[Solved] How to fix the “Screen Overlay Detected” error on Android?
How to fix the “Screen Overlay Detected” error on Android?
Android is developing and improving more and more every day as its latest version “Noughut” was released not many days ago. Android developers are more focused on how to make the OS better so that it can improve our lives. The version updates are necessary for making the Android OS more stable. There are few bugs on the versions Marshmallow and Noughut, and one of them is the “Screen overlay detected” error. This error is more or like a security measure rather than a defect.
Why does the “Screen Overlay Detected” error occur?
The screen overlay is a special feature which you will find from marshmallow version onwards. What happens in this kind of error is a message shows up while you are running an app, which says “screen overlay detected. To change the permission, you have to turn off screen overlay from setting >apps”. This screen overlay feature is like when you install an app, there are certain features which needs permission and until and unless you set some permission, the app cannot use that functions of your mobile phone and when the app tries to use this features,” the screen overlay detected” message shows up.
The “Draw over the apps” feature is one of them where you can get a screen overlay error message. It’s present in the messenger app, where you get a pop up when you receive a message. Now, if another app tries the same thing over messenger then there will be a conflict between the two apps and that’s when the error message pops up. Rectifying this error is very easy, let’s see the solution for different handsets.
Many users using different android handsets mainly Samsung, LG and Motorola users reported this issue. The ‘display overlay detected’ error disturbs often while using different apps. Thus here, we discussed how to resolve screen overlay detected issue. We first mention solution for stock android users which will work most of the cases but we also mentioned solutions for Samsung and LG users as their menu systems are quite different from stock android thus users might have problem locating.
If the floating app bubble is open like facebook messenger chat heads then it might be the reason behind this error. So, close that app.
Some apps like twilight or f.lux which changes the color of screen, might cause this issue too, so you need to pause or close that app.
Sometimes, multiple apps might be responsible for this error. In that case, you need to close all of them.
Here you can do two things. If you couldn’t identify the app which is causing screen overlay detected issue then you need to disable “draw over other apps” permission for all the apps and then enable as needed. OR if you know for sure which apps are the culprit then you can disable only for those apps. Settings for “Draw over other apps” permission might differ from device to device thus here we mentioned some specific steps for samsung and lg devices too apart from solution for Stock android. To access the draw over apps settings for various devices, follow the steps given below.
The Samsung handsets are the most, where people got to receive an overlay detected message. But even you need access the draw over app functionality before you get an error message; here are the steps to do it.
Go to settings of your Samsung device first.
On the next window, click on the application manager from the list of other various settings.
On the next window, you will find various apps that are installed on your device along with two other options which are Default applications and Application manager. The Default application option is where you will find a list of the default apps. Like there are two apps for messaging and you need to set one of them as the default application for your device then you can just go there and change the setting. The Application manager option is, however, the setting which we are most probably looking for. Tap on application manager.
In the next screen you will see various apps and on the top of the screen you will find an option called “More”. Click on that to proceed.
Next, you will be taken to a screen where you will find various apps which have the functionality of “Draw over other apps”. Some them may be turned on and some are not.
If you choose to turn on the feature for an app, you need to tap on the slider against that particular app to activate the feature.
LG smartphones are the silent ruler of the market as you may hear very less about it nowadays. To access the draw over the app’s functionality in LG devices follow the steps mentioned below.
Go to the settings menu of your device. The easy way to access the settings menu is by going to the notification bar and selecting the settings menu or you can just go to the app drawer and select the settings menu.
In the settings menu, Choose “Apps” from the list of other various setting options.
On the next screen choose the three dots which you will find on the top of the screen.
From the drop down list which comes next choose the “Configure apps” option.
On the next screen, from the advanced settings choose the option which says ‘Draw over other apps”.
In the next window, you will find various apps. Click on the desired app and select yes if it is not enabled and you are good to go.
Go to the settings menu of your stock Android You can access it from the notification tray or you can directly access it from the app drawer of your device.
In the next window, you will find a list of other settings, from there choose the app’s settings.
Next, you need to select the “special apps” functionality from the list, as this a special app feature.
Next, you need to choose the gear like icon which represents settings. It can be found from the top right corner of your screen.
A drop down menu will appear next to where you have to choose the option which says “draw over other apps”.
On the screen, you will find a list of various apps where you can enable the draw over apps functionality.
Now you can go to your desired app and turn on the draw over the apps for your desired app or you can turn it off accordingly.
The draw over the app’s functionality is very useful in various cases like if you are operating an important work and also waiting for an important notification. The draw over the apps feature will help you to get the notification over the app you are using. Sometimes this may cause the screen overlay detect an error but developers are working on it to make it more stable which we may witness in the upcoming versions of Android.
This error is not a big issue and can be detected within minutes. Though sometimes it might be difficult for you to identify which app or apps are responsible for this error or issue. After the detection, it becomes easy to fix screen overlay detected issue.
However even after applying all the fixes, if you can’t fix screen overlay error then last option is unfortunately to uninstall the application. You can reinstall again to try and if still it doesn’t work then you might have to wait for the developer to fix the screen overlay issue.
If you couldn’t fix your error with above mentioned solutions or you found/used any other solution then do share with us in comments. We would love to add that in the article to help others.