Nexus 6 requires rebooting every day or so as it slows down to become unusable

[lchiu7]

I have a N6 purchased Dec 2015 new from Amazon. The only mods, if you can call it that is, I have unlocked the boot loader. I am currently running N6F26Y sideloaded via ADB.

The phone was great when I first got it but now after about a day or so of usage it becomes slow and sluggish and unresponsive I have to restart it to use it. I have done a factory reset a couple of times which gets it back to normal for a week or so and then the problem recurs. Occasionally I will delete the cache which also helps. Snapchat is one of the worse apps - crashes the phone regularly and is a very slow app.

Also the camera can get very slow often taking seconds to take one photo.

I love the phone but it's becoming unusable now. The contrast between this and a new phone (I have purchased a Moto Z) is like night and day. The Moto Z runs instantly, has no lag and is a nice phone. But what I like about the N6 is the large screen which makes it great for videos etc.

Short of perhaps flashing some custom ROM is there anything I could be doing?

 

[Dugaldrob]

I'd recommend flashing a rom like pure nexus, super stable that should fix your problem, otherwise you've done all you can and is the easiest fix

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

 

[5.1]

I have a N6 purchased Dec 2015 new from Amazon. The only mods, if you can call it that is, I have unlocked the boot loader. I am currently running N6F26Y sideloaded via ADB.

The phone was great when I first got it but now after about a day or so of usage it becomes slow and sluggish and unresponsive I have to restart it to use it. I have done a factory reset a couple of times which gets it back to normal for a week or so and then the problem recurs. Occasionally I will delete the cache which also helps. Snapchat is one of the worse apps - crashes the phone regularly and is a very slow app.

Also the camera can get very slow often taking seconds to take one photo.

I love the phone but it's becoming unusable now. The contrast between this and a new phone (I have purchased a Moto Z) is like night and day. The Moto Z runs instantly, has no lag and is a nice phone. But what I like about the N6 is the large screen which makes it great for videos etc.

Short of perhaps flashing some custom ROM is there anything I could be doing?

Hello,

It seems like some apps are really slowing down your phone. I use my N6 at home for web browsing mostly as I have a Pixel XL now. Just like you I love the screen size.

The camera has always been slow fore, because of the time it takes to focus...

Did you try using your phone a few days without Snapchat installed? Maybe you also have other misbehaving​ apps installed.

Uninstall Snapchat and other apps and start from here. Reinstall one per one with a few days interval. See if the issue still occurs.

Installing a custom ROM + kernel will likely speed up things a little bit. I second @Dugaldrob with Pure Nexus and I'd suggest ElementalX kernel on top. Running this combo on N6, N6P and Pixel XL and they work flawlessly.

I don't believe installing a custom ROM alone will fix your issue though. Stock ROM shouldn't cause the phone to slow down to the point you need to reboot to use it.

Finding the culprit will...

Good luck...

 

[lchiu7]

Hello,

It seems like some apps are really slowing down your phone. I use my N6 at home for web browsing mostly as I have a Pixel XL now. Just like you I love the screen size.

The camera has always been slow fore, because of the time it takes to focus...

Did you try using your phone a few days without Snapchat installed? Maybe you also have other misbehaving​ apps installed.

Uninstall Snapchat and other apps and start from here. Reinstall one per one with a few days interval. See if the issue still occurs.

Installing a custom ROM + kernel will likely speed up things a little bit. I second @Dugaldrob with Pure Nexus and I'd suggest ElementalX kernel on top. Running this combo on N6, N6P and Pixel XL and they work flawlessly.

I don't believe installing a custom ROM alone will fix your issue though. Stock ROM shouldn't cause the phone to slow down to the point you need to reboot to use it.

Finding the culprit will...

Good luck...

Thanks

First step is to remove Snapchat. I rarely use the app and only because my daughter sends stuff on it. I am going to tell her to send me stuff via another method

If that doesn't work then it's a new ROM. I have performed ROM installs before but have never flashed a new kernel on a phone before so that will be a new experience. Hopefully I won't brick the phone

 

[5.1]

Thanks

First step is to remove Snapchat. I rarely use the app and only because my daughter sends stuff on it. I am going to tell her to send me stuff via another method

If that doesn't work then it's a new ROM. I have performed ROM installs before but have never flashed a new kernel on a phone before so that will be a new experience. Hopefully I won't brick the phone

Hello,

Don't worry, it's really easy. Also, if you are lost, there must be a ton of tutorials in general section. If you are lost yet, just ask and someone will point you in the right direction...

Good luck...

 

[jeffrimerman]

I have a N6 purchased Dec 2015 new from Amazon. The only mods, if you can call it that is, I have unlocked the boot loader. I am currently running N6F26Y sideloaded via ADB.

The phone was great when I first got it but now after about a day or so of usage it becomes slow and sluggish and unresponsive I have to restart it to use it. I have done a factory reset a couple of times which gets it back to normal for a week or so and then the problem recurs. Occasionally I will delete the cache which also helps. Snapchat is one of the worse apps - crashes the phone regularly and is a very slow app.

Also the camera can get very slow often taking seconds to take one photo.

I love the phone but it's becoming unusable now. The contrast between this and a new phone (I have purchased a Moto Z) is like night and day. The Moto Z runs instantly, has no lag and is a nice phone. But what I like about the N6 is the large screen which makes it great for videos etc.

Short of perhaps flashing some custom ROM is there anything I could be doing?

