How to make your Samsung Galaxy Note 5 run faster again that slowed down after the Android 7.1 Nougat update [Troubleshooting Guide]

The Android 7.1 #Nougat update for the #Samsung Galaxy Note 5 (#Note5) promises to bring a lot of performance enhancements among other things but it seems like many of the users encountered performance issues and the most common complaint is that the device slowed down after the update was installed.

I will tackle this specific issue in this post. So if you own this device and are currently bugged by the same problem or something similar, continue reading below to understand more about it, know what causes it and learn how to troubleshoot your device safely.

Before we jump right into our troubleshooting, if you found this page because you were trying to find solutions to a different issue, then visit our troubleshooting page for we have already addressed hundreds of problems with this phone since we started supporting it. Try to find issues that are the same as yours and use the solutions or troubleshooting guides we suggested. If they don’t work, then contact us by filling up our Android issues questionnaire and hitting submit.

How to make your slow Galaxy Note 5 run faster again while running Android 7.1 Nougat

First off, we will try to take a look at the reason or possibilities why a high-end device like the Samsung Galaxy Note 5 will run slow after installing Nougat that promised to bring more performance enhancements.

• The device might just need to be rebooted to optimize its apps. It’s the case for many users in the past wherein the device, after updating the firmware, needs to optimize its apps, which can be done by simply rebooting it. It may sometimes takes more than a couple of reboots to fully optimize its apps.
• Some third-party apps may have become obsolete. App developers have to see to it that their apps are fully compatible with the new firmware or Android version. However, it’s inevitable that some developers couldn’t immediately roll out updates for their apps to fix compatibility issues. As a result, their apps may not work properly on a new system and may cause conflicts and other performance issues like this.
• Some caches may have gotten corrupt. System caches, while they’re temporary files, can easily get corrupted and when the new system continues to use them, things like this could occur. Those corrupt files have to be replaced so that the new firmware can run smoothly.
• Some system files or data may have also gotten corrupt. Just like the cache, system files and data can also get corrupted during the process and when it happens, the phone is in for more serious issues that oftentimes, help from a technician is needed.

Now that we’ve itemized the possibilities, let’s try to troubleshoot your device by following these steps…

Step 1: Try to reboot your phone a couple of times to see if that makes a difference

A major firmware update will have a great impact on the phone’s performance as well as with the apps installed on it. In fact, if this really is the case, you will see on the screen how many apps need to be optimized and how many have already been optimized. A couple of reboots may be the only thing you need to do to make your device run faster as before again so it’s worth it. After all, it’s very easy to do.

Step 2: Isolate the problem by restarting your Note 5 in safe mode

Booting up in safe mode will temporarily disable all your third-party apps including all possible culprits. So, if one of your downloaded applications caused this problem, your device should run smooth and fast in this mode and if such is the case, you just have to find the apps that are causing the problem and then try to clear their cache and data first and then try to disable them if the problem still persists after doing so.

How to boot Note 5 in Safe Mode

1. Turn off the phone completely.
2. Press and hold the Power key.
3. Once ‘Samsung Galaxy Note5’ shows, release the Power key and immediately press and hold the Volume Down button.
4. The phone will restart but keep the Vol Down button pressed.
5. Once the phone has finished restarting, ‘Safe mode’ will be display in the lower-left corner of the screen.
6. You may now release the Volume Down button.

How to clear apps cache and data

1. From the Home screen, tap the Apps icon.
2. Find and tap Settings.
3. Under the ‘APPLICATIONS’ section, find and touch Application manager.
4. Swipe to the left or to the right to display the appropriate screen but to display all apps, choose the ‘ALL’ screen.
5. Find and tap the app that has issues.
6. Touch Clear cache to delete its cached files.
7. Touch Clear data and then OK to delete downloaded data, login information, settings, etc.

How to uninstall suspected apps

1. From the Home screen, tap the Apps icon.
2. Find and tap Settings.
3. Under the ‘APPLICATIONS’ section, find and touch Application manager.
4. Swipe to the left or to the right to display the appropriate screen but to display all apps, choose the ‘ALL’ screen.
5. Find and tap the app that has issues.
6. Touch Uninstall, then OK.

Depending on the number of apps you have installed on your phone, it may take a few hours to determine which one is the culprit. So, if you think it would be easier and a lot faster to backup your files and data than to find the culprit, I suggest you do so and just reset your phone.

How to do the factory reset

1. From the Home screen, tap the Apps icon.
2. Find and tap the Settings icon.
3. Under the ‘Personal’ section, find and tap Backup and reset.
4. Tap Factory data reset.
5. Touch Reset device to proceed with the reset.
6. Depending on the security lock you used, enter the PIN or password.
7. Tap Continue.
8. Touch Delete all to confirm your action.

Step 3: Delete the system caches as they may have been corrupted during the process

Assuming the phone is still running very slow in safe mode, we have to try to rule out the possibility that the problem might be caused by some corrupt caches. So, just boot your phone in recovery mode and wipe the cache partition. Don’t worry, none of your files and data will be deleted, only the caches, which would also be replaced with new ones when the phone reboots.

1. Turn off your Samsung Galaxy Note 5 completely.
2. Press and hold the Volume Up and the Home buttons first, and then press and hold the Power key.
3. Keep the three buttons pressed and when ‘Samsung Galaxy Note5’ shows, release the Power key but continue holding the other two.
4. Once the Android logo shows, release both the Volume Up and Home buttons.
5. The notice ‘Installing system update’ will show on the screen for 30 to 60 seconds before the Android system recovery screen is shown with its options.
6. Use the Volume Down key to highlight the option ‘wipe cache partition’ and press the Power key to select it.
7. When the process is complete, use the Volume Down key to highlight the option ‘Reboot system now’ and hit the Power key to restart the phone.
8. The reboot may take a little longer to complete but don’t worry and wait for the device to become active.

If the phone’s performance didn’t improve after this, then you have no other choice but to do the next step.

Step 4: Perform the Master Reset to bring your device back to its default settings

It’s time you ruled out the possibility that some of the system files and data got corrupted during the update process. This procedure is also very effective in dealing with complex firmware issues. Moreover, you need to do this by yourself so that if the problem still persists after this, you can send the device in for checkup and repair without the fear of exposing your personal information as they will all be deleted during the reset. But make sure you backup every bit of important data and files saved in the internal storage.

1. Turn off your Samsung Galaxy Note 5 completely.
2. Press and hold the Volume Up and the Home buttons first, and then press and hold the Power key.
3. Keep the three buttons pressed and when ‘Samsung Galaxy Note5’ shows, release the Power key but continue holding the other two.
4. Once the Android logo shows, release both the Volume Up and Home buttons.
5. The notice ‘Installing system update’ will show on the screen for 30 to 60 seconds before the Android system recovery screen is shown with its options.
6. Use the Volume Down key to highlight the option ‘Yes — delete all user data’ and press the Power key to select it.
7. When the process is complete, use the Volume Down key to highlight the option ‘Reboot system now’ and hit the Power key to restart the phone.
8. The reboot may take a little longer to complete but don’t worry and wait for the device to become active.

I am hoping this troubleshooting guide can help you fix the issue with your phone.

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