Can I revert my OS from Oreo back to Nougat?

[Android Central Question]

I have a Samsung J7 running Oreo. Until about a month ago, it was running Nougat. The switch is when my troubles began.

Literally within hours of the upgrade I started noticing a handful of things going wrong. Most noticeably, the battery drains in ways this phone never did, not all - but most - of the time, apps take MUCH longer to open, and secure folder sometimes simply locks the phonescreen when trying to open it! I know these are Oreo issues since I saw them all appear literally the day I upgraded to Oreo. In fact, I didn't even recognize the "low battery" sound notification when it showed up the next night since I had never hit it before on this phone!

Without rooting, is there a way to either rid myself of these issues, or of Oreo?

 

[dgelerin]

Just adding a reply to be able to follow this since this is my question, but, for some reason, it didn't mark it with my name.

 

[chanchan05]

Reverting to Nougat will mean a reformat of the device so you lose everything. So you're better off just doing a factory reset first anyway and seeing if problems persist. Usually a factory reset clears all problems caused by updates.

 

[dgelerin]

Don't I lose everything in a factory reset as well?

 

[hallux]

You do, but that's the point. If you're going to try reverting the OS to an older version, which results in wiping the device anyway, just back up your stuff and try a factory reset and see if the issue goes away. If it does, you've now saved yourself the trouble of trying to revert to an earlier OS. If it doesn't, you're not any worse off if you had the tools lined up to revert anyway.

 

[dgelerin]

Got it. I have SmartSwitch already on the PC. I'll try to back up and factory reset. I'll report back with any updates.

Thanks!

 

[Rukbat]

If you haven't yet, you can restart to recovery and clear the system cache. Sometimes a new version will pick up something in the old version's cache that will cause it to operate strangely.

 

[dgelerin]

How do I do that?

 

[dgelerin]

I often clear the cache by going through settings to storage, etc. Is that the same thing?

 

[hallux]

Well, that seems to be one way - https://devicehelp.boostmobile.com/...e_application_cache_on_your_Samsung_Galaxy_J7

Here's the method mentioned by @Rukbat - https://support.t-mobile.com/docs/DOC-30305

I realize the docs are from different carriers, and may not even be YOUR carrier, but the process is going to be the same.