(bright music)
- Hi, I'm Agent Young,
and we're in the lab today
to show you how to fix a phone that keeps freezing.
I'll be using the Samsung Galaxy Note 8,
running the Android 9 operating system.
So some of the steps might be a little different
depending on yours.
Before we get started, if you can,
make sure that your phone is connected to the internet,
and is either plugged in or has at least an 80% charge.
If you haven't backed up your data recently,
you might wanna do that now.
Also, sign into your Google Play and Galaxy Store accounts.
That'll come in handy later.
You'll also need the username and password for the device,
along with a way to take notes.
Okay, let's get started.
So if your phone is frozen,
you can restart it by pressing and holding the Power button
and the Volume Down button at the same time
for about seven seconds.
When the screen goes dark, release the buttons
and your phone should restart.
Sometimes that's all you have to do to fix a freezing issue.
But if it keeps freezing, let's update the software.
I'll show you how.
Swipe up from the bottom of the screen
to bring up the App Drawer, then tap on Settings,
Software update, Check for updates, and then OK.
If there are any updates, go ahead and install it.
If your software is up to date
and you're still experiencing problems,
an app is probably causing an issue.
Let me show you how to update your apps
in the Google Play store and the Galaxy Store.
Bring up the App Drawer and then tap Play Store, Menu,
and then My Apps and Games.
If you see any updates like this one, tap on it,
or if there are quite a few, you can tap, Update All.
Now let's check out the Galaxy Store and do the same thing.
Bring up the App Drawer
and then tap Galaxy Store, Menu, Updates.
This little circular arrow means there's an update.
Tap it, or again, if there are a lot of updates,
you can click Update All.
All right, now see if your phone is still freezing.
If it is, I'll walk you through a few more things.
First, let's restart your phone in Safe Mode.
In Safe Mode, the operating system only runs software
that is absolutely necessary.
This can make it easier to find the problem.
Press and hold the Power button and the Volume button
at the same time for about three seconds,
then tap and hold the Power Off icon
until Safe Mode appears, and select it.
If your phone works fine in Safe Mode,
that means it's not a system problem.
It's likely an app you installed.
Figuring out which one involves a process of elimination,
closing each app until you find the one causing the problem.
First, get your phone out of Safe Mode
by restarting it normally.
When it restarts, press the Recents button at the bottom
of the screen in the Navigation Bar.
Now you'll start the process, closing each app one by one,
and then testing until the phone no longer freezes.
Most close right away,
but you might get one that's stubborn.
When that happens, you have to force it to close,
and here's how you do that.
Swipe up from the bottom of the screen
to bring up the App Drawer, then tap Settings,
scroll down to Apps, find the stubborn one and select it.
Tap Force stop.
You'll see this pop-up message.
Go ahead and confirm.
There's a chance this stubborn app is causing the problem,
so let's get rid of it.
Make sure you write down the exact names of everything
you uninstall, that way, when you're done,
and you've isolated the troublemakers,
you can reinstall those that weren't a problem.
Bring up the App Drawer
and then tap Settings, and Apps.
Find the troublemaker,
and tap Uninstall or Disable.
Now go ahead and test your phone.
If it's still freezing, it might be another app.
Keep uninstalling apps until you find the right one.
If this method still doesn't work,
resetting your phone to the factory settings
is the next step.
This will erase all of the data, so just a reminder,
back everything up before you go any further.
There's two ways to do a factory reset.
One is through the Settings Menu,
and the other is using the physical buttons on your phone.
So, if it's frozen and you can't use your touchscreen,
don't worry, it can still be done.
All right, let's start with the first one.
Bring up the App Drawer and then tap Settings,
General management, Reset,
Factory data reset,
Reset, and then Delete All.
Then type in the password for your Samsung account,
and tap OK.
All right, now let's walk through the second method
using the physical buttons.
Press and hold the Power button,
the Bixby button, and the Volume Up button.
When the screen turns on, release them.
Press Volume Down until Wipe data/factory reset
is highlighted, and then press the Power button
to select it.
Press the Volume Down button until Yes is highlighted.
And then once again,
press the Power button to select it.
The list of options will change.
Press the Volume Down button
until Reboot system now is highlighted,
and then press the Power button to select it.
When this is done, your phone should function
like it's brand new, and you can restore your settings,
and reinstall your apps.
I hope you found this video helpful.
If you did give it a like.
If you have any other questions,
leave them in the comments below,
and we'll do our best to help.
And be sure to Subscribe to our channel
for more tech tips from Best Buy.
Thanks for watching.
(bright music)