Quick-Fixes For a Frozen Google Nexus 5
Frozen screens are an all-too-common problem with smartphones, and the Google Nexus 5 is no exception. Granted, some users will never experience a frozen screen, but others may notice it occurring on a regular basis. It’s downright frustrating when you’re in the middle of sending a text message, browsing a website, or performing any other activity when your device abruptly freezes for no apparent reason. So, how can you solve this problem and prevent it from occurring again in the future?
Hold The Power Button Down
As most owners probably know already, the Google Nexus 5 has a non-removable battery, meaning you can’t take the battery out to resolve a frozen screen. Instead, you should first attempt to fix your frozen screen by holding the power button down for approximately 30 seconds. The device should restart during this time, bringing up a fresh, non-frozen screen. This is known as a soft reset, and nine out of ten times it fixes frozen screens and other common problems on the Nexus 5.
Factory Reset Recovery Mode
As a last ditch measure to fix the frozen screen, you can perform a factory reset in Recovery Mode. Basically, this mode allows you to reset your device back to its factory settings without using the touchscreen function.
You can read more about factory resets on Google’s support website, but the idea is to hold both the volume up and volume down buttons in addition to the power button. This will begin the factory reset process, prompting you to confirm that you wish you to reset your device back to its factory settings.
Note: unless your data is backed up on your Google account, it will be permanently lost once the factory reset is complete.
Free Up Some Memory
The Nexus 5 has 2GB RAM, which is more than enough to effectively multitask without bogging down your device’s resources; however, certain apps may utilize this valuable RAM even when they aren’t being used.
Check to see if your Nexus 5 is low on memory by tapping the All Apps icon > Settings > Storage. This will display how much RAM is currently being used by your device and which apps and processes are using it. If you notice one or more apps using an unproportionately high amount of RAM, kill and/or delete them to see if it prevents future screen freezes.
Have a different solution for the dreaded frozen screen on the Nexus 5? We’d love to hear about it in the comments section below!
