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How to fix Samsung Galaxy S9 that keeps freezing and lagging (easy steps)

ByHarold Hisona

Looking at the specs sheet of the Samsung Galaxy S9 you may think that the phone isn’t capable of slowing down but of course, that’s not true. There would always come a time that a powerful phone like the S9 would slow down and eventually starts to freeze and lag every now and then. That’s one of the reasons why reset exists.

Most of the time, when the performance of your phone starts to deteriorate, something must be causing it. It could be due to a single app you installed, a firmware issue or a problem with the hardware. Unless you know exactly why your phone has become so slow, it would take some time for you to determine what the cause of the problem is and that’s why we have to do some troubleshooting.

In this post, I will walk you through in fixing your Galaxy S9 that keeps on freezing and lagging. We will try to troubleshoot the phone to determine why it’s doing that and then we’ll try to use the most common solutions we often use to issues like this. So, continue reading if you’re one of the owners of this phone as this post may be able to help you one way or another.

Before going further, if you found this post because you were trying to find a solution to your problem, then try to visit our Galaxy S9 troubleshooting page as we’ve already addressed most of the commonly reported issues with the phone. We’ve already provided solutions to some of the problems reported by our readers so try to find issues that are similar with yours and use the solutions we suggested. If they don’t work for you and if you need further assistance, fill up our Android issues questionnaire and hit submit.

How to troubleshoot Galaxy S9 that keeps freezing and lagging

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Freezes and lags have always been among the most common issues with Galaxy devices so we’ve encountered them several times in the past and we already know a thing or two that could help fix or get rid of them. With all that being said, here’s what I suggest you do about it:

Force reboot your Galaxy S9

A normal reboot may not be able to address this problem so you have to do the Forced Reboot procedure by pressing and holding both the Volume Down button and the Power key at the same time for 10 seconds. This will simulate battery disconnect and refresh your phone’s memory.

If the freezes that lags are due to some minor issues or glitches with the app or the system, then this procedure will fix them or get rid of them. You may be able to use your phone like before after this that’s why you also have to be observant enough. If your phone still freezes and lags after this, then you will have to troubleshoot it.

Run your Galaxy S9 in Safe mode and observe

The key to fixing this problem is observation and at this point we don’t know for sure what the cause of the issue is. So, try to reboot your phone in Safe mode to temporarily disable all third-party apps. If one of them is causing your phone to freeze and lag, then those issues won’t show up when the device is in safe mode.

  1. Turn the device off.
  2. Press and hold the Power key past the model name screen appearing on the screen.
  3. When SAMSUNG appears on the screen, release the Power key.
  4. Immediately after releasing the Power key, press and hold the Volume down key.
  5. Continue to hold the Volume down key until the device finishes restarting.
  6. When Safe mode appears in the bottom left corner of the screen, release the Volume down key.

Assuming those issues don’t occur in this environment, then it’s a sign that they can easily be fixed. The next thing you should do while the phone is in safe mode is to find the app that’s causing the problem and uninstall it.

  1. From the Home screen, swipe up on an empty spot to open the Apps tray.
  2. Tap Settings > Apps.
  3. Tap the desired application in the default list.
  4. To display preinstalled apps, tap Menu > Show system apps.
  5. Tap UNINSTALL > OK.

On the other hand, if your Galaxy S9 still freezes and lags in safe mode, you have to do the next method.

Delete system caches so they’d be replaced

One of the causes of poor performance is a corrupt system cache as it affects some core functions and services. If your Galaxy S9 freezes and lags in safe mode, it’s a clear indication that the problem is with the firmware. So, follow these steps to rule out the possibility that may it’s just some corrupt caches that caused your phone to have these issues:

  1. Turn off the device.
  2. Press and hold the Volume Up key and the Bixby key, then press and hold the Power key.
  3. When the Android logo displays, release all three keys.
  4. An ‘Installing system update’ message will show for 30 – 60 seconds before the Android system recovery menu options appear.
  5. Press the Volume down key several times to highlight wipe cache partition.
  6. Press Power key to select.
  7. Press the Volume down key to highlight yes, them and press the Power key to select.
  8. When the wipe cache partition is complete, Reboot system now is highlighted.
  9. Press the Power key to restart the device.

If the freezes and lags remain after this, then you have to do the next method.

Backup your files and data and do the Master Reset

This is your last resort and based on our experience, a master reset is all it takes to take care of all issues with the firmware that cause the phone to freeze, lag and have other performance issues. But before you proceed, make sure you make a backup of your important files and data as they will be deleted. Then, disable Galaxy S9’s factory reset protection by removing your google account. After all that, follow these steps:

  1. Turn off the device.
  2. Press and hold the Volume Up key and the Bixby key, then press and hold the Power key.
  3. When the green Android logo displays, release all keys (‘Installing system update’ will show for about 30 – 60 seconds before showing the Android system recovery menu options).
  4. Press the Volume down key several times to highlight ‘wipe data / factory reset’.
  5. Press Power button to select.
  6. Press the Volume down key until ‘Yes — delete all user data’ is highlighted.
  7. Press Power button to select and start the master reset.
  8. When the master reset is complete, ‘Reboot system now’ is highlighted.
  9. Press the Power key to restart the device.

I hope that our solutions will work for you. If you have other concerns you want to share with, feel free to contact us or leave a comment below.

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