Google Nexus 6 Problems, Errors, Glitches and Ways to Fix Them

This is going to be the first part of our Google Nexus 6 problems troubleshooting series and we will be publishing, at least, one support article for this device every week. We haven’t started supporting Nexus devices yet but we already received several emails asking for help. So, if you have a Nexus 6 owner, follow us as we will be addressing any problem reported to us by our readers.

We are always open to your questions and problems. Feel free to email us at [email protected] but I urge you to provide all necessary details. We don’t mind reading long emails as long as they contain information that will allow us to easily and accurately assess your problem. You may also post your concerns (and please like our pages) on our Facebook wall and/or Google+ page. I will be one of the few people to answer your questions there.

Click on a link to jump to a specific problem:

1. Randomly Shuts Down
2. Keeps Freezing
3. Performance Has Slowed Down
4. Can’t Connect To WiFi Network
5. Prevent Accidental Unlock and Pocket Dialing
6. Stuck on Startup After an Update
7. Can’t Send/Receive MMS
8. Can’t Receive Emails
9. Screen Won’t Turn On
10. Won’t Turn On

Google Nexus 6 Randomly Shuts Down

Problem: My Google Nexus 6 is barely 3 months old and I’m already experiencing a very annoying issue–random shut downs. Today, the phone shut itself down 4 times already and I don’t have a single clue what the reason was. I had a Nexus 5 before this and this issue never occurred so I’m really frustrated over this problem. Can you spend a little time helping me on this one? I will appreciate the effort you guys are doing for us users who don’t have enough knowledge. — Katie

Troubleshooting: Hi Katie. I understand your need for assistance on this matter, however, there isn’t enough information for us to accurately assess what the problem really is. Based on reports from users who also encountered this issue, it is possible that the cause of the problem is the recent update to Android 5.0 Lollipop. I don’t know if you already received it but if this problem started recently, then the update may have been downloaded and installed without your knowledge.

There’s no easy way to fix the problem caused by possible corrupt data due to the recent update. You really need to do the full master reset. It will delete all your personal information and free up the phone’s internal storage but above all, it will reformat the data partition where Android system files are stored. Here’s how you do it:

1. Turn off Nexus 6 completely.
2. Press and hold the Volume Down key and the Power key at the same time until the phone boots up.
3. Using the Volume Down key, highlight ‘Recovery mode’.
4. Press the Power key to boot the phone in recovery mode. You will see an Android robot with a red exclamation mark.
5. While holding the Power key, press the Volume Up key just once and then release the Power key. The Android recovery system will display.
6. Use the Volume keys to highlight ‘Wipe data/factory reset’ and then press the Power key to choose it.
7. Highlight ‘Yes – erase all user data’ and press the Power key once again to confirm the reset.

Google Nexus 6 Keeps Freezing

Problem: It is very annoying if you can’t use your phone to its full potential and that’s my problem because my Nexus 6 keeps freezing. I think the problem started two weeks ago but I thought it was nothing or a minor glitch in the system and would go away on its own. Well, I was wrong. Now, the phone is freezing every few minutes, although there are times when it works normally like before. When it freezes, it will take a few seconds to a minute before I can regain control of the phone so it’s really, really annoying. Can you help me troubleshoot this problem please? — Edgar

Troubleshooting: Hey Edgar. I believe the problem is with the apps you’re using. What were the apps you were using when the phone froze? Take note of every suspected app and then boot the phone in safe mode to see if the problem won’t occur if the phone is in that state.

1. Press and hold the Power button until a dialog box pops up.
2. Tap and hold the Power off option.
3. Touch OK in the next dialog box.

The phone will restart and once it has fully rebooted, you can see the ‘Safe mode’ text at the lower left corner of the screen. Now, open every available app in your phone to see if the problem occurs. If not, then start uninstalling each suspected app until you figure out which of them cause the problem. To uninstall an app, follow these steps:

1. From the Home screen, tap All Apps icon.
2. Tap Settings and then Apps.
3. Swipe right to the Downloaded screen.
4. Tap the app that’s causing the problem.
5. Tap Uninstall and then OK.

Google Nexus 6 Performance Has Slowed Down

Problem: Hi team. My Nexus 6 is just turning 5 months by the end of this month but I’m not satisfied with its performance. During the first two months of use, I was satisfied with its blazing speed from booting up to loading apps, playing movies, gaming and whatnot. However, there was a very noticeable difference in its performance now. I upgraded from a mid-range Android phone to this one so I know exactly if the phone is slow or fast when it comes to performance. I have been an Android user for years but I don’t know how fix issues like this so I need your help guys. What should I do? — Mike

Troubleshooting: Hey Mike. We don’t know for sure what’s causing the slow down in your phone’s performance but let’s take the safest route in troubleshooting this issue. The most common cause of slow downs is a third-party app that has gone rogue or consistently crashing in the background. We need to rule out this possibility so I need you to boot the Nexus 6 in safe mode:

1. Press and hold the Power button until a dialog box pops up.
2. Tap and hold the Power off option.
3. Touch OK in the next dialog box.

