How Fix a Frozen or Unresponsive Smartphone

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Restore your phone's functionality with these troubleshooting tips

Co-authored by Travis Boylls Reviewed by Henry Paris

Last Updated: October 2, 2025 Fact Checked

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There are a number of reasons why a smartphone may become frozen or unresponsive. There are usually a few things you can do to fix this problem before factory-resetting your device or purchasing a new one. This wikiHow article teaches you how to troubleshoot and fix a frozen mobile phone as well as a phone that keeps freezing, with expert tips from electronic repair expert Henry Paris.

Fixing a Frozen Phone

Try restarting your phone using the normal power-off method. If that doesn’t work, you can force-restart your phone. If the problem continues, you can try updating your phone, freeing up storage space, and clearing the cache. As a last resort, you can factory-reset your phone.

1

Charge your phone.

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Your phone may have a low or empty battery. According to Paris, if your phone won't turn on at all, it may have run out of batteries.^{[1]
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Expert Source

Henry Paris
Electronic Repair Expert

Expert Interview} Plug your phone into a wall charger or USB port in a computer that isn't asleep, and then let it charge for a couple of hours.
- If you see a battery outline with a red sliver when you connect your iPhone to the charger, your phone's battery is completely drained and needs time to recharge. Wait about 15 to 20 minutes, and then try to power on your phone, continuing to let it charge.
- If the battery symbol doesn't appear within an hour of plugging in the phone, try a different charger, outlet, or charging cable.^{[2]
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- Paris says if your phone won’t charge via a charging cable, you can try a wireless charger.^{[3]
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  Henry Paris
  Electronic Repair Expert
  
  Expert Interview}

2

Close a frozen app.

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The app may be unresponsive. If a particular app is frozen but you can still use your phone, it's pretty easy to force the app to close. Use one of the following methods to do so:
- Android: Swipe up from the bottom of the screen, hold your finger there for a moment, and then let go—you'll see a list of currently-open apps.^{[4]
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  Research source} If that doesn't work, tap the small square icon at the bottom of the screen (usually at the bottom-right) to display open apps. Swipe left and right to see the various apps that are open. Swipe up on the app that is frozen.
  - If you can't close the app this way on an Android, open Settings, select Apps or Apps and notifications, tap the app you want to close, and select Force Stop. If you don't see this, tap App info first.^{[5]
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    Research source} Tap OK to confirm.
- Samsung Galaxy: Tap the three horizontal lines at the bottom. Swipe left and right to see the various apps that are open. Swipe up on the app that is frozen.^{[6]
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- iPhone X or later: Swipe up from the bottom of the screen and pause in the middle. Swipe left or right to find the app that's frozen, and then swipe up on the app's preview to force-close the app.^{[7]
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- iPhone SE, iPhone 8, and earlier: Double-tap the home button below your screen, swipe left or right until you've reached the app that's frozen, and then swipe up on the app to close it.

3

Restart your phone.

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There may be a glitch in your phone. Paris suggests restarting your phone before trying other troubleshooting steps.^{[8]
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Expert Source

Henry Paris
Electronic Repair Expert

Expert Interview} Use one of the following steps to do so:
- Android: Press and hold the power button, and then select the option to Power off or Restart. Wait about 30 seconds, and then try turning it back on again.^{[9]
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- iPhone X and above: Press and hold either side volume button until the slider appears, then swipe the slider and wait 30 seconds for your phone to power down. Then power it on again.^{[10]
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- iPhone 6, 7, 8, SE: Press and hold the power button on the right side until the slider appears. Swipe the slider and wait 30 seconds for your phone to power down. Then power it on again.
- iPhone 5 and below: Press and hold the power button at the top until the slider appears. Swipe the slider and wait 30 seconds for your phone to power down. Then power it on again.

4

Force-restart your phone.

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There may be a more serious glitch. If your phone won’t respond to the normal power-down methods, you may need to try a forced restart. Use one of the following methods to do so:
- Android: Press and hold the power button for about 30 seconds (sometimes more, sometimes less) to force it to restart.
- Samsung Galaxy: Press and hold both the volume-down and right-side power buttons at the same time. Hold the buttons down for 7 to 10 seconds.
- iPhone 8, and later:
  - Press and release the volume-up button.
  - Press and release the volume-down button.
  - Press and hold the right side button until the Apple logo appears.
- iPhone 7 and 7 Plus: Press and hold the volume-down button and the right-side buttons at the same time. Keep holding these buttons down until the Apple logo appears.
- Earlier iPhones: Hold down the Home button and the power buttons at the same time. You can let go when you see the Apple logo on the screen.
- If your phone has a removable battery, you can force it to restart by removing the battery, reinserting it, and then powering the phone back on.

