[Android Central Question]

Phone: Zmax Pro Z981
Not rooted

The other day, my phone started to act extremely sluggish. All of a sudden it shut itself off and then wouldn't turn on. I did research and found that I could hold down the volume buttons and power button, and the phone would either: turn on and stay on the MetroPCS screen or actually go to the home screen.

Unfortunately, when I try and initiate any app, I am not allowed, and provided a message that the corresponding app has stopped working. Under settings, I can access very few things, as anything else will cause the phone to shut off.

I have not done a hard reset, if I even could?, because I want the data off of the phone. I can access the phone's files via my laptop, without the phone shutting down.

So, what free or low cost option is there for me to transfer things like my call history and texts, via computer. I can not download files via the phone.

[B. Diddy]

Welcome to Android Central! Are you able to boot into Safe Mode? https://support.t-mobile.com/docs/DOC-27494

Try also wiping the cache partition, which won't erase any personal data: https://support.t-mobile.com/docs/DOC-33455