I'm just wondering if anyone here maybe has some ideas. My phone is an LG G6 running Android that is like 5 years old. For almost 2 years, the battery has been getting steadily worse to where it's now at the point that I either have to keep the phone plugged into an outlet or on an external battery or it will be dead within 10 minutes. I fucking hate planned obsolescence so I've kept going with this piece of shit phone as much out of spite as due to the fact that I'm broke, unemployed, and can't afford a new one anyway. But the battery isn't even my problem now (I know there are ways of replacing a battery, it's just not easy or "recommended").
My issue now is that all of a sudden it got so laggy that it's essentially useless. Like one minute it was working normally, the next it was so lagged that swiping down to see the menu or whatever takes 5 whole seconds. I can't type a text message because even after the keyboard finally shows up, there is like 4 seconds of delay after I hit a key before it registers. Everything is slow and jerky.
I've of course checked around the web as best as possible but the most common advice is "simply get a new phone!" Yeah, fuck off, I can't afford that. The other advice I've found and tried hasn't helped, such as obvious things like deleting unused apps and old files to free up space. Also going into developer mode so I can see what services are using up RAM or if one of them is hogging it all. None of that works. I tried booting into safe mode, but not only did that not solve the problem, I realized that even the start up animation with the LG logo and then the carrier logo is stuttering and lagging even before it boots into safe mode, so the problem must be pretty fundamental.
I doubt anyone can help because it's no accident that there's nothing to be done but somehow find a way to buy an all new brain-rotting, soul-sucking, attention-sapping, spying, tracking device. I'm still posting here on the off chance that someone might have a solution, but also just because I needed to rant somewhere and this is one of the only places where people get it about this kind of shit. It is yet another one of the countless situations where they have us all over a barrel, making us pay them exorbitant amounts for tech that's made via gross exploitation of humanity while simultaneously helping destroy the habitability of the planet, tech that they've forced into being necessary to even function in this demented ass fucked up hyper capitalist society (same thing with cars and everything involving them too!)
So tldr, does anyone possibly know a way to fix a lagging android phone?
Edit: Thanks for the responses everyone. I guess I'll see if I'm able to buy and install a new battery and hope that really is the root of the problem.
even though the problem persists in exactly the same way when the phone is plugged in and displaying 100% battery? I can see where the battery could still be the problem but it seems like it should function at least a little better when it's at 100%.
Ok, that makes a lot of sense. It's looking like I should try the battery replacement and hope that does the trick.
https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/LG+G6+Battery+Replacement/124132
It seems that you can replace the battery in them at least. When my Galaxy S9 had the same problem it was a combination of the dying battery and being in power-saving mode. The latter really fucked its performance like it does my laptop.
Thanks for the info. I found a few youtube vids of people replacing the battery on that model and I was considering doing that, but I'm not going to bother if the phone is so slow and laggy I can't even us it. But if I am able to solve that problem somehow, I will definitely check out that guide. I think the battery is a separate issue because I've been dealing with that for a while now, but the lagging thing just cropped up out of nowhere all of a sudden. I could be wrong of course.
Battery output voltage is essential to the CPU functioning at a normal speed, I'd be surprised if it's otherwise functional despite the lag and a battery replacement wouldn't fix it!
Apple got heat and in some trouble trying to underclock older phones with defective batteries because they would shutdown if pulling the specified voltage: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batterygate
That makes sense, but even when it's plugged in and says the battery is at 100%, it makes no difference as far as how lagged everything is. I guess a battery replacement is still worth a try, but it would piss me off to spend the money on a new battery and go through the trouble of installing it for it not to work.
I haven't looked at how difficult it is to replace, some phones are a huge pain in the ass, but I wouldn't expect it to improve while connected, at least not noticeably. All the current is still going into the battery before being used by the electronics. Plus the cells will be running hotter while being charged, too hard to draw many conclusions I think.
I'm pretty sure there are apps that will give you fairly detailed battery info too. Enabling "Developer" mode on mine lets me pull one up, people online say dialing
*#*#4636#*#*also pulls one up (on mine I just get some network/modem menus with that code).Ok, maybe that really is the root of the problem then. According the battery replacement vids I watched, it is a pita, but I could probably do it. Most of them say specialized tools are necessary but I think I could do it with regular tools from my toolbox and a heat gun.
