What to do if your Samsung Galaxy Tab S4 keeps freezing and lagging?

The Samsung Galaxy Tab S4 is relatively new and there hasn’t been any reports of serious and possibly hardware or manufacturing problems. So after a few weeks of using it and you feel like your new tablet has become slow and keeps on freezing or lagging, the issue could be with the firmware or caused by some apps. More often, such problems are actually not serious and you can fix them on your own by doing some basic troubleshooting.

In this post, I will share with you some practical points you can do if your Galaxy Tab S4 starts to freeze and lag. We will try to determine what the problem really is and rule out every possibility so we can fix the issue. If you’re one of the owners of this tablet and are currently bugged by similar symptoms, continue reading as this article may be able to help you somehow.

For owners who are looking for a solution to a different problem, drop by our troubleshooting page for we have already addressed some of the most common problems with this device. Browse through the page to find issues that are similar with yours and use the solutions we suggested. If they don’t work or if you need further assistance don’t hesitate to contact us by filling up our Android issues questionnaire.

How to troubleshoot Galaxy Tab S4 that keeps freezing / lagging?

The first thing we need to find out is if the freezes and lags also occur when all third-party applications are disabled because usually the cause of these problems are apps that are also keeps on crashing or are using too much resources such as RAM and CPU. That said, here’s what you should do about it:

First solution: Run your Galaxy Tab S4 in Safe Mode

By doing this, you’re temporarily disabling all third-party applications at once and this will give you an idea if the cause of the problem is actually one of the applications you downloaded and installed.

Turn off the device.
Press and hold the Power/Lock key for one or two seconds to turn on the device.
When the Samsung logo displays press and hold the Volume down key until the lock screen displays.
When the lock screen displays Safe mode is shown in the lower-left corner of the screen.

If your tablet actually runs normally in safe mode without the freezes and lags, then it means the cause of the problem is a third-party app or two. You may now reboot your device normally to exit Safe Mode and it may also work normally after that until you run the app that’s causing the problem. So, be mindful of the apps you use to know which of them is the culprit. Once you already have an idea, you may try resetting it first and if the problem still continues, you may uninstall it from your device to fix the problem.

However, if the freezes and lags still occur even in safe mode, then it means that the problem could be with the firmware itself. Try the next solutions.

Second solution: Wipe Cache Partition

Another possibility that we need to rule out is that the system cache may have been corrupted for some reason. It would also cause the device to run slow with frequent freezes, crashes and lags. You need to wipe your tablet’s cache partition to see if that helps and by doing so, you’re deleting and replacing the system cache. To do so, you just have to reboot your Tab S4 into Recovery Mode and wipe the cache partition from there. Here’s the step-by-step tutorial:

Turn off the device.
Press and hold the Volume Up key and the Home key, then press and hold the Power key.
When the Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 logo screen displays, release all three keys, then press and quickly release the Power key
‘Installing system update’ will show for about 30 – 60 seconds, then a ‘No command’ Android will appear before showing the Android system recovery menu options.
Press the Volume down key several times key to highlight ‘wipe cache partition.’
Press Power button to select.
When the wipe is complete, ‘Reboot system now’ is highlighted.
Press the Power key to restart the device.

Your tablet will take a little time rebooting as it rebuilds the cache but once it becomes active, use it like you normally do to know if the freezes and lags disappeared. If it’s still the same, you should try the next solution.

Third solution: Reset All Settings

By resetting all settings in your tablet, you’re as close as doing the factory reset but the only difference is that your files and data will remain intact and untouched. If this problem was caused by some misconfiguration, then this procedure would be enough to fix it. Here’s how you do it:

From the Home screen, swipe up on an empty spot to open the Apps tray.
Tap Settings > General Management > Reset > Reset settings.
Tap RESET SETTINGS.
If you have set up a PIN, enter it.
Tap RESET SETTINGS.
The device will restart to perform the reset of settings.

If the problem continues after this procedure, then you have no other choice but to reset your tablet.

Fourth solution: Perform Master Reset

At this point in our troubleshooting, it’s necessary to do the master reset since everything else failed to fix the problem. When it comes to performance-related issues, a reset will be able to fix it however, you must take time backing up your important files and data as they may be deleted especially if they’re saved in your tablet’s internal storage.

Back up data on the internal memory. If you have signed into a Samsung account on the device, you have activated Anti-theft and will need your Samsung credentials to finish the master reset.
Turn off the device.
Press and hold the Volume Up key and the Bixby key, then press and hold the Power key.
When the green Android logo displays, release all keys (‘Installing system update’ will show for about 30 – 60 seconds before showing the Android system recovery menu options).
Press the Volume down key several times to highlight ‘wipe data / factory reset’.
Press Power button to select.
Press the Volume down key until ‘Yes — delete all user data’ is highlighted.
Press Power button to select and start the master reset.
When the master reset is complete, ‘Reboot system now’ is highlighted.
Press the Power key to restart the device.

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