Fix a Pixel phone that's restarting or crashing

Try the following steps if your phone has any of these problems:

• Randomly reboots or restarts
• Shuts down without restarting
• Restarts constantly: Go to the Advanced troubleshooting section.

Important: Some of these steps only work on Android 6.0 and up. Learn how to check your Android version.

Troubleshoot your phone

Check for Android updates

1. Open your phone's Settings app.
2. Near the bottom, tap System  Software update.
3. When the update status appears on your screen, follow the steps.

Check storage and clear space

1. Open your phone's Settings app.
2. Tap Storage.
3. See how much storage you have available. Your phone can have issues when less than 10% of storage is available. If you're running low on storage, learn how to free up space.

Troubleshoot apps on your phone

Check for app updates

Check if an update for the Camera app is available:

1. Open the Google Play Store app .
2. At the top right, tap the Profile icon.
3. Tap Manage apps and devices.
4. Under 'Updates available', install any updates available for Pixel Camera.

Check if an Android system update is available:

1. Open your phone’s Settings app.
2. Tap System.
3. Tap Software updates.
4. Tap System update.
5. Tap Check for update.

Close apps that you're not using

1. Open your phone's Settings app.
2. Tap Apps See all apps.
3. Tap the app  Force stop OK. 

 

Tip: To help to identify which apps are causing problems, make a list of the apps that you force stop.

Find out if an app causes your problem

Restart in safe mode

Important: Safe mode temporarily turns off all downloaded apps.

Check if the problem goes away. If it does, an app is likely to be causing your problem. Go to the next step. If the problem doesn't go away, skip to Advanced troubleshooting.

Tip: Aeroplane mode is automatically turned on when you enter safe mode. We recommend turning off aeroplane mode in order to continue using features, such as GPS, Wi-Fi and making phone calls.

Restart your phone normally and check apps

1. Restart your phone.
2. One by one, remove recently downloaded apps. Learn how to delete apps.
3. After each removal, restart your phone normally. See whether removing that app solved the problem.
4. After you remove the app that caused the problem, you can add back the other apps that you removed. Learn how to reinstall apps.

Advanced troubleshooting

Remove cases and external batteries

If you’ve put a case, external battery pack or other accessory on your phone, try taking it off while you troubleshoot.

Make sure that external accessories don’t cover your phone’s sensors or touch its buttons.

Consider resetting your phone to factory settings

Important: A factory data reset will remove all data from your phone. You can restore any data stored in your Google Account, but all apps and their associated data are uninstalled. Before you perform a factory data reset, back up your phone.

• Learn how to back up and restore data.
• Learn how to perform a factory data reset.

Tips:

• If your phone doesn't respond or stays blank, you can use your phone's buttons to trigger a factory data reset.
• If an app that you downloaded caused the issue and you reinstall that app, the problem could come back.

Post your question to a Google forum

For possible solutions to other issues with your phone’s camera, you can post questions on our forums to the Pixel community.

Still have issues with restarts or crashes?

If your phone still has issues with restarts or crashes, you can get help. Learn how to contact us.

Related resources

• Fix a phone that freezes or is unresponsive
• Speed up a slow phone
• Free up storage and memory