Freezes and lags are among the most common performance issues that even high-end smartphones like the Samsung Galaxy S9 may encounter every now and then. Most of the time, these issues come together and the user may notice that the phone has become sluggish or slow and then the lags may become more frequent. After a day or two, the phone may already freeze after the lag and it may take a few seconds before the user can regain access to it.
Most of the time, this is just an issue with the firmware and not really that serious. Needless to say, you can fix it on your own without making a trip to the shop. However, if your phone has some signs of physical and/or liquid damage, then it’s probably more than just a firmware issue. In which case, you need help from a technician as opening the device on your own may void the warranty.
In this post, I will help you on how to fix your Galaxy S9 that frequently freezes and lags. We will try to consider every possibility and rule them out one by one until we can determine what the problem is and fix it. So, if you’re one of the owners of this phone and are currently being bugged by a similar problem, continue reading as this post may be able to help you one way or another.
Before anything else, if you are looking for a solution to a different problem, then drop in on our Samsung Galaxy S9 Help Guides page for we have already solved some of the most common problems with this device. Try to find issues that are similar with yours and feel free to use our workarounds and solutions.
Troubleshooting Galaxy S9 that frequently freezes and lags
Based on experience, this problem is not really that serious even if it’s very annoying. Such is the case with most of firmware-related issues provided that there are no signs of physical and/or liquid damage. With that said, here are the things you can do to try and fix your phone that freezes and lags…
First solution: Close all applications running in the background
When you’re using an app and you tap the Home key, the app won’t be closed but “minimized” and will continue to run in the background. Needless to say that if you use a lot of apps in a day and you have to habit of tapping the Home key without closing the app, there could be a bunch of applications and continue to use your phone’s RAM and CPU and that could be the reason why your S9 frequently freezes and lags. Therefore, the first thing that you have to do is to close all apps by following these steps:
- Tap the Recent key (left of the Home key).
- You may swipe up an app to close it or tap Close all to quit all applications at once.
After doing this, move on to the next procedure.
ALSO READ: Snapchat keeps crashing on Samsung Galaxy S9 after Android 9 Pie update
Second solution: Force restart your Galaxy S9
After closing all apps running in the background, it’s time to refresh your phone’s memory but instead of doing the normal reboot, it’s better to do the Forced Restart which is far more effective. To do this, follow these simple steps:
- Press and hold the Volume Down button and don’t release it.
- While holding down the volume button, press and hold the power key as well.
- Keep both keys held down together for 15 seconds or until the Galaxy S9 logo shows on the screen.
After doing this, continue using your phone to know if it still frequently freezes and lags because if so, then it’s possible that there’s an app that’s causing the problem.
Third solution: Run your Galaxy S9 in Safe mode
There are applications that could make your phone run slow. Since we don’t know which of your apps is the culprit, it’s better to run your phone in safe mode to isolate the problem. While restarting your device in safe mode won’t fix the problem, it will tell you immediately if the problem is caused by an app and whether or not it’s a third-party or pre-installed. Here’s how to run your phone in this mode:
- Press and hold the power key until the power options show on the screen.
- Tap and hold the Power off option until Safe mode option shows.
- Tap Safe mode to restart your phone.
- When your S9 boots up, you should see the text Safe mode on the lower-left corner of the screen.
While in safe mode, observe your phone closely to see if it still freezes and lags because if so, then move on to the next solution. However, if the problem is seems fixed while in this mode, then try to find the app that’s causing the problem and uninstall it. Begin with apps that you installed when the problem started. You may also consider game apps to be the cause or those that you sideloaded or installed manually.
ALSO READ: WiFi not working on Samsung Galaxy S9
Fourth solution: Delete the system cache so it will be replaced
Performance issues may also be caused by corrupt system cache. Most of the time, the cache gets corrupted or becomes obsolete after a major firmware update. S9 has recently received the Android 9 Pie update and it’s possible that when it was installed on your phone, the system cache got corrupted. As a result, your phone now keeps on freezing and lagging. To rule this out, here’s what you should do:
- Turn off the device.
- Press and hold the Volume Up key and the Bixby key, then press and hold the Power key.
- When the Android logo displays, release all three buttons.
- Once you see a black screen with blue and yellow texts, the phone is in recovery mode.
- Press the Volume down key several times to highlight wipe cache partition.
- Press Power key to select.
- Press the Volume down key to highlight yes, them and press the Power key to select.
- When the wipe cache partition is complete, Reboot system now is highlighted.
- Press the Power key to restart the device.
When the phone becomes active after the reset, continue your observation to know if it still frequently freezes and lags and if so, then you have no other choice but to perform the next solution.
Fifth solution: Backup your files and reset your device
After doing the first four procedures and your phone still freezes and lags, then you have no other choice but to reset your phone. We’ve already exhausted all other possible solutions to no avail, now, it’s time to bring the device back to its default settings and configuration. But before the reset, make sure to create a backup of your important files and data as they will be deleted and then remove your Google and Samsung accounts so that you won’t be locked out of your device. Once everything is set, follow these steps to hard reset your Galaxy S9:
- Turn off the device.
- Press and hold the Volume Up key and the Bixby key, then press and hold the Power key.
- When the Android logo displays, release all three buttons.
- Once you see a black screen with blue and yellow texts, the phone is in recovery mode.
- Press the Volume down key several times to highlight ‘wipe data / factory reset’.
- Press Power button to select.
- Press the Volume down key until ‘Yes — delete all user data’ is highlighted.
- Press Power button to select and start the master reset.
- When the master reset is complete, ‘Reboot system now’ is highlighted.
- Press the Power key to restart the device.
I hope that we’ve been able to help you fix your Samsung Galaxy S9 that frequently freezes and lags. We would appreciate it if you helped us spread the word so please share this post if you found it helpful. Thank you so much for reading!
RELEVANT POSTS:
