Help Start over

[Dave Estam]

Happened before where battery was lasting maybe 5 hours from a full charge where normally all day at normal usage for me would still be 35% at bedtime. I ran cm security together with a few other apps that it recommended and deleted all sorts of stuff, then I deleted them all and restarted and has worked fine for many months.

Happened yesterday again where battery was discharging rapidly so did procedure again. It helped little but things are bugging me, the latest my texting/messaging app where the list is now just showing phone numbers and not the name of the contact which it did before. Going to phone app and selecting a phone number and trying to add it to contact now says contacts has stopped working - OK

Now the really buggie problem is checking app manager under "all" it seems to have twice the number of apps listed and most of them I don't know what they are. I use my phone as a phone, to access facebook/messenger, to text using messaging that came with phone and the odd weather info.

I know I am unable to delete all the apps that I don't recognize as I am lightly to delete stuff I might need.

So my question has to be can I delete everything and start over? All my files are backed up and I will loose nothing of any importance. Any suggestions please.

 

[kate]

A. Here is a thread about optimizers/task killers like Cheetah Mobile and why you shouldn't use them:
https://androidforums.com/threads/p...k-killers-ram-optimizers-and-the-like.896663/

B. Go to Settings -> Battery. After a full day does is show any apps using lots of power? If it's an app you downloaded and don't need uninstall it and see how your battery life is.

C. Factory Reset
1. From the Home screen touch Apps.
2. Touch Settings.
3. Touch the Accounts tab.
4. Touch Back up and reset
5. Touch Factory data reset
6. Touch Reset phone.
7. Touch Erase everything.

 

[Dave Estam]

Ha! Thanks.... Now a question.
Touch Erase Everything.
What will I need to do to get the phone up and running again. eg. will it know it's phone number, do I contact Sprint, will I have to enter a Google password.

 

[kate]

If the phone has Factory Reset Protection (not sure if it does) you would enter your Google account and password. If it doesn't the phone would be like when you first bought it.

With Sprint it should still know your number after reactivation.

 

[Dave Estam]

How can I check if it has Factory Reset Protection? Just for info it's a S4 mini and bought it new out of the box about a year ago.

 

[kate]

Looks like the S4 Mini was never upgraded to Lollipop so it does not have FRP.

 

[Dave Estam]

Correct it's a KitKat so is there anything I should do just to protect myself. As I mentioned I have my contacts, photos backed up, is there anything else I might need?

 

[kate]

You should be all set, then after the reset you can reinstall your apps and restore the backed up data.

 

[Phalon4]

How old is the phone and does it have a removable battery because if the phone is a couple years old and you've had a constant recharging habit, it's a possibility that the battery may need to be replaced because it has served its usefulness.

 

[Dave Estam]

Thanks for that Phalon4.
The phone was new a about a year ago and I'm not one to leave the battery on charge all night. It never takes long to charge so it's charged in the morning for few hours and I'm normally good till next morning. I read lots on this and this battery should out live me... ; -)

 

[Dave Estam]

And thanks kate, it will be my weekend project...