away the global wipe option across all apps, and went
to making users clear per-app caches.
The reddit article mentions Galaxy App Booster discussed and found at:
https://www.reddit.com/search/?q=Galaxy+App+Booster&cId=24f646ca-c44c-43c2-bb4a-742207ae87a3&iId=f8088691-9d88-42c7-a107-5b0db2a1f844
https://galaxystore.samsung.com/detail/com.samsung.android.appbooster
Samsung's app page gives almost no information on their app. By reading
the reviews, seems this is more about moving and prioritizing
executables than of cleaning a cache. Most users run it after a
software update.
An option in my Samsung Galaxy A56 on Android 16 is to periodically
reboot the phone. Auto optimization is used during [re]boot. In
Android settings, search on "auto optimization". You get to pick a >day-of-the-week and time-of-day for the reboot. It lists under which >conditions the reboot will happen: screen is off, phone isn't being
used, battery is over 30%, and SIM card lock is off. I have it
scheduled to reboot on Mondays at 5 AM. Instead of a schedule, there is
an option "Restart when needed - Your phone will restart automaticall
when performance issues are detected". I'd rather schedule the reboot
rather than get surprised to find my phone is rebooting when I reach for
it. I have been awake at that time to notice my phone (while screen
locked) started to reboot. Of course, I haven't touched my phone in
hours. If I'm up that early is because I haven't yet gone to bed, like
I'm engrossed in playing a game (on my desktop PC, not on the phone).
I haven't felt the need for the Samsung Galaxy App Booster app, but my
apps load quickly, anyway, so maybe the scheduled reboot (and auto
optimize on reboot) is helping.
https://www.samsung.com/latin_en/support/mobile-devices/how-to-automatically-optimize-your-galaxy-device/
Not sure what auto-optimize all does, but obviously it gets rid of apps
you left running in the background. Unlike Windows and Linux, when you
exit an app, the app actually unloads from memory. Not with Android.
To make the OS appear faster than it really is, apps stay loading in
memory even if you thought you exited them. They don't unload until a
newly opened app needs memory, so the OS unloads the least-used app in
the background to make room for the newly loaded app.
I've seen users (and I tried this, too) that use task killer apps.
Those will unload all backgrounded app unless whitelisted. Those apps
can be either manually run on demand, or be scheduled. The problems
are: users don't know the correct app to kill, or keep trying to kill
apps that immediately reappear. In some cases, the obvious app is not
the one you want to kill, but some ancilliary or controlling app that
may be a system app that you don't normally see. The apps that reappear >after killing them have a sticky bit set (always run), or a service. If
the OS see them missing, it restarts them. There are plenty of time
when I don't need to be using my phone, and restarting it flushes out
all those lingering background apps. I used to manually reboot my phone >every Sunday night, so my phone would be more speedy on Monday when
stating my work week. Now I have the phone do a scheduled restart.
On 2026-05-02 02:18, croy wrote:
On my Samsung S24 FE, while investigating problems with GPS, I came across >> many web pages illustrating how to get to a screen where one can choose,
"Clear cache Partition". In the illustrations, a half-dozen or more
options are shown on that screen. But on my phone, there are only 3:
"Reboot System Now", "Wipe data/factory reset", and "Power off".
I don't want to do a factory reset, but I'm wondering if selecting, "Wipe
data/factory reset" would then take me to "Clear cache Partition", or
simply drop me off the cliff.
A photo of the phone screen is here:
https://postimg.cc/p98wKrfJ
I had reasons to do a "Wipe data/factory reset" recently on a tablet. It >deletes all your apps, their data, all your configurations, and you have
to initialize your device from almost zero.
It does not delete system updates. At least in my case.
croy wrote:
After clearing "much stuff" from memory, for one 4-mile hike this morning, >> the phone's GPS had no hiccups, and I got a complete track recorded with no >> gaps or stoppages. I hope this is a fix that repeats.
If you're in the USA, nothing beats the USGS free geoPDFs which can be read >into many free apps such as Avenza & PaperMaps for location & tracking.
<com.Avenza> limited to 3 maps, but you can swap them out at will <ca.abbro.androidmap> unlimited but not as good a GUI as Avenza
For standard offline maps, this app reads in many free map databases.
<net.psyberia.offlinemaps>
Almost nothing can beat the open source SatStat for GPS utilities, although >many programs appear to have used their source code to create their adware.
<com.vonglasow.michael.satstat>
To "Clear APGS Data", this simple app makes it the very first button:
<com.mirfatif.mylocation>
The best standalone compass, I've found, is Azimuth Compass.
<ro.overwrite.azimuthcompass>
The best standalone altimeter, I've found, is Altimeter.
<org.ssandon.altimeter>
The best standalone track logger, I've found, is GPS Logger.
<eu.basicairdata.graziano.gpslogger>
The best standalone GPS-to-SMS I'm-here, I've found, is GPS to SMS.
<ru.perm.trubnikov.gps2sms>
For hundreds of USA parks, the best single all-inclusive trail map is
<com.trailheadlabs.outerspatial>
There are tons more in my hiking folder (e.g., weather apps, star maps, >sunset/sunrise timing, step counters, wildfire info, radio apps, etc.
All those apps are free, ad free, and they work completely offline.
| Sysop: | Jacob Catayoc |
|---|---|
| Location: | Pasay City, Metro Manila, Philippines |
| Users: | 5 |
| Nodes: | 4 (0 / 4) |
| Uptime: | 493844:59:04 |
| Calls: | 146 |
| Files: | 547 |
| D/L today: |
6 files (97K bytes) |
| Messages: | 76,691 |