On screen navigation button not switching between apps

[PacificaBren]

Hello, my phone just began exhibiting a strange behavior:

Along the bottom of my screen, I always have visible the back button, the home button, and the one that switches between running apps. I don't know what that button is called, but on my phone it's on the bottom left of the screen, and it looks like three vertical lines.

It has just stopped working. How do I troubleshoot this?

I assume there's an app associated with on-screen navigation, and maybe I could force quit that app and then delete its cache, but I don't know what that app is called, or even if that is how you fix this.

My phone is an S23 FE running Android 14.

Thank you, as always, for your help!

 

[PacificaBren]

Never mind, I asked Chat GPT and its second suggestion did the trick! For the benefit of anybody else who has this same question, here's the fix that worked for me:

3. Clear Cache Partition​

Clearing the cache partition can help resolve issues caused by corrupted cache files.

1. Turn off your phone.
2. Press and hold the Volume Up button and the Power button simultaneously.
3. When the Samsung logo appears, release both buttons.
4. Use the Volume buttons to navigate to Wipe cache partition and use the Power button to select it.
5. Confirm by selecting Yes and wait for the process to complete.
6. Select Reboot system now.

 

[ocnbrze]

did you reboot the phone? did you install anything recently? you could put it in safe mode to see if a 3rd party app is causing it

Safe Mode | SAMSUNG Galaxy S23 FE

Check out how to get access to Hidden Mode called Safe Mode. In this tutorial you will see how to enter and how to quit Safe Mode.

www.hardreset.info

 

[PacificaBren]

did you reboot the phone? did you install anything recently? you could put it in safe mode to see if a 3rd party app is causing it

Safe Mode | SAMSUNG Galaxy S23 FE

Check out how to get access to Hidden Mode called Safe Mode. In this tutorial you will see how to enter and how to quit Safe Mode.

www.hardreset.info

Thank you for the suggestion! I've had to clear my cache partition a few more times since I made this post, as the problem does recur from time to time.

Only problem is, I used Samsung Smart Switch to migrate lots of apps over from my previous phone, so I'm not sure whether rebooting into Safe Mode is going to help me much, as it's not like I only just recently installed one app that could be a problem; there are lots of apps on here, all installed at once during that Smart Switch process.

Are there any kind of system logs or something that might reveal which app is causing my problem?