While in safe mode, observe the phone’s performance closely to know if it has improved. If so, then our suspicion that the cause of the poor performance is third-party app(s). The real hard work begins here as you will have to find the app that’s causing the problem and uninstall it.

In case the phone is still performing poorly in safe mode or if you can’t find the third-party app that’s causing the problem, I suggest you do the full hard reset to give the phone a fresh start but don’t forget to backup all your important data before doing so.

1. Turn off Nexus 6 completely.
2. Press and hold the Volume Down key and the Power key at the same time until the phone boots up.
3. Using the Volume Down key, highlight ‘Recovery mode’.
4. Press the Power key to boot the phone in recovery mode. You will see an Android robot with a red exclamation mark.
5. While holding the Power key, press the Volume Up key just once and then release the Power key. The Android recovery system will display.
6. Use the Volume keys to highlight ‘Wipe data/factory reset’ and then press the Power key to choose it.
7. Highlight ‘Yes – erase all user data’ and press the Power key once again to confirm the reset.

Google Nexus Can’t Connect To WiFi Network

Problem: Hi guys, the problem with my Nexus 6 started about 4 days ago and it started intermittently. What I’m talking about is the WiFi. It started to intermittently disconnect and reconnect. Today it refuses to connect to my home WiFi. What’s funny is that when I go to Starbucks and connect to their network, the phone is just fine so I figured may be it’s my network. My laptop, however, can connect to my network just fine and it confuses me. I’m not really sure what to do to fix this problem so if you would be so kind to help, I will greatly appreciate it. — Mary

Troubleshooting: Hello Mary. Android system use data or files to make its core functions to work but there are times when these data get corrupted. Clearly, your phone can connect to other WiFi networks and your own network is working fine as you’ve said your laptop can connect successfully. So, we will have to set our focus on your phone. The most logical step for you to do is to “forget” your own WiFi network from your phone. Follow these steps:

1. From the Home screen, tap the Apps icon.
2. Tap Settings.
3. Scroll to Wireless & Networks section and tap WiFi. This will open the WiFi settings menu.
4. Tap Forget Network.
5. Now, reboot your phone.

After the reboot, it’s time you let the phone scan and connect to your own WiFi network.

1. From the Home screen, tap the Apps icon.
2. Tap Settings.
3. Scroll to Wireless & Networks section and tap WiFi.
4. Slide the WiFi switch to On if necessary.
5. When available networks are listed, choose your own network.
6. Enter your credentials and tap Connect.

Basing on your description, these procedures will work. However, if the problem persists after these, then it’s time you reboot your network equipment such as modem and/or router.

Prevent Accidental Unlock and Pocket Dialing

Problem: Hi Droid guys. I got Nexus 6 as a Christmas gift from my husband. It’s really a nice phone compared to my 3-year old HTC phone but there’s a problem. When the phone is in my pocket (I wear jeans all the time), it automatically unlocks itself and I noticed one it also dials numbers. Some are in my contact list while others not. So, my question is, how can I prevent the phone from accidental unlocks and pocket dialing sessions? — Jo

Troubleshooting: Hey Jo. One feature that came with Android 5.0 Lollipop is causing this. The feature is called Ambient Display, which, according to Google will “wake screen when device picked up or notifications arrive”. It is a nice feature but definitely for someone who tucks the phone in the pocket. So, here’s how you disable Ambient Display:

1. Slide down with two fingers the Notification bar.
2. Tap the Settings icon (gear-shaped icon).
3. Under Device section, tap Display.
4. You should be able to see Ambient Display from this screen. Just tap on it to flip the switch to Off.

I hope this helps, Jo.

Google Nexus 6 Stuck on Startup After an Update

Problem: Hi droid guys. I really need your help as my father’s phone is stuck on the startup screen. The phone is a Nexus 6 and he asked me to do whatever needs to be done to make things updated in his phone. There was an update, which I think was for the firmware, so I updated it and after the reboot the phone will not continue booting up. I’m really stumped. I don’t know what else to do and considering how important the phone is to my father’s job, I think he’ll kill me if he finds out I messed it up. Please help me with this problem. Thanks. — Sean

Troubleshooting: Hey Sean, sorry to hear that. If the problem started after an update, then it’s just a matter of clearing all caches. It should work after that. I don’t want to keep you, so here’s how you do it:

1. Turn off Nexus 6 completely.
2. Press and hold the Volume Down key and the Power key at the same time until the phone boots up.
3. Using the Volume Down key, highlight ‘Recovery mode’.
4. Press the Power key to boot the phone in recovery mode. You will see an Android robot with a red exclamation mark.
5. While holding the Power key, press the Volume Up key just once and then release the Power key. The Android recovery system will display.
6. Use the Volume keys to highlight ‘wipe cache partition’ and then press the Power key to choose it and reboot the system.

If this doesn’t work, you have no choice but to hard reset the phone.

