How to fix your Samsung Galaxy Note 8 that keeps freezing and lagging (easy steps)

Constant freezes and lags often occur among other symptoms of performance degradation in mobile devices. With time and constant usage, your smartphone will eventually slow down just like any other electronic devices that are slowing down from wear-and-tear. And that’s normal. But when a new powerful smartphone like the Galaxy Note 8 is acting this way at an early stage, then that is already a different story. There are many factors that would trigger the same issues to occur on new devices. In most cases, software issues are found to be the underlying cause. It could be due to an app malfunction, bad updates, software bugs, random glitches, system crashes, and the like. All these are rectifiable by some workarounds. But if a damaged hardware component is to blame, service is most likely needed to fix the problem. Highlighted below are among the recommended workarounds and potential solutions you can try on if ever you need some help in dealing with freezing and lagging issues on your Samsung Galaxy Note 8. Feel free to refer to the given procedures whenever you’re all set to troubleshoot your device.

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 Note 8 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.

First solution: Force close background apps then restart your phone.

Background apps refer to the apps that you’ve recently used but not closed. These apps are in standby mode and running in the background. If any of these background apps crashes, there is a higher chance that other apps or the phone system itself can become affected. As a result, certain apps may not work or function as intended as your phone system couldn’t perform properly as well. To rule this out from the possible triggers, forcing background apps to close can help. Here’s how it’s done on your Note 8:

1. Press the Recent apps key located on the bottom left corner of the screen. Doing so will show up a list of your recently used apps.
2. To close an individual app, tap the app from the list and drag it to the left or right. Alternatively, you can just tap the X.
3. To close all recent apps at once, tap the option to Clear All instead.

Restart your phone to apply the new changes.

Second solution: Boot into safe mode and diagnose applications.

To determine whether or not a third-party app is causing your Note 8 to constantly freeze and lag, try to enable safe mode on your device. All third-party apps are disabled in this mode so it will be easier for you to isolate the problem. Follow these steps to boot your Galaxy Note 8 in safe mode and diagnose your apps:

1. Turn your phone off.
2. Then press and hold the Power button past the model name screen.
3. When the Samsung logo appears, release the Power button.
4. Immediately after releasing the Power button, press and hold the Volume Down key.
5. Keep holding the Volume Down key until the phone finishes restarting.
6. By then you should see the Safe Mode badge at the bottom left corner of the screen. At this point, you can release the Volume Down key.

If the problem doesn’t occur while in safe mode, then it means any of your downloaded apps is causing it. That app must therefore be removed. At this point, you can start uninstalling individual apps you suspect, most likely the most recent app you’ve downloaded before your phone starts to freeze or lag. To uninstall suspected apps, follow these steps:

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 or tap 3 dots icon > Show system apps to display preinstalled apps.
4. Tap the desired application.
5. Tap Uninstall.
6. Tap Uninstall again to confirm action.

After uninstalling suspected apps, reboot your phone to apply the new changes and likewise refresh the system. See if that fixed the problem.

Third solution: Wipe cache partition on your phone.

Temporary files that are stored as cache in your phone system can also cause lags and freezes when they crash or get corrupted. To make sure this isn’t what’s causing trouble, wiping the cache partition on your Samsung Galaxy Note 8 can help. Here’s how it’s done:

1. Press the Volume Up, Home (Bixby), and Power buttons simultaneously for a few seconds.
2. When the Android logo appears, release all buttons and wait for the Android recovery menu options to display.
3. From the Android recovery menu, press the Volume Down key several times to highlight or select wipe cache partition option.
4. Press the Power button to confirm selection.
5. Press the Volume Down key until Yes is highlighted.
6. Then press the Power button to confirm.
7. Wait until the wipe cache partition is complete and when it’s finished, the Reboot system now option is highlighted.
8. Press the Power button to restart your phone.

Unlike master reset, wiping cache partition does not affect your data stored on the internal memory so it won’t result to data loss.

Fourth solution: Update device software to the latest version.

Installing the latest firmware update for your Note 8 can be the key to fixing the problem especially if system bugs are to blame. Updates not only offer new features but also fix patches to address existing bugs that affect certain devices. Here’s how to get this done:

1. To check for software update on your Note 8, open the Apps tray.
2. Then go to Settings.
3. Tap Software Update.
4. Select the option to Download updates manually.
5. Tap OK and then Restart.
6. When the restart message appears, tap OK to confirm.

Fifth solution: Reset your phone to its factory default settings and set it up as new.

A master reset can be regarded as the last option if nothing else works. There might be a more complex system error that triggers your device to crash and get stuck. This will wipe everything from your phone system including your personal information and customizations. That said, creating backup is needed before moving on to these steps:

1. Press the Volume Up, Home (Bixby), and Power buttons simultaneously for a few seconds.
2. When the Android logo appears, release all buttons and wait for the Android recovery menu options to display.
3. From the Android recovery menu, press the Volume Down key several times to highlight or select wipe data/factory reset option.
4. Then press the Power button to confirm selection.
5. Press the Volume Down key until Yes — delete all user data is highlighted.
6. Then press the Power button to confirm select. This will instigate the master reset.
7. When the reset is finished, the Reboot system now option is highlighted.
8. Press the Power button to restart your phone.

Alternatively, you can reset your Note 8 through settings. Here’s how:

1. Swipe up on an empty spot from the Home screen to open the Apps tray.
2. Tap Settings.
3. Go to Cloud and accounts.
4. Tap Backup and restore. Doing so will allow you to create a backup of your important data before wiping them all.
5. After creating backups, go back to the Settings menu.
6. Tap General Management.
7. Scroll to and tap Reset.
8. Then select Factory data reset from the given options.
9. Tap Reset to continue.
10. If prompted, enter your credentials.
11. Tap Continue.
12. Then tap Delete all to confirm reset.

Wait until your phone reboots and then you can start setting up your device as new. Everything should be working properly by then. Otherwise, your device needs service.

Repair options

You may consider taking your device to a Samsung service center and have it diagnosed by a technician for any indications of hardware damage. Your Samsung Galaxy Note 8 might have incurred some sort of physical or liquid damage from a previous drop or liquid exposure. In that case, constant freezing and lags are the transpiring symptoms. Thus, your device requires service.

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