If your android smartphone has started doing unpleasant things such as its screen flickering, being slow and unresponsive, hanging severely, and having other glitches, then you should read this article to the end.
At some point, your android smartphone will misbehave and show glitchy signs.
One of the most annoying glitches android smartphone users experience is screen flickering. It sometimes happens because your phone needs an update, hardware repair, or even replacement— you need to get another one.
If you have been using your android smartphone for 3-4 years without any repair or update, then it is time for a replacement.
Nobody likes an android phone with a flickering screen or other glitches. Screen flickering can affect the proper way you use your phone, and get you frustrated. It can also distort your eyesight, especially when the screen is too bright.
In this article, you’ll learn what to do when your android smartphone is flickering, hanging, and/or unresponsive.
But, first of all, let’s take a look at the causes and reasons why your phone’s screen is flickering and malfunctioning.
Causes of Android Smartphone Screen Flickering
There are two categories that house the different causes of your android phone screen flickering and other glitches. They are:
● Hardware and software malfunction,
● Physical damage
- Hardware and Software malfunction
Hardware malfunctions can cause your android smartphone screen to flicker when the phone keeps switching between the Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) and the Central Processing Unit (CPU) on the screen.
Another hardware malfunction that could cause your phone screen to glitch is when there’s an issue with the LCD panel used. This often happens when you must have repaired it with some unprofessional phone fixer.
Software malfunctions causing your phone screen to flicker includes outdated systems, too much cache storage, outdated apps, viruses from untrusted apps, and other software causes.
- Physical Damage.
Physical damage can also be the cause of your android smartphone screen glitch. Screen flickering could come from:
● Your phone falling
● Water entering into your phone
● Charging port issues
Having mentioned the most common causes of your flickering screen, let’s move on to what you should do when your screen starts to flicker.
Do These When Your Android Smartphone Screen Starts to Flicker And Is Unresponsive.
1. Restart your device
This is the first-aid action for any android smartphone glitch. If your phone starts malfunctioning suddenly, the first thing recommended is to restart it.
With a restart, all the apps and components are refreshed, and all apps are stopped until you restart them manually.
Restarting your device also helps clear off memory sapping background processes.
2. Boot your device in Safe Mode
The second option you can take if your android phone screen is flickering is to boot it in safe mode. Safe mode allows you to operate your phone without third-party settings and downloaded apps.
Note that this doesn’t solve the problem completely. It is simply a tool for diagnosis. Your phone’s data is still available in safe mode.
To boot your device on safe mode, follow these simple steps:
● Press and hold the power button
● Hold the power sign on your screen
● A note appears, telling you that you’re about to boot on safe mode.
● Approve by clicking “Ok”.
● Your phone reboots on safe mode.
Since safe mode doesn’t solve the problem completely when you reboot it back to its regular function i.e. if the screen flickering is serious, you can try the other options below for a cure.
3. Check for internet speed issues and resolve them
Screen glitches may occur during a video call when you have poor internet speed.
If you have a poor internet speed, the GPU will slow down graphic transfer, i.e. with bad internet, graphics aren’t flowing properly for the GPU to accurately render them. If the internet speed remains poor, the graphic transfer from the GPU will cause your phone screen to flicker during video calls.
To solve this problem, simply get in touch with your internet service provider or move to an area where there is quality internet speed.
4. Check for operating system updates
An outdated operating system might be the reason for screen flickering.
Usually, android phones will notify its users that the system is due for an update. However if the user ignores this message for a long time, then software malfunctions might occur, which includes screen flickering and unresponsiveness.
To update your system, simply get to the settings app on your phone and scroll to the last option where you’ll find the system update.
Make sure your phone is fully charged, and that there’s a strong WiFi connection to update the OS.
5. Uninstall untrusted apps
The next option to try is to uninstall untrusted apps and unnecessary files.
Android smartphone users get trusted apps from the Google Play Store and other official sites for a particular app. If you have other apps you must’ve installed from somewhere else, it is possible that they have malware, which may cause your phone to glitch.
Uninstalling these apps as well as other files automatically created by the apps should solve the screen flickering problem your android smartphone has.
6. Update All Apps
Whenever android apps are due for an update, many android users tend to ignore notifications from Play Store.
Outdated apps might result in your phone malfunctioning, which may include screen flickering. It is best to update all apps, then reboot when your phone screen is flickering. See if it does the magic. If it doesn’t, try the other options below.
7. Disable Hardware Overlays
“Hardware Overlays” is a feature that android smartphones have on the android developer options. Android developer options help you enhance your phone’s performance and functionality.
Hardware Overlays is one of the features on the android developer options that can be disabled when your phone’s screen starts to misbehave.
Most screen flickering occurs when the GPU and the CPU keep switching to get content displayed on the phone screen. Disabling Hardware Overlays may solve this problem. This means that you are instructing the phone to use GPU to display contents.
However, this may affect your phone battery life.
To disable hardware overlays, you’ll need to follow these procedures:
● Go to settings
● Click on System
● Then click on About Device
● Now, tap 7 times continuously on the Build number until you get the “you are a developer now” message on your phone screen.
● Scroll down to the “Hardware accelerated rendering” section and toggle on “Disable HW Overlays.
This should solve the problem. If it doesn’t then you can try the next two options below.
8. Perform a hard reset on your phone
Performing a hard reset on your android smartphone will make you wipe your phone’s data in its entirety and reboot it like it’s a new one.
It will restore your phone to its factory settings and clear the cache. Every virus, malware, faulty apps, other things causing your phone screen to glitch will be wiped off with a factory reset.
Before performing a hard reset, you should back up all of your important files and data on a storage device (hardware) or cloud storage (Google Drive).
To perform a factory reset, follow the steps below:
● First, open the Settings app
● tap on System
● Tap Reset Options and hit Erase all data (factory reset).
● Select Reset phone.
● Enter your PIN if you use one.
● Finally, tap Erase everything.
Your phone will take about 5 minutes to wipe all that is in it depending on how much data it has stored.
You can reboot your phone like it’s a new one
9. Get an expert smartphone engineer
Although this may cost you a lot of money, if all is becoming frustrating, you can get it to the phone market where there are expert engineers who can fix your screen flickering issue.
Conclusion
While there are numerous causes of android screen flickering and glitches, you want to make sure you’ve exhausted every solution before meeting an expert smartphone engineer or even buying a new phone.
If you want to get a new phone and budget is an issue, you can always get grade A+ used android smartphones from our store in India.