my S21 slows down throughout the day until i have to restart it

[walterkurtz]

is this normal?

i am new to samsung. and i've noticed my phone will get slower as a day progresses. for example: i restarted it first thing this morning after loading some app updates. i did a speed test. it was 170MB downloads at home on WIFI (with VPN on). hours of use later i was back home and noticed the fingerprint sensor was taking a few attempts. then my crypto apps weren't loading properly. i opened the speedtest app and watched a circle spin. it couldn't even find a provider to do the test. this was at home on wifi again. i did a restart and boom: fingerprint sensor is fast, crypto apps loaded properly (unfortunately) and speed test was back to 170ish. what is causing this? is my phone bad? or is this normal for samsung? it isn't a total PITA to have to restart once or several times a day. but it doesn't seem right either.

i don't know if it makes a difference but i am on an unlocked S21 on tmobile running android 12 and nova.

any advice is deeply appreciated. thank you!!

 

[mustang7757]

If you have to do this daily them something wrong , glitches happen but try clearing cache in recovery sometimes after updates old files need to be removed

 

[walterkurtz]

oh no like send it back to samsung something wrong?

good point about the update. i can't recall if this problem existed before the android 12 update two weeks ago. i'll look up clearing cache in recovery. does that reset all my preferences?

thank you!!

 

[mustang7757]

oh no like send it back to samsung something wrong?

good point about the update. i can't recall if this problem existed before the android 12 update two weeks ago. i'll look up clearing cache in recovery. does that reset all my preferences?

thank you!!

No doesn't clear any personal data
Power off the phone volume up/power button same time before turning it back on

 

[mustang7757]

oh no like send it back to samsung something wrong?

good point about the update. i can't recall if this problem existed before the android 12 update two weeks ago. i'll look up clearing cache in recovery. does that reset all my preferences?

thank you!!

Meaning a app causing , not saying send it back to Samsung .

 

[walterkurtz]

Meaning a app causing , not saying send it back to Samsung .

whew. i just wiped the cache partition in recovery mode, rebooted then restarted again. i'll report back on performance tomorrow.

thank you!!

 

[mustang7757]

whew. i just wiped the cache partition in recovery mode, rebooted then restarted again. i'll report back on performance tomorrow.

thank you!!

Ok cool , let's see if that helps.

 

[walterkurtz]

Ok cool , let's see if that helps.

it did seem to help. yesterday i didn't notice any problems. but today i am back to watching spinning circles and having to reset. am i being impatient? do i need to let the phone work through the spinning circles? i have tried toggling airplane mode on and off which seems to help for a minute. and i should pay more attention to the problem outside the house. but is there any way to know if it's the phone, the wifi at home, t-mobile or something else? i feel lost and pretty annoyed. it took me months to settle on samsung after trying pixel, sony xperia and even iphone. and i just want it to work.

thank you!

 

[mustang7757]

it did seem to help. yesterday i didn't notice any problems. but today i am back to watching spinning circles and having to reset. am i being impatient? do i need to let the phone work through the spinning circles? i have tried toggling airplane mode on and off which seems to help for a minute. and i should pay more attention to the problem outside the house. but is there any way to know if it's the phone, the wifi at home, t-mobile or something else? i feel lost and pretty annoyed. it took me months to settle on samsung after trying pixel, sony xperia and even iphone. and i just want it to work.

thank you!

You can reset your router or if its old maybe needs replacement but definitely monitor this in other places or on mobile data only , then if sane we can try reset network in settings

 

[B. Diddy]

I would suspect that some app you're using is bogging things down. Since you mentioned crypto, that would be one of my top suspects. Could these crypto apps also be trying to do some mining using your phone's CPU?

Does the slowdown also happen in Safe Mode? https://www.t-mobile.com/support/de...-plus-5g/safe-mode-samsung-galaxy-s21-plus-5g

 

[walterkurtz]

I would suspect that some app you're using is bogging things down. Since you mentioned crypto, that would be one of my top suspects. Could these crypto apps also be trying to do some mining using your phone's CPU?

Does the slowdown also happen in Safe Mode? https://www.t-mobile.com/support/de...-plus-5g/safe-mode-samsung-galaxy-s21-plus-5g

good question. they shouldn't be mining without my knowledge. i only use them to monitor the market. and i don't think they're on in the background. i always close them when i finish.

i'll try safe mode tomorrow. thank you!

 

[walterkurtz]

You can reset your router or if its old maybe needs replacement but definitely monitor this in other places or on mobile data only , then if sane we can try reset network in settings

i am staying at my girlfriend's while she is out of town. and i suspect her router needs replacing or a firmware update. she has had problems with the amazon blink cameras loading slowly on her iphone.

i'll do more outside testing. i had to restart today on my way to the gym. and i'll try to pay closer attention to the apps and networks i'm on when it happens. but it seems to be mostly google's (search and maps). and i'm wondering if their location tracking or something is causing problems? idk how these things work. i'll pay closer attention and report back.

thank you!

 

[Trees]

Building on B. Diddy and mustang7757 advice above; suggest checking on the Settings below as they may help to reveal some clues.