5

Update your apps.

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The app may be outdated. If an app keeps freezing, it may not have the latest updates. Search for the app in the Google Play Store on Android, or App Store on iPhone and iPad. See if an update for that app is available. Tap Update if an update is available.
- To update all your apps on Android, open the Google Play Store and tap your profile icon in the upper-right corner. Then tap Settings. Tap Manage apps & device. Tap Update all below “Update apps.”
- To update all your apps on iPhone, open the App Store and tap your profile icon in the upper-right corner. Scroll down to refresh the list of updates. Tap Update all.

6

Delete a problematic app.

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The app may be corrupt or incompatible with your phone. If you can’t update an app or it still keeps causing problems after it is updated, it may be corrupt, poorly designed, designed for an older version of Android or iOS, or it may be conflicting with your phone’s hardware or operating system. You may want to consider deleting the app. Use the following steps to delete the app:
- Open the Apps menu on an Android phone or go to your Home screen on iPhone and iPad. Tap and hold the problematic app. Then tap Uninstall or Remove App.

7

Update your phone.

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Your phone may be outdated. If your phone repeatedly freezes, it may not have the latest updates. Keeping your phone updated can help patch out glitches and security flaws. Use one of the following steps to update your phone:
- Android: Swipe down from the top of the screen and tap the Gear/Settings icon. Then tap System followed by Software updates. Tap Download and install if an update is available.^{[11]
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- Samsung Galaxy: Swipe down from the top of the screen and tap the Gear/Settings icon. Tap Software updates. Tap Download and install if an update is available.
- iPhone: Open the Settings app. Tap General, followed by Software Update. Tap Download and Install if an update is available.^{[12]
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8

Free up storage space.

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Your phone storage may be nearly full. You can free up storage on your phone by deleting apps you no longer use. You can also delete or relocate images and videos stored on your phone. Video files take up a lot of space. Try storing them on cloud storage or backing them up to your computer and then deleting them from your phone.
- On iPhone, you can offload apps you don’t use regularly. This will remove the app from your phone, but keep the app data in case you want to install it again later. To do so, open the Settings app and go to General, followed by iPhone Storage. Then tap an app you want to offload and tap Offload app. You can also enable “Offload unused apps” in this section.
- On iPhone, iCloud storage is usually enabled by default. On Android, you can store photos and videos in Google Photos or Google Drive. Both services have a free subscription tier with a limited amount of storage space. If you need more storage space, you can upgrade to a higher subscription tier.

9

Clear your cache partition on Android.

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Your system cache may be corrupt. You may be able to clear the corruption by clearing your system partition cache. Unfortunately, there is no way to do this on an iPhone (except for factory-resetting your phone). After you clear your cache partition, you will need to re-login to your apps. Some apps and websites may run a little slower initially, but this should improve over time. Overall, your device should run a little smoother. Use the following steps to clear the cache partition on your phone:
- Power off your phone.
- Press and hold the Power and Volume Down buttons (or Power and Volume Up buttons on some device models) until you see the Android logo.
- Use the Volume Up and Volume Down buttons to navigate the Recovery Mode menu.
- Press the Power button to select Wipe Cache Partition.
- Reboot your phone.

10

Update your iPhone in Recovery Mode

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Your iPhone may be stuck in a boot loop. Start your iPhone in recovery mode. If you've forced your iPhone to restart and see a red or blue screen, or the Apple logo remains on the screen and never goes away, you may be able to update or restore your iPhone in Recovery Mode. This requires you to connect your iPhone to a computer:^{[13]
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- Connect your iPhone to a computer using a USB cable. If you are using a PC, make sure you have the latest version of iTunes installed.
- Open Finder (if you're using macOS Catalina or later), or iTunes (if you're using macOS Mojave and earlier or a Windows PC).
- Select your iPhone in the left panel (if using Finder) or click the iPhone icon at the top of iTunes.
- Put your iPhone into recovery mode:
  - iPhone 8, and later: Press and release (quickly) the volume-up button, and then press and release the volume-down button. Then, press and hold the side button until you see the recovery mode screen.
  - iPhone 7 and 7 Plus: Press and hold the volume-down and right-side buttons at the same time. Keep holding the buttons down until you see the recovery mode screen.
  - iPhone 6, and earlier: Press and hold the Home button and the right-side buttons down until you see the recovery mode screen.
- Click Update when prompted on your Mac or PC. This process will try to update your iPhone without destroying your settings.

