How to fix a Google Pixel 2 that started running slow (easy steps)

When it comes to performance, your Google Pixel 2 is inherently fast and smooth. Google made it that way and that’s what you should get. However, we have readers who emailed us seeking for assistance because their devices reportedly started to run very slowly. Issues like this are very annoying because they will prevent you from doing your usual activities in your phone. Thus, you need to address it immediately to bring your Pixel 2 back to its optimum performance.

In this post, I will walk you through in troubleshooting your Google Pixel 2 that started to run slow. We will consider every possibility and rule them out one by one until we can determine the reason why it has become so slow and formulate a solution to deal with it. Based on experience, performance issues are basically easy to fix so there’s a chance you can fix it on your own without employing the services of a technician. If you’re one of the owners of this device and are currently being bugged by a similar issue, continue reading as this article may be able to help you fix it.

Before going further, if you found this post because you were trying to find a solution to your problem, then try to visit our 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 Google Pixel 2 that’s running so slow

Performance issues are normal even for premium phones like the Pixel 2 it’s because there are several factors we need to consider to determine why it’s happening in the first place. Below are the things you need to do to know the problem and hopefully fix it…

First solution: Find out if it’s due to some third-party apps

Applications may cause your phone to perform poorly especially if there are already a bunch of them running in the background. Most of the time, heavy apps are the ones that cause this kind of problem especially CPU-intensive games. In Android, when you’re using an app and you press the home button to return to the home screen, the app is actually just “minimized” and not closed. So it continues to run in the background and use CPU and RAM. If you have several apps that run in the background, you may feel that your phone has become sluggish with random instances of freezes and lags.

  1. To view the most recently used apps, tap the Recent apps button Home recent apps icon (located in the lower-right) and scroll through the list of apps.
  2. Scroll through the list of apps, hold the app then swipe the screen left or right.

After doing this and your Pixel 2 is still sluggish, then you need to run it in Safe mode to temporarily disable all third-party apps.

  1. With the device powered on, press and hold the Power button (located on the right-edge) until the Power off prompt appears then release.
  2. Touch and hold Power off until the “Reboot to safe mode” prompt appears then release.
  3. Tap OK to confirm.
  4. Note The restart process may take up to 45 seconds to complete.
  5. Note Upon restart, “Safe mode” appears in the lower-left of the unlock/home screen.

Continue using your phone while it’s in safe mode to know if the problem is caused by third-party apps. If the problem is seems fixed while it’s in this mode, then it’s confirmed that it’s due to third-party apps. Find those apps that uninstall them.

  1. From a Home screen, tap the Arrow icon to display all apps.
  2. Navigate: Settings > Apps & notifications .
  3. Tap See all ‘xx’ apps.
  4. Tap an app that you think causes the problem.
  5. Tap Uninstall.
  6. Tap OK to confirm.

On the other hand, if your Pixel 2 is still running slow while in safe mode, then the problem could be with the firmware. Try the next procedure.

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Second solution: Wipe cache partition

Doing this will delete all system caches or temporary files created by the firmware to help your device run smoothly. These are prone to corruption and when it happens, performance issues may occur including freezes, lags, sluggishness and even app crashes. It is important that you try doing this procedure as it has a similar effect as with a reset only that it won’t delete all your files and data:

  1. Turn off your Google Pixel 2.
  2. Once off, press the power and volume down button together for some time.
  3. This will turn the device on and you need to hold both the buttons till the Google Pixel 2 logo disappears.
  4. After this, simply wait for the time till your device boots into the recovery mode.
  5. Next, you can choose the language of your choice.
  6. Next is to tap on the “Wipe Data and Cache” option.
  7. After this, simply tap on the “Wipe Cache” option.
  8. You will be asked to confirm the same, click yes to proceed.
  9. After this, you need to wait till your Google Pixel 2 clear the entire cache partition.
  10. After this, tap on the reboot. This will restart your device.
  11. Once restarted, you are done.

Use your phone to know if it’s still slow or sluggish and if it is, then you have no other choice but to reset it.

Third solution: Perform the Master reset

After doing the procedures above and your phone is still running so slow, then you should backup all your files and data that are stored in your phone’s internal storage. You need to reset your device to fix this problem.

  1. Ensure the device is powered off.
  2. Press and hold the Power+Volume Down buttons until bootloader mode (image of an Android with Start above it) appears, then release.
  3. Select Recovery mode.
  4. Use the Volume buttons to cycle through the available options and the Power button to select.
  5. The device will flash the Google start screen momentarily and then restarts in Recovery mode.
  6. If presented with an image of a broken Android with “No Command” shown on the screen, press and hold the Power button. Press the Volume Up button once then release the Power button.
  7. From the Android Recovery screen, select Wipe data/factory reset.
  8. Select Yes and then allow several minutes for the factory data reset process to complete.
  9. Select Reboot system now.
  10. Allow several minutes for the factory data reset and reboot processes to complete.

I hope that this troubleshooting guide have helped you. If you have other issues with your phone that you want to share with us, feel free to contact us anytime or leave a comment below.

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