Samsung Galaxy S4 freezing frequently

[mista_john]

Hi

I have a Samsung Galaxy S4 - about 3 years old. It now freezes frequently and I have to remove the battery, insert again and reboot. The phone then works for a while. I have noticed the phone gets quite hot before freezing. I have tried using a new battery but this does not change anything. Bluetooth is off. I have problems with the camera - message 'camera failed' but I have the freezing problem regardless of whether or not I try to use camera. All apps are up-to-date and I regularly clear the cache. Any thoughts? Thanks

 

[B. Diddy]

Welcome to Android Central! Moved to the S4 forum.

Are you talking about clearing the system cache partition, or only the app caches?

Try booting into Safe Mode, which temporarily disables all 3rd party apps. https://support.t-mobile.com/docs/DOC-27781


If the problem disappears in Safe Mode, then something you installed is causing the problem. You may have to uninstall apps one by one until the problem disappears. If the problem persists in Safe Mode, then it's more likely to be a hardware or firmware problem.

 

[mista_john]

OK, I will try that. One more thing I have noticed is that when the phone starts getting hotter (after which it freezes) - if I check the Battery Usage stats, I see 'mm-qcamera-daemon'. Not a big percentage but frequently there. Could that be related to the problem?

 

[B. Diddy]

It could be. There might be some app that is inappropriately commandeering and working overtime. There are many apps that have Camera permissions that could potentially do this, and not just apps that actually take pics -- remember that flashlight apps also have Camera permissions, since the LED flash is technically part of the Camera.