"Settings/Battery and device care/Battery/Usage since last full charge/Battery usage" has two screens: "Since last full charge" and "Last seven days". Checking both screens may show which app(s) are using battery. If an app is getting hung up, e.g. spinning circle, that could indicate the app is using or waiting for CPU or other system resources, which in turn could consume more than normal battery. Searching for or trying to get a cell network or WiFi signal could also be a battery consumer given the mobile or WiFi radios are working harder.

"Settings/Connections/Data usage/Mobile networks" and "Settings/Connections/Data usage/Wi-Fi data usage" may reveal which app(s) are data consumers; and potentially show some correlation with battery usage. From what I remember, the GSam Battery Monitor app (available in the Play Store) has features that can show the above correlation between battery, CPU, and network utilization. GSam or a similarly featured app may be worth a look if the above Settings don't reveal any clues.

Settings/Battery and device care/Diagnostics is another feature that can be used to test "battery status", "Mobile network", and "Wi-Fi" among others. You can run all tests, or select just the ones that interest you.

I do notice that when clicking Diagnostics, that the Samsung Members app icon - I think - appears. So you may need to sign into that app to use the Diagnostics as the Diagnostics button could be a symlink (symbolic link, e.g. shortcut) that opens the Samsung Members app Diagnostics feature. I may be wrong here on that hypothesis, so others please feel to correct me.

 

[mustang7757]

i am staying at my girlfriend's while she is out of town. and i suspect her router needs replacing or a firmware update. she has had problems with the amazon blink cameras loading slowly on her iphone.

i'll do more outside testing. i had to restart today on my way to the gym. and i'll try to pay closer attention to the apps and networks i'm on when it happens. but it seems to be mostly google's (search and maps). and i'm wondering if their location tracking or something is causing problems? idk how these things work. i'll pay closer attention and report back.

thank you!

Ok let us know

 

[walterkurtz]

Building on B. Diddy and mustang7757 advice above; suggest checking on the Settings below as they may help to reveal some clues.

"Settings/Battery and device care/Battery/Usage since last full charge/Battery usage" has two screens: "Since last full charge" and "Last seven days". Checking both screens may show which app(s) are using battery. If an app is getting hung up, e.g. spinning circle, that could indicate the app is using or waiting for CPU or other system resources, which in turn could consume more than normal battery. Searching for or trying to get a cell network or WiFi signal could also be a battery consumer given the mobile or WiFi radios are working harder.

"Settings/Connections/Data usage/Mobile networks" and "Settings/Connections/Data usage/Wi-Fi data usage" may reveal which app(s) are data consumers; and potentially show some correlation with battery usage. From what I remember, the GSam Battery Monitor app (available in the Play Store) has features that can show the above correlation between battery, CPU, and network utilization. GSam or a similarly featured app may be worth a look if the above Settings don't reveal any clues.

Settings/Battery and device care/Diagnostics is another feature that can be used to test "battery status", "Mobile network", and "Wi-Fi" among others. You can run all tests, or select just the ones that interest you.

I do notice that when clicking Diagnostics, that the Samsung Members app icon - I think - appears. So you may need to sign into that app to use the Diagnostics as the Diagnostics button could be a symlink (symbolic link, e.g. shortcut) that opens the Samsung Members app Diagnostics feature. I may be wrong here on that hypothesis, so others please feel to correct me.

awesome. thank you for all this. i followed your excellent directions and everything looked 'normal' to my untrained eye. whatsapp seemed to be the biggest consumer but it was under 4%.

i think i may, however, have found the culprit: nordVPN.

 

[mustang7757]

awesome. thank you for all this. i followed your excellent directions and everything looked 'normal' to my untrained eye. whatsapp seemed to be the biggest consumer but it was under 4%.

i think i may, however, have found the culprit: nordVPN.

Ahh vpn can definitely cause this , nice find .

 

[walterkurtz]

Ok let us know

well i think i may have found the problem, but i don't know how to fix it. this morning when i took the phone off the charger i switched off the VPN. that was at 6am. it's 2pm now, the phone has been fine and my battery is the highest i've seen it this late in a day.

if my VPN is the problem, i'm not sure how to fix it. i travel a lot and need it to be always on. i'm going to try messing with the connection settings and see if that helps. but first i want to finish out today with VPN off. (no checking crypto, but that's probably for the best!)

will report back soon. thank you!

 

[mustang7757]

well i think i may have found the problem, but i don't know how to fix it. this morning when i took the phone off the charger i switched off the VPN. that was at 6am. it's 2pm now, the phone has been fine and my battery is the highest i've seen it this late in a day.

if my VPN is the problem, i'm not sure how to fix it. i travel a lot and need it to be always on. i'm going to try messing with the connection settings and see if that helps. but first i want to finish out today with VPN off. (no checking crypto, but that's probably for the best!)

will report back soon. thank you!

Maybe try contacting them and explain your issue

 

[walterkurtz]

Ahh vpn can definitely cause this , nice find .

that VPN may cause more problems than it solves.

 

[walterkurtz]

Maybe try contacting them and explain your issue

good idea. i'll reach out to nord. thank you!