I did go into developer mode and looked at some battery health stats but it didn't really tell me anything I didn't already know. I will try dialing that code though... interesting.
dumb questions -- have you restarted it since it started happening? have you tried a factory reset? some app may be misbehaving and/or you picked up some malware.
I've restarted it many times, put it in safe mode, etc. It made no difference. But I haven't done a factory reset yet. I also deleted nearly all the apps that didn't come preinstalled, but yeah, maybe one of those are causing it. Safe mode is supposed to help with that by turning off all non-essential apps, but like I said, the problem is no different in safe mode.
yeah that's why I suspect malware. try wiping it so there can't be malware hiding anywhere. the other possibility is that it's a broken update from the manufacture, possibly to try and get you to buy a new phone. highly recommend a custom rom if the factory wipe doesn't solve it.
a broken update from the manufacture, possibly to try and get you to buy a new phone.
I was worried I was being too conspiracy brained, but honestly, that has been one of my main suspicions about all the problems I've been having with this pos phone. I have no experience with custom roms or jailbreaking a phone, etc. but maybe it's time to try. Not like I have much to lose at this point.
I may end up just getting a new fucking phone, but if so, I need to do a ton of research on what my options are. Huawei phone? Mint carrier service? I don't know. That would be a completely separate post though.
I got a cheap pixel on sale cause it let me put Graphene on it. it's a security focused ROM that's locked down hard and it sandboxes all the google shit so it can't spy on you (except when you allow it to, obviously).
Agree with the consensus that you gotta swap that battery
After you clear that up, you can squeeze some extra life out of an old phone by using lighter-weight apps. Manufacturers tend to ship bloated crap that just gets worse over the upgrade lifecycle of the phone. A new launcher and keyboard are going to have the biggest impact, but finding smaller-footprint alternatives to as many apps as possible will help the phone feel faster. The Simple Mobile Tools apps are all functional and fast, for example, and the 'pro' versions are free on f-droid, where you'll find lots of other stuff too.
I think the plan to replace the battery is a good one.
My only other rec is for your next phone: grab one with support by LineageOS (ideally unlocked). That way, when things start slowing down or breaking, you can install lineageos and usually get 3-5 more years out of it, software-wise. Also this usually means buying a phone that's 2-3 years old, but still really nice, so you only have to pay $200-300 every 5-10 years.
Yeah, it's sounding like the battery issue is the most likely culprit. I'll see what I can do, and maybe post the results when I go through with it.
And thanks for the suggestion of LineageOS. I think I am going to start looking into what my options are for a new phone even if I do try to keep this one going a bit longer with a battery replacement. I have no problem buying older or used tech to save money so that's helpful info. Unfortunately, I know next to nothing about this kind of thing. I was skimming another thread talking about fdroid and GrapheneOS, distancing oneself from google as much as possible, and realizing I really should learn more about what all this shit means.
The unlocked (new, not even refurb) OnePlus 9 is a good deal on Amazon right now, if you end up getting a new phone. Works with LineageOS, 5G, great specs, about two years since release: $280. OnePlus phones tend to have very good support for aftermarket OSes, second only to Pixels buy usually a better deal for what you get.
If you end up going that route feel free to hit me up with any questions.
What percentage is it at when you have it connected to the charger? Could be that it's in some sort of throttling mode to conserve battery life. Not that that helps much, but you could always check if it has some sort of battery/energy save mode enabled.
Aside from that the only other thing I could think of is backing up the phone and factory resetting it. Only problem with that is with the battery being so weak you run the chance of it bricking if it doesn't have enough of a charge during the reset process.
The battery usually dies (the phone turns itself off) somewhere around the 60-70% mark, and it gets there after only 10 or 15 minutes if I have the screen on. But it's weird because when I plug it in before booting up, it will show a completely different percentage like 30%. I have put it into battery-saving mode, messed around with different battery settings and stuff, but none of it makes a difference as far as the lagging and slow response.
I've considered doing a factory reset, but I'm hesitant for the exact reason you mentioned. It's also difficult to even back it up because it's so slow, but I did save all the pictures I took on it to my laptop (and then deleted them on the phone to free up space). I suppose I will try that if nothing else works, because it's not really usable anyway.
