Help Two Android phones got slower at the same time

[semmelbroesel]

Hi.

I have two Android phones that at some point earlier this year BOTH started dramatically slowing down to a crawl at random times - e.g. apps take much longer to load (instead of 2 seconds, it may take 10 seconds or more). Sometimes they're both fine, sometimes they both slow down.

My wife and I have the same phone - Samsung Galaxy S9 (Verizon). Good phones for their time, and I didn't feel like upgrading after Samsung announced placing ads on their newer phones (not sure what the status is on this, but that's beside the point).

We're on Android 10, Kernel 4.9.186. Our phones are NOT rooted (I used to root my previous phones but couldn't find a clear answer back then if Knox lock us out on the S9 if I tried rooting them).

They have been working fine all these years, but something changed this year, maybe an automatic update in the background.

Closing all apps doesn't always help with this.

Since this is affecting both phones, I don't think it's likely to be a hardware issue. But I also don't think it's an app we ourselves installed since there hasn't been anything major that we BOTH downloaded together.

I don't think it's the WiFi or the internet - I'm on a Gigabit fiber connection with a high powered gaming router.

So my questions are:

1. How can I find out (without root) what app or service could be slowing down our phones? Is there an app that can help me with this?
2. Is anyone aware of an Android update that Verizon may have released within the last half year that is slowing down phones?

Thanks!

 

[steiny180]

Try rebooting your router...

 

[ocnbrze]

yep that is what will happen on older devices.....as time goes by they just slow down. not much you can do. some of that may depend on app developers on whether they will continue support for the s9. if they stop support than the app may either slow down or will not work.

1. not sure if there is an app for this. is it slowing down for every process? or is it slowing down on certain apps?
2.well for one samsung usually gives out 2-3 major updates to android os and then 4-5 secuirity updates in between. being that the s9 came out in 2018, you are most likely done with updates.........such is the way of planned obsolescence.

 

[Windroid]

How long has it been since you've reinstalled the operating system, that is, reset the smartphones?

 

[nickdalzell]

This is why I never update my apps or the OS. That way the phone is as fast as the day it was new. Besides, no unwanted changes happen like the ads, which have mostly been removed from many Samsung apps today (weather, samsung health) while they remain on the Galaxy Store and Galaxy Theme Store.

This is the way of technology. It goes as far back as early PCs. While an i486 with only 16MB of RAM can technically 'update' to Windows 98 SE from Windows 3.11, you would not like the results. Same for phones, updating to newer OS and apps requires more and more resources and unlike with a PC, you can't upgrade RAM or the CPU of a smartphone.

Not having software support ain't planned obsolescence. But making the battery non-removable where breaking the phone to replace it is highly likely, meaning many people just toss the phone in the trash and buy a new one later, is.

A laptop or phone doesn't let the magic smoke out when the software is no longer updated or supported. Otherwise I wouldn't be able to still use Windows 7 today. Or XP for that matter. Or the two laptops at work running Android 2.1 and 2.2

 

[svim]

Samsung stopped supporting your models just over a year or so ago (March of 2022) there hasn't been any recent stock firmware (Android version) upgrades nor monthly Security patch updates, it's not likely that an upgrade or update is the cause. (... unless you've manually postponed upgrades/updates and allowed them a few months ago.) But most of the apps will still continue getting updates, so one of the installed apps 'might' be a suspect.

Samsung Galaxy S9 - Full phone specifications

www.gsmarena.com

That said, since this sluggish behavior started on both phones at the same time is puzzling. Given your S9's are over five years old it wouldn't be necessarily surprising for a gradual slow-down (that's a common opinion but not an absolute, I personally haven't experienced this on any of my phones, desktops, nor laptops so this a very subjective matter). Since things were apparently OK and just occurred recently, that does at least make the matter more clear. Given it's a historically-based issue there's not a utility you can install that will be able to go back that far to access previous behavior and compare it to current behavior. At best you can an app to access your phone's current state moving forward.

You might want to try looking in your Settings menu for some relevant info before resorting to installing a third-party app. There's a lot of already existing information about your phone's inner workings buried in various menus in your Settings app. If there's a Battery option look at that for a listing of usage stats on recently used apps (it might be shown by just scrolling down to view them or accessible by just tapping on an icon). Is there an app that's standing out in some way as far battery usage? That might be related to what's behind this recent slow-down.
Have you looked into your phone's Battery optimization settings? That might help squelch an app that's become a problem. If that's the case, hopefully it's just a temporary glitch that will be fixed in an upcoming app update.

Regarding your reluctance to upgrade to new or newer phones because of some added ad issue, Samsung has always been adding a large amount of branding and cruft to their phones. It's not a matter of just adding bloatware and ads, this is Samsung default 'feature'. Don't be fooled by all the marketing that you have to keep buying a Samsung phone, there are plenty of very viable options if you want to move past Samsung's vendor lock-in. Google Pixel phones run a clean version of Android. Motorola (Lenovo) Moto phones run also run a clean version of Android with a minimum of added Motorola branding. OnePlus sells some really good phones that include a OnePlus branded, altered user interface, not unlike Samsung's, but at a lessor degree of intensiveness. Like Samsung, Pixels tend receive good upgrade and update support (... the Android environment is still trying to catch up to what Apple has provided for all its phones), Moto phones are a mix of adequate to poor long-term support.
Basically, stick with Samsung because you want to but don't limit your next replacements to Samsung because some misguided belief that's your only option.

 

[nickdalzell]

While the OS and security patches might not be rolling in, the apps and Play Services still get updates if auto updates is turned on in the app stores. Even my Galaxy S5 was still getting updates to Walmart and the Kroger apps in early 2023, even though it ran Android 6.0.

I had a Galaxy S8 for a short time (it was one amazing device when it launched!) and there were some settings that changed performance from minimal (to save most battery) to normal (average, every day use) and gaming mode (highest performance, shortest battery life) and I think those were under Device Care or something. Might want to see if it got into some sort of power saving mode, as that will also slow the device down. If it got the 9.0 update, they added some sort of 'AI' that can auto-turn-on that mode if it 'learns' the battery is being used a specific amount (Adaptive battery plus adaptive power saving) and you'll notice slower performance when that happens. There should also be a small icon of a battery with a "+" inside it when this mode is enabled.

That can have an impact as well.

 

[semmelbroesel]

Hi.

Thanks for all the replies.

Based on the answer I received, I decided to upgrade phones after all.

Thanks again.

 

[ocnbrze]

What phones did you end up getting?

 

[semmelbroesel]

What phones did you end up getting?

Someone whose technical expertise I trust gave me a glowing review of the Samsung S23 and assured me that the Samsung annoyances are not as bad as I had feared.

I've had the phones for a few days now, and while they don't offer anything earth-shattering new, they are fast with extremely good camera and much better battery life than I expected (used only 20% battery all day yesterday even while spending a couple of hours playing games).

 

[nickdalzell]

I went with a Z Flip 4. I have been spoiled by Samsung since the SIII, and the Flip is more my speed with its unique design that can still fit a pocket properly yet still turn into a huge 6.7" smartphone if needed, and if not, the cover screen allows it to function like a dumbphone if you want, and there's a satisfaction one gets by hanging up on a telemarketer by slapping it shut.