When smartphones first started to become popular, they had more in common with cell phones and standard PDAs than anything else.
In recent years, smartphones have evolved significantly, adding the power of multi-core processors, GBs of RAM and a plethora of high-performance apps that make them almost like smaller PCs – and just like PC, prone to problems.
Windows users often find that when messing around with new programs or trying out special mods for their PC, they can somewhat ‘ruin’ the experience due to malware or spyware, booting delays and other problems.
Sometimes the simplest solution is to go into Safe Mode to solve the problem, but can you do that with a smartphone? If you’re rocking Android, the answer is yes.
To make this completely clear, if you’re a regular Android user, you’ll probably never need to use Safe Mode.
All in all, Safe Mode will mainly be used to power users who often run unsigned apps, third-party stores, and like to mess around with custom ROMs and software.
However, no matter what type of user you are, it’s nice to know that if something goes wrong, there’s always an easy way to fix it.
Reasons to use Android Safe Mode
What exactly is booting into Safe Mode for? It basically turns off 3rd party apps and gives you the default experience. This is important because it gives you a testing ground to solve application related problems.
Reasons to boot into Safe Mode include any of the following:
- Your phone is stuck in the reboot cycle.
- Your phone keeps hanging, freezing or working slowly.
- Your Android battery life has become terrible.
- Other strange behaviors and behaviors start happening on your device and you suspect a third-party app.
How to Start Android Safe Mode
Now that you know how Safe Mode can help you, let’s see how to achieve that.
For most devices running Android 4.1 and above
Starting with Android 4.1, most manufacturers now use the following method:
Once in Android, press and hold the power button until the power menu appears. Now press and hold on Power off options in the menu. You will now be asked if you want to reboot into Android safe mode.
Touch ALRIGHT select.
Now your phone will reboot. When it reboots, you’ll be in Safe Mode.
For devices running Android 4.0 and above
There doesn’t seem to be a universal way to enter Safe Mode on older devices. Some devices require you to turn off your device, power it on by pressing and holding the power button, and then when the logo appears, you have to hold both the volume up and down buttons.
Others use the menu button or some other input key combination. The best advice here is to look up your manufacturer’s brand online and – if possible – the exact model.
Going to Google and typing something like “Boot into Android safe mode on HTC Magic” should give you what you are looking for. (Substitute the name HTC Magic for your device name).
Troubleshooting in Android Safe Mode
When your device reboots, you should have the text Safe mode at the bottom left of the screen, indicating that you are indeed in Safe Mode.
Now you need to play around with your phone. Do all the non-app things you normally do. Check email, browse the web. Make calls, send messages, etc. You may want to keep your phone in Safe Mode for at least a few hours, depending on the situation.
If your problem (crash, freeze, lag, etc.) is still present, then you know it’s not a third party app.
At this point, your best course of action is to reset your device by going to Settings > Backup & Reset > Factory data reset.
Tip: Looking for a little more help on resetting your phone? Check out our guide that walks you through the reset process.
Your phone seems to be working properly
If you find your phone working properly in Safe Mode, that means a 3rd party app is the cause. Now, you’ll want to start by uninstalling any apps you’ve downloaded recently.
After uninstalling the app(s), reboot your device normally to exit Safe Mode. If everything is working fine, you’ll want to reinstall the problematic apps one by one and test them out.
If everything still works after reinstalling the app on your phone/tablet, it could just be an app glitch that was fixed by reinstalling. If you find an app is causing problems when reinstalling, it’s best to leave the app for good.
What if Uninstalling some apps doesn’t work?
You know that third-party apps are at fault if everything works on your device in Safe Mode. However, nothing seems to fix the problem.
At this stage, you’re better off resetting your device by going to Settings > Backup & Reset > Factory Data Reset.
For others – Did Safe Mode solve the problem on your device? Any other Safe Mode-related considerations or troubleshooting tips you can think of that we probably didn’t cover? Let us know in the comments below!
Categories: How to
Source: thpttranhungdao.edu.vn/en/