Google Nexus 6 Can’t Send/Receive MMS

Problem: I bought a Google Nexus 6 during the holidays and got it activated by my provider. Everything is working like text messaging, phone calls and WiFi. However, when I tried sending out a picture message, it didn’t go through. I also asked my son to send me a picture message through text, I didn’t receive it. So obviously, there’s a problem in this aspect. Another thing is that I have an unlimited “everything” plan including data. So, I know I can browse the internet, receive my emails, and all even if I’m not connected to WiFi. Well, I can’t do any of these things. Is this a network problem or a phone problem? I really need your advices on these issues. Thanks for taking time reading this and for your help. — Leila

Troubleshooting: Hi Leila. The problems you have are actually connected and can be considered as one issue but the fact is, it’s neither an issue with your provider nor with your phone. There’s just some settings that need to be entered on your phone to get everything working.

Now, check if the phone is set to connect to a mobile data network. Follow these steps:

1. From the Home screen, tap the Apps icon.
2. Tap Settings.
3. Scroll to Wireless & Networks section and touch More.
4. Touch Mobile networks or Cellular networks.
5. Make sure the checkbox beside Data enabled is ticked.

If data wasn’t enabled while you were trying to send picture messages, then the procedure will fix the issue for you. However, even after you enabled mobile data and you still can’t send MMS then I’m sure the problem is with the APN. I don’t know what your service provider is but the best way to get the correct APN for your phone is by calling tech support. Once you got the correct APN, you can either edit existing one or add a new one:

1. From the Home screen, tap the Apps icon.
2. Tap Settings.
3. Scroll to Wireless & Networks section and touch More.
4. Touch Mobile networks or Cellular networks.
5. Tap Access Point Names.
6. Tap the Menu key and touch New APN and enter all necessary information provided to you by your provider.

Google Nexus 6 Can’t Receive Emails

Problem: The company I work for gave its employers email addresses bearing the company’s domain. The email was setup in my computer in the office with Microsoft Outlook and emails are coming through. My phone, however, doesn’t get the emails my computer is getting. I checked every setting in my phone and compared it with settings in my computer and they’re all the same especially the server settings. The weird thing is, when I turn my computer off, emails will appear in my phone’s inbox and remained there. When I turn on the computer, it will download the same messages but future messages will not be downloaded in my phone. What’s the problem here? How do I fix this? Thanks for all your help! — Ed

Troubleshooting: Hey Ed. The problem isn’t with the phone but with the computer. The email client in your computer is set to download all messages and delete them from the server. Your phone connects to the server to get emails from but if the computer gets those emails first, there will be nothing left for your phone. As I said, messages are deleted after they got downloaded to your computer. That explains why the phone will get the emails if the computer is off. You just have to change one setting for everything to work as you like. I outlined a simple troubleshooting procedure for you below:

1. Launch the email client in your computer.
2. Once the client is up and running, click File menu.
3. Click Account Settings.
4. Choose the email account you set up in your Galaxy S3 and click Change.
5. Click More Settings button.
6. Click Advanced tab.
7. Find “Leave a copy of messages on the server” and make sure it is CHECKED.
8. Click OK.
9. Close Microsoft Outlook.
10. Try to re-sync your email in your phone so emails will be downloaded.
11. Open any message you want read. Notice it will remain in your inbox after you read it.

Google Nexus 6 Screen Won’t Turn On

Problem: My 6-year old dropped my phone screen first. When I picked it up the screen was off. So, I attempted to turn the phone on and it didn’t respond. I thought it was totaled until I heard the usual notification sound for text messages. The phone is on but the screen is off and won’t turn on no matter what. To confirm that, I tried calling my number from my husbands phone. It rang. Is this just a screen issue? If so, can this be fixed? — Lindsay

Suggestion: Lindsay, it’s kinda hard to tell what the problem with your phone really is. But based on your description, it seems the phone is working fine and only the screen has an issue. I don’t know how high the phone fell from but it could be a connector problem. Meaning, the display connector may have been detached that’s why it’s not turning on. The best thing to do is to send the phone in for repair. You may have to pay for the service and any other fees as they will not be covered by warranty.

Google Nexus 6 Won’t Turn On

Problem: All of the sudden while I was using the phone, it shut down and refused to come back on. Thinking the battery was drained, I plugged it in to charge but it wasn’t charging either. I could have done basic troubleshooting if the phone would just turn on but it doesn’t, so I’m really stumped. Help me please. What shall I do? — Melai

Troubleshooting: Melai, if you have access to other chargers, please try to use them just to make sure that the phone won’t charge. Based on your description, there’s actually no apparent reason why the phone would behave this way. Leave the phone plugged in for at least 30 minutes and then attempt to turn it on. If it still won’t turn on, try booting it in recovery mode and wipe cache partition:

1. Turn off Nexus 6 completely.
2. Press and hold the Volume Down key and the Power key at the same time until the phone boots up.
3. Using the Volume Down key, highlight ‘Recovery mode’.
4. Press the Power key to boot the phone in recovery mode. You will see an Android robot with a red exclamation mark.
5. While holding the Power key, press the Volume Up key just once and then release the Power key. The Android recovery system will display.
6. Use the Volume keys to highlight ‘wipe cache partition’ and then press the Power key to choose it and reboot the system.

If the phone won’t boot up in recovery mode either, it’s time you had it checked by a technician. It could be a hardware issue.

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