11

Factory-reset your phone.

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Your phone system may be corrupt. If you’ve tried everything and your phone repeatedly keeps crashing, you may need to factory reset your phone. If you can still navigate your phone, you can do so from the Settings menu. This will wipe all data from your phone and reinstall your phone’s operating system. Be sure to backup your phone before resetting it so that you can restore your phone once this process is complete. According to Paris, this should be a last resort.^{[14]
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Expert Source

Henry Paris
Electronic Repair Expert

Expert Interview} Use one of the following methods to factory reset your phone:
- Android: Swipe down from the top of the screen and tap the Gear/Settings icon. Tap the magnifying glass icon and search “Reset” (it may be under System or General Management). Tap Factory data reset or Erase all data (factory reset). Then follow the prompts. Once the process is complete, you can recover your data during the setup process as long as you have a backup saved.
- iPhone: Open the Settings app and tap General. Tap Transfer or Reset iPhone. Then tap Reset all content and Settings and follow the prompts. Once your iPhone is reset, you can recover it during the initial setup process as long as you have a backup saved.

12

Reset your phone in Recovery Mode

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Your phone system may be severely corrupt. If you are completely unable to boot into your phone or navigate the menu system, you may need to factory reset your phone in Recovery Mode. Again, this will erase all data on your phone and should be done only as a last resort. Back up your phone if you can. Use the following steps to factory reset your phone from Recovery Mode:
- Android: Press and hold the Power and Volume Down buttons (or Power and Volume Up buttons on some device models) until you see the Android logo. Use the Volume Up and Volume Down buttons to navigate the Recovery Mode menu. Select the Wipe data/factory reset option. Follow the prompts to reset your phone.
- iPhone: Connect your iPhone to your Mac or PC and open the Finder on Mac or iTunes on Windows. Put your iPhone in Recovery Mode. Select Restore on your computer and follow the prompts. Use one of the following steps to put your iPhone in Recovery Mode:
  - iPhone 8 and later: Press and release (quickly) the volume-up button, and then press and release the volume-down button. Then, press and hold the side button until you see the recovery mode screen.
  - iPhone 7 and 7 Plus: Press and hold the volume-down and right-side buttons at the same time. Keep holding the buttons down until you see the recovery mode screen.
  - iPhone 6 and earlier: Press and hold the Home button and the right-side buttons down until you see the recovery mode screen.

13

Repair or replace your phone.

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If you’ve tried everything and your phone is still freezing, there may be a problem with the motherboard on your phone. Contact the point of sale or your phone’s manufacturer. If your phone is fairly new, it may still be under warranty. This will allow you to get it repaired for little or no cost. However, if your phone is more than a few years old, it may be time to purchase a new one.

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How do I fix a frozen phone if the battery in my model is not removable?

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Press and hold all of your buttons on your phone at once and hold for 10 seconds.

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What do I do if my Samsung LG is locked on the password screen and won't unlock even after taking the battery out?

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Turn off your mobile and wait for few minutes, then press and hold the power button and the volume up button at the same time. You should see the root menu. Select "user detail" and clear it.

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What if I cannot remove the battery from my frozen mobile phone?

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Bring it back to the store that sold you the phone and ask them to help you remove the battery.

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Tips

If you're able to unfreeze your phone, it's a good idea to back it up immediately after doing so. Phone freezes are typically symptomatic of a larger issue with the phone, meaning that you may lose the data on the phone at some point if you don't back it up.

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Phones will often freeze or behave erratically if exposed to water or other liquids. If your phone was recently dropped in (or otherwise exposed to) water, take it to a tech repair center rather than trying to turn it on.

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The advice in this section is based on the lived experiences of wikiHow readers like you. If you have a helpful tip you’d like to share on wikiHow, please submit it in the field below.

If you have an LGStylo6, hold down power and bottom volume button and it will restart.

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Warnings

One of the reasons that phones freeze is that the phone in question can no longer support the operating system, apps, and other data on it. This is often the case with phones that are at least four years old.

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