I've been running Pure Nexus and wanted to let peeps know I put Nitrogen on and man it's so smooth, my wifi tether is back and I went to sleep last night with 50% battery still. When I installed it I opted for the nano gapps I think so like 175mb for minimal apps and maybe that's why it's running so efficient. Maybe I could have re-installed Pure Nexus with a clean install and it would have gotten better but it was a good time to try something else. Also when Nitrogen got an update I was notified just like stock and it downloaded. I didn't even know these could do that. Anyways give it a try and you might just switch back. I was looking into new phones but if it keeps working so smooth with battery longer than a day then I'm fine for now.

 

[zelendel]

Snap chat is not that big of an issue. What I have found to cause the device to slow down is normally almost full device storage and a crappy cache release code in apps. Some apps don't release their cache properly. So it causes lag. This is why a reboot seems to fix it.

While a custom rom may fix this issue it is not the solution. The proper solution is to find what is causing it and fix/repair/ditch it.

Worst offenders for crappy code in my thoughts. Other will disagree with one on this list I am sure. So don't bother. I know people swear by it. It runs like crap for me at times and causes my whole device to lag until I close it out.

1 Facebook
2 FB messenger
3 Google Chrome ( don't do it lol)
4 whatsapp
5 Hangouts

Mind you this is just a list on my usage. It may very per user and even device (considering different hardware)

 

[NLBeev]

... It runs like crap for me at times and causes my whole device to lag until I close it out.

1 Facebook
2 FB messenger
3 Google Chrome ( don't do it lol)
4 whatsapp
5 Hangouts
...

I can confirm this, because I've removed these apps (-whatsapp) and also decrypted the data partition...
My N6 is fast.
Maybe a lite stock ROM and an other kernel is a good start.

 

[jeffrimerman]

I can confirm this, because I've removed these apps (-whatsapp) and also decrypted the data partition...
My N6 is fast.
Maybe a lite stock ROM and an other kernel is a good start.

Currently I have FB, FB messenger, and Chrome but when I installed gapps I chose a super lite install so tons of bloat and google apps were not installed and my battery has gone way up and it's so smooth. I'm sure even when we don't use apps they're always doing something in the background. I bet you're right and a stock lite ROM would be good too with the minimal bs apps.

 

[lchiu7]

Snap chat is not that big of an issue. What I have found to cause the device to slow down is normally almost full device storage and a crappy cache release code in apps. Some apps don't release their cache properly. So it causes lag. This is why a reboot seems to fix it.

While a custom rom may fix this issue it is not the solution. The proper solution is to find what is causing it and fix/repair/ditch it.

Worst offenders for crappy code in my thoughts. Other will disagree with one on this list I am sure. So don't bother. I know people swear by it. It runs like crap for me at times and causes my whole device to lag until I close it out.

1 Facebook
2 FB messenger
3 Google Chrome ( don't do it lol)
4 whatsapp
5 Hangouts

Mind you this is just a list on my usage. It may very per user and even device (considering different hardware)

Thanks for the advice. Of the list of apps above I have only Chrome and Hangouts. I really can't see replacing either of them.

I also should have pointed out that the phone locks up randomly requiring a hard reset. I wonder if an errant app could cause that or I have some RAM problem. Certainly on a PC bad RAM can use in Windows a blue screen or something but perhaps Android isn't so forgiving?

 

[Char_G]

Thanks for the advice. Of the list of apps above I have only Chrome and Hangouts. I really can't see replacing either of them.

I also should have pointed out that the phone locks up randomly requiring a hard reset. I wonder if an errant app could cause that or I have some RAM problem. Certainly on a PC bad RAM can use in Windows a blue screen or something but perhaps Android isn't so forgiving?

I would flash TWRP, flash supersu in TWRP to root, make a complete backup in twrp, then remove whatever Google apps you're not using with a system app removal app. Getting some of that bloat off the device should help. If it's still laggy, then look into a custom ROM. I run Tesla on my Nexus 6 with none of the issues you're having. I don't decrypt it either

 

[shadowcore]

Running abdroid 7.1 here. I dont get any slowdowns, at leas until the battery doesnt drop below 50 and 25 percent.

Im running a custom kernel and my phone is rooted. Everything else is stock.

 

[lchiu7]

Can you flash a custom kernel and presumably TWRP without wiping the phone? If so then might try that before a custom ROM

 

[5.1]

Can you flash a custom kernel and presumably TWRP without wiping the phone? If so then might try that before a custom ROM

Hello,

Since your bootloader is unlocked, flash TWRP and install the kernel, no problem.

Might give you a slight boost at first sight, but your device will likely slow down over time anyway...

Cheers...

 

[cameraddict]

I'm on 7.0 with the April SP. I have dozens of apps installed, including Hangouts. I use Firefox for browsing, I like it better than chrome (and you can install an ad blocker).

My camera slows down when the battery is under 40%, and the whole device slows dramatically, though not unusable, at or below 5%. But otherwise, no issues what so ever.

One solution that I have not seen suggested here is resetting the device and NOT taking the Google account backup of all your apps. I would suggest making a completely clean install of the factory rom you have and installing one or two apps at a time, most important to you first. And do this for a few days/weeks until you find the app that's misbehaving.

Although there are general bad players out there, this bad app could be unique to your device. Just because all devices of the same model have the same specs and components, doesn't mean that there isn't variability in parts quality.

I would do this before trying any new roms or kernels. Find the true problem first.

Good luck!

edit:
I had another idea: Go into your battery stats and network stats and storage stats and see if any app seems to be using too much of any, or all of the 3. This may get you the answer more quickly.