What to do with Samsung Galaxy A3 (2017) that started running slow [Troubleshooting Guide]

The Samsung Galaxy A3, while an entry-level device, comes with really impressive specs and based on the reviews by users, it’s a phone that does what it offers. But despite all that, there are times when smartphones run slow depending on the amount of data you store in its memory as well as the number of apps installed. There are factors that contribute why your phone started to run slow or doesn’t perform the way it should. That’s why it’s important you take some time to look into this problem a little deeper to know what it’s all about.

In this post, I will walk you through in troubleshooting your Galaxy A3 that’s now performing so slow. We will take into consideration every possibility and rule them out one by one until we can determine what the real problem with your phone is and what needs to be done to fix it. If you’re one of the owners of this phone and are currently bugged by a similar problem, continue reading below as this post may be able to help you.

Now, before we jump to our troubleshooting guide, if even you found this post because you were trying to find a solution to different issue, then I suggest you visit our Galaxy A3 troubleshooting page for we have already addressed some of the most commonly reported issues with this device. Try to find a problem that’s similar with yours and use the solutions or workarounds we suggested. If they don’t work for you and if you need further assistance, then fill up our Android issues questionnaire and we will include your concern in our next posts.

How to troubleshoot your Galaxy A3 that’s running so slow

Problem: Hey guys. I am hoping you can help me with my problem with my Galaxy A3. It started to become very slow since last week and I just continued using it since I don’t have a clue as to what to do about it and I don’t have another phone I can use. Can you please walk me through in troubleshooting my phone? Thanks.

Troubleshooting: When it comes to issues that affect the performance of your phone, they often have something to do with the firmware or apps and not much on the hardware side, although we’ve already seen cases wherein hardware problems caused the phone to freeze, lag or impossible to use.

Try to go through the steps below to see if one of them can make your device run normally again. Please note that we don’t guarantee that our method may work because it actually depends how serious the problem is. But rest assured all our methods are safe and based on our experience.

Step 1: Try to see if your phone runs normally when in safe mode

As I said earlier, it’s possible that some of the third-party apps caused your phone to slow down considerably so we have to go after them before anything else. Third-party apps are expendable; you can delete them at will without adverse effects on your phone. If one or some of them is causing this problem, then it would do you good to uninstall them. To temporarily disable all third-party apps at once, you just have to boot your phone up in Safe mode:

  1. Turn the device off.
  2. Press and hold the Power key past the screen with the device name.
  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. Safe mode will display in the bottom left corner of the screen.
  7. Release the Volume down key when you see ‘Safe Mode’.

While in this mode, try to observe your phone closely to know if it works normally because if it does, then it’s clear enough that the cause of the problem is one or some of the third-party apps installed on your phone. In this case, the first thing you should do is update apps that need to be updated:

  1. From any Home screen, tap the Apps icon.
  2. Tap Play Store.
  3. Tap the Menu key and then tap My Apps. To keep your apps automatically updated, tap the Menu key, tap Settings, and then tap Auto-update apps to select the check box.
  4. Choose one of the following options:
    • Tap Update [xx] to update all applications with updates available.
    • Tap an individual application and then tap Update to update a single application.

If, however,  you are already suspecting an app or two, then reset those apps or even uninstall them to find out if the problem can be fixed.

How to reset apps on your Galaxy A3

  1. From any Home screen, tap the Apps icon.
  2. Tap Settings.
  3. Tap Applications.
  4. Tap Application manager.
  5. Tap the desired application in the default list or tap MORE > Show system apps to display pre-installed apps.
  6. Tap Storage.
  7. Tap Clear cache.
  8. Tap Clear data and then tap OK.

How to uninstall applications from your Galaxy A3

  1. From any Home screen, tap the Apps icon.
  2. Tap Settings.
  3. Tap Applications.
  4. Tap Application manager.
  5. Tap the desired application
  6. Tap Uninstall.
  7. Tap Uninstall again to confirm.

If the phone is still slow in safe mode or after doing all these procedures, then I suggest you delete all the system caches so that they will be replaced.

Step 2: Reboot your phone in Recovery mode and wipe cache partition

Wiping the cache partition means you’re deleting all the system caches in your phone because it’s possible some of them are already obsolete or corrupt. We have seen a lot of cases wherein the phone slowed down considerably without apparent reason. Many of those cases occurred after an update or after the phone encountered some random reboots and shutdowns. The point is, when the problem occurs without any apparent reason or cause, it’s more likely an issue with the caches. So, follow the steps below to delete all the system caches in your phone:

  1. Turn off the device.
  2. Press and hold the Volume Up key and the Home key, then press and hold the Power key.
  3. When the device logo screen displays, release only the Power key
  4. When the Android logo displays, release all keys (‘Installing system update’ will show for about 30 – 60 seconds before showing the Android system recovery menu options).
  5. Press the Volume down key several times key to highlight ‘wipe cache partition.’
  6. Press the Power key to select.
  7. Press the Volume down key to highlight ‘yes’ 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.

It may take a little while for the phone to boot up since it will rebuild the caches but once it becomes active, observe it closely to know if the it’s still slow because if it is, then you have no other choice but to do the next step.

Step 3: Backup your important files and reset your phone

After the first two steps and the problem remains, then it’s safe to assume it has something to do with the firmware. You have no other choice at this point in time but to reset your phone, however, make sure you make a backup of your important files and data as they will be deleted during the process. After the backup, take note of your Google ID and password or better yet, disable the Factory Reset Protection so that you won’t be locked out of your device.

How to disable Factory Reset Protection on Galaxy A3

  1. From the Home screen, tap the Apps icon.
  2. Tap Settings.
  3. Tap Accounts.
  4. Tap Google.
  5. Tap your Google ID email address. If you have multiple accounts setup, you will need to repeat these steps for each account.
  6. Tap More.
  7. Tap Remove account.
  8. Tap REMOVE ACCOUNT.

After doing this, feel free to reset your phone.

How to reset your Galaxy A3 to bring it back to its factory default settings

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

You can also reset it from the Settings menu…

  1. From the Home screen, tap the Apps icon.
  2. Tap Settings.
  3. Tap Backup and reset.
  4. If desired, tap Back up my data to move the slider to ON or OFF.
  5. If desired, tap Restore to move the slider to ON or OFF.
  6. Tap Factory data reset.
  7. Tap Reset device.
  8. If you have screen lock turned on, enter your PIN or password.
  9. Tap Continue.
  10. Tap Delete all.

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