How to Fix It When Your Samsung Tablet Is Frozen (2024)

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This article walks you through some of the causes of a Samsung tablet getting frozen. It will also provide several strategies for unfreezing a tablet that’s become unresponsive and help prevent it from freezing again.

Why Does My Samsung Tablet Keep Freezing Up?

An unresponsive or frozen Samsung tablet is often the result of a lack of free space on the hard drive, some sort of conflict between an app or service and the hardware, or an out-of-date operating system or software.

Inconsistent or weak wireless connectivity can also freeze or crash an app on the tablet, which can itself freeze the entire device.

How Do You Unfreeze a Samsung Tablet?

Here are the best, and safest, ways to unfreeze a tablet that won’t respond to touch commands.

1. Perform a hard reboot by pressing the Power and Volume Down buttons simultaneously. This will shut it down and then automatically turn the tablet back on.
   

   This method varies depending on the version of the operating system and hardware model.

2. Drain the tablet’s battery. To do that, just wait for the battery to power down completely. This will shut the tablet down, after which you can then charge it and turn it back on.

3. Reboot the tablet in Safe Mode. If a recently installed app has frozen the tablet, restarting to this mode should let you uninstall the app.

How Do I Stop My Tablet From Freezing?

Once you’ve unfrozen your Samsung tablet, there are several checks you can perform to stop it from happening again.

1. Close all open apps. You may have several apps running at once which can cause slowdowns and ultimately freeze your Samsung tablet. This isn't so much an issue with newer tablets that have lots of memory, but it doesn't hurt to try.

   You can also force the app closed via Settings > Apps. Find the app from the list and use the Force Stop option.

2. Update your tablet’s operating system. Outdated operating systems are a common source for performance issues, which means updating the OS can help prevent your tablet from freezing again.

3. Scan for errors. Go to Settings > Device Maintenance > Optimize, or search Settings for optimize. This will scan your tablet for errors and correct any it finds, and will also improve its overall performance to help prevent crashes in the future.

4. Update your apps. Some apps can cause Samsung tablets to freeze, but these bugs are often fixed and pushed out via app updates. If no updates are available, feel free to contact the app maker to request a fix.

5. Turn on Airplane mode. It’s possible the Wi-Fi, cellular, or Bluetooth connection is causing conflicts that are resulting in your tablet freezing. Airplane mode will disable all of these wireless signals which can help you work out if one of them is a factor. You can then experiment with each connection to pinpoint which one is the troublemaker.

6. Uninstall unused apps. This will free up space on your tablet's hard drive. Low free space is a common reason tablets become unresponsive.

7. Delete unused files. The downloads folder on your Samsung tablet is a good place to check for unused files. Transfer media to an SD card or a cloud storage service to free up even more space, improve performance, and help prevent further freezing.

8. Turn off background tasks to free up system resources. Search Settings for clean, or see if your tablet has this menu option: Settings > Battery and device care > Memory > Clean now.

9. Exit power saving mode. It's possible that CPU performance is being limited to conserve battery. When you turn off power saving mode, you should have unrestricted processing speed once more. This option is found in Settings > Device care > Battery > Power saving.

10. Disable your tablet’s VPN. An unstable VPN connection can result in freezing while using online apps and services. If it turns out the VPN was the reason the tablet was freezing, consider switching to one from a different povider.

11. Perform a factory reset. If your tablet continues to freeze, as a last resort, you can reset the software to its factory settings. Make sure to back up all your data because this process will remove everything you’ve saved to the tablet since you got it.

12. Contact an official Samsung Repair center. If your Samsung tablet is still freezing up all the time, it’s worth contacting the company directly and requesting a repair or replacement.