How to fix your Samsung Galaxy A5 (2017) that started running slow [Troubleshooting Guide]

It is almost certain that when a phone started to run slow, it’s experiencing a firmware-related problem. Such is the case with some of our readers who own Samsung Galaxy A5 units. According to them, their devices became really slow out of the blue and that they really don’t know what caused it. It’s not the first time that we’ve encountered or even addressed a problem like this so we know a thing or two that could fix it.

So, in this post, I will walk you through in troubleshooting your Galaxy A5 that started running slow for some reason. We have to look into each possibility and rule them out one by one until we can easily determine what the real problem is and what needs to be done about it. So, if you’re one of the owners of this device and are currently bugged by a similar problem, continue reading this post as it may be able to help you fix it.

But before we go to our proper troubleshooting, if you happen to find this page because you were looking for solutions to a different problem, then I suggest you visit our Galaxy A5 troubleshooting page as we’ve already addressed the most commonly reported issues with this phone and you may find what you’re looking for in there. Feel free to use the solutions and workarounds we provided. If they don’t work for you or if you need further assistance, fill up our Android issues questionnaire and then hit submit and we’ll do our best to help you.

How to troubleshoot your Galaxy A5 that’s running slow

Problem: Droid guy, if you have a Galaxy A5 and it started to run very slow, what would you do? I have this kind of phone and this kind of problem. It’s my first time having an Android phone so I’m actually still learning to use it. I don’t know how to fix problem as I’m not really a tech guy and I’m 52 years old. I hope you can help me. Thanks.

Troubleshooting: The Samsung Galaxy A5 is a mid-range device and received quite a lot of positive reviews from its users due to its impressive specs and performance. So when it starts to run slow, there might really be something wrong with it and that’s what we need to find out to be able to formulate a solution that not only fixes the problem but prevent it from happening again in the future. With all that being said, here’s what I suggest you do:

Step 1: Run your phone in safe mode to see if it’s still slow

We need to rule out the possibility that the sluggishness you’re currently experiencing is caused by some third-party apps. With that, you need to run your phone in safe mode and observe it closely. While in safe mode, all third-party apps are temporarily disabled so if one or some of them caused this problem, your phone should work normally without the sluggishness. Try to follow the steps below to run your phone in safe mode:

Turn the device off.
Press and hold the Power key past the screen with the device name.
When ‘SAMSUNG’ appears on the screen, release the Power key.
Immediately after releasing the Power key, press and hold the Volume down key.
Continue to hold the Volume down key until the device finishes restarting.
Safe mode will display in the bottom left corner of the screen.
Release the Volume down key when you see ‘Safe Mode’.

Assuming the phone works normally in safe mode, then we’re right about our suspicion. But the thing is, if the phone slowed down due to third-party elements, then the cause should more than just one app. With that, you have to try to find out if there are apps that need to be updated and updated them. If this problem is due to incompatibility issue, then it should be fixed by doing these steps:

From any Home screen, tap the Apps icon.
Tap Play Store.
Tap the Menu key and then tap My Apps. To keep your apps automatically updated, tap the Menu key, tap Settings, and then tap Auto-update apps to select the check box.
Choose one of the following options:
- Tap Update [xx] to update all applications with updates available.
- Tap an individual application and then tap Update to update a single application.

If you have some apps you suspect to be the ones causing this problem, then reset those apps one by one or even uninstall them.

How to reset applications in your Galaxy A5

From any Home screen, tap the Apps icon.
Tap Settings.
Tap Applications.
Tap Application manager.
Tap the desired application in the default list or tap MORE > Show system apps to display pre-installed apps.
Tap Storage.
Tap Clear data and then tap OK.
Tap Clear cache.

How to uninstall applications from your Galaxy A5

From any Home screen, tap the Apps icon.
Tap Settings.
Tap Applications.
Tap Application manager.
Tap the desired application
Tap Uninstall.
Tap Uninstall again to confirm.

Step 2: Delete all system caches so that they will be replaced

Another possible cause of this problem is corrupt system caches or files. When used by the system, performance issues may occur so the best way to deal with this problem is to delete them all so that the system will create new caches that are completely compatible with it. The best way to do this is to reboot your phone in recovery mode and then wipe the cache partition…

Turn off the device.
Press and hold the Volume Up key and the Home key, then press and hold the Power key.
When the device logo screen displays, release only the Power key
When the Android logo displays, release all keys (‘Installing system update’ will show for about 30 – 60 seconds before showing the Android system recovery menu options).
Press the Volume down key several times key to highlight ‘wipe cache partition.’
Press the Power key to select.
Press the Volume down key to highlight ‘yes’ 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.

After this, wait for the phone to become completely active because it will take a little more time rebooting as it will rebuild the caches. If the phone is still running slow after this, then move on to the next step.

Step 3: Make a backup of your important files and data, then reset your phone

After doing the above steps and the problem still happens, then it’s time to reset your phone. But since it will delete all your important files and data, you should make a backup of those you don’t want to lose. After which, disable the anti-theft feature of your phone so you won’t be locked out after the reset.

How to disable the Factory Reset Protection (anti-theft) in your Galaxy A5

From the Home screen, tap the Apps icon.
Tap Settings.
Tap Accounts.
Tap Google.
Tap your Google ID email address. If you have multiple accounts setup, you will need to repeat these steps for each account.
Tap More.
Tap Remove account.
Tap REMOVE ACCOUNT.

How to Master Reset your Samsung Galaxy A5

There are actually two common ways to reset your device but I prefer you reset your phone from the Recovery mode as it doesn’t only reset your device, it also reformats both the cache and data partitions.

Turn off the device.
Press and hold the Volume Up key and the Home key, then press and hold the Power key.
When the device logo screen displays, release only the Power key
When the Android logo displays, release all keys (‘Installing system update’ will show for about 30 – 60 seconds before showing the Android system recovery menu options).
Press the Volume down key several times key 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.

If you want, you can also reset your phone from the Settings menu…

From the Home screen, tap the Apps icon.
Tap Settings.
Tap Backup and reset.
If desired, tap Back up my data to move the slider to ON or OFF.
If desired, tap Restore to move the slider to ON or OFF.
Tap Factory data reset.
Tap Reset device.
If you have screen lock turned on, enter your PIN or password.
Tap Continue.
Tap Delete all.

I hope that this troubleshooting guide can help you fix the problem with your phone.

Connect with us

We are always open to your problems, questions and suggestions, so feel free to contact us by filling up this form. This is a free service we offer and we won’t charge you a penny for it. But please note that we receive hundreds of emails every day and it’s impossible for us to respond to every single one of them. But rest assured we read every message we receive. For those whom we’ve helped, please spread the word by sharing our posts to your friends or by simply liking our Facebook and Google+ page or follow us on Twitter.