Daily Trust

Why smartphone hangs, how you can fix this

- By Zakariyya Adaramola

The economic situation in the country and the agony that comes with losing one’s valuable informatio­n and documents make many Nigerians to guard their smartphone­s religiousl­y.

But as expensive and fragile as most smartphone­s are, they still freeze and crash when utmost care isn’t taken by their owners.

Smartphone­s are capable of doing so much that we use them for most of our daily tasks. But just like humans, there’s a limit to what we can do before the breakdown. When a phone hangs, this is the one that has most likely been used past its limit, according to IT experts. Your device’s ram, storage space and how you use it all influence the smooth processing of tasks, they said.

Also referred to as phone freezing or phone crash, the phone hanging problem is a common one among smartphone­s.

Smartphone technician­s also said crashing, freezing, and restarting are usually signs of a software or app problem in a smartphone. According to them, the most common cause is an unresponsi­ve app which is taking up more memory than expected. Another possible reason, they say, is the age of your phone’s hardware. The older it is, the more likely it will slow down as it copes with more advanced Operating System (OS) and applicatio­ns (apps). This means that if a smartphone freezes, it may need some cleanup and software updating. from operating optimally.

There are various factors that can cause your phone to hang and with most of them being software related. The tips given below can be used to solve your phone hanging problems whether it’s caused by inadequate memory or malware apps. from downloadin­g software from unreliable sources to avoid malware that affect the performanc­e of your phone.

Use antivirus

Viruses can be very persistent and sometimes require Antivirus software to get rid of them. Go to your phone’s App store, type ‘antivirus’ in the search bar and download your preferred antivirus app. Launch the app and scan your files to get rid of any virus that may cause your phone to hang.

Avoid heavy games/videos, cut down usage period

Playing games of large sizes takes up a huge space on your phone’s ram while it is running and doing this for long periods of time stretches your phone’s capabiliti­es which results in hanging. Avoid these games on phones with small rams and if you have to, do not play for a long period of time.

Download, install software

Your phone’s software and other apps release updated versions regularly and these updates usually contain bug fixes that may solve any abnormalit­y

latest you’re experienci­ng with your phone or particular apps. It is recommende­d that you download and install system updates for your phone to fix any phone hanging or freezing problems associated with the previous software version. Delete irrelevant files Keeping irrelevant files and apps take up storage space on your phone and your phone needs sufficient storage to run smoothly. Delete heavy videos or games on your phone to free up space and allow your phone to run seamlessly.

Get external memory

If your phone’s storage is not large enough to contain the files you need, you will most likely have to be deleting files regularly to keep your phone from hanging. To keep all your important files and still have your device running smoothly, get a SD card (memory card) that can contain all the files you need.

Reset to factory settings

If all the above tips do not work, it is advised that you reset your phone’s software. Also known as Factory reset, this fix will give your phone’s software a fresh start but ensure you backed up your data so you don’t lose any important informatio­n.

Smartphone­s with more impressive specs are less likely to hang compared to budget devices with lesser specs. Whichever phone you’re using, the tips above should fix your phone hanging problem.

Note: Factory reset or formatting will delete all the existing files on your phone so you must make a backup of files firstly before doing so.

If after applying all these tips your phone is still hanging, then it must be caused by a hardware issue. In cases like this, it is advised that you take your phone to a reliable phone repair provider.

Remove the battery and SD card, if possible. Update the device software to the latest version.

Open the app store, and download all app updates. Uninstall all apps that you recently downloaded or updated.

Restart your device regularly to clear memory. Clear memory/storage regularly.

Check to ensure you have enough free space to prevent future problems.

Sources: www.carlcare.com, www.thejournal.ie and www.tmobile.com

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