Sporting a tall, but compact body with an impressive large screen, the LG G6 is turning plenty of heads. The dual-lens camera is capable of capturing great photos, LG has sprinkled a couple of handy extras on top of the latest flavor of Android, and there’s plenty of power under the hood. It’s a great smartphone, but we have picked up on some commonly reported LG G6 problems, which we’ve gathered together here along with some possible fixes or workarounds to help you get back on track.
Problem: Poor battery life
There have been mixed reports about the battery life on the LG G6. We were initially disappointed, but found that battery life on our review unit improved after it received a software update. It’s always worth bearing in mind that heavy usage, coupled with background app downloads, when your phone is new is liable to limit battery life in the first few days. It should settle down. The G6 is packing a 3,300mAh battery, so it should get through an average day with change.
Potential solutions:
- Make sure that you have the latest software in Settings > About phone > Software Updates > Update Now.
- Take a look in Settings > Battery & power saving > Battery usage and find out if any specific apps are causing a major battery drain. If something seems to be power hungry, even though you aren’t using it a lot, then check into the settings or consider uninstalling it.
- Getting rid of, or disabling, apps that you don’t plan to use is always a good idea and can help you save some battery life. Look in Settings > Apps for candidates to uninstall or disable.
- The biggest drain on battery life is generally the screen. Look under Settings > Display and consider turning off Always-on display, reducing Screen timeout, and turning down the Brightness to save battery life.
Glitch: Bluetooth streaming flaws
We’ve seen a couple of posts about glitches with Bluetooth connections on the LG G6. This is a really common problem with phones and Bluetooth car system connections. Some people are suffering with popping noises and stream interruptions, others are having trouble with the audio track display.
Potential solutions:
- The first thing to do is to clear the cache of any app you use for streaming, like Google Play Music. Go to Settings > Apps > Google Play Music > Storage > Clear cache.
- Go to Settings > Bluetooth and tap the cog icon next to the Paired device that you’re having trouble with, then select Unpair and start the process again.
- Check with your car manufacturer about software updates and make sure you have the latest release. It may also be worth deleting old Bluetooth pairings that you don’t need any more from your car system.
Issue: Camera performance with low light and motion
The dual-lens camera in the LG G6 is one of the highlights and it’s capable of capturing stunning shots in the right conditions, however not everyone is enamored with the G6’s camera performance. We’ve seen a couple of threads complaining about camera issues such as poor low light performance and blurring on motion.
Potential solutions:
- Make sure that you have the latest software in Settings > About phone > Software Update > Update Now.
- Open the camera app and tap the cog icon to enter the settings menu, then try toggling Tracking focus off and see if that improves things.
- Remember that you can switch between the wide-angle and standard-angle lens by tapping the tree icons.
- If you’re unable to see an improvement after playing with the settings, or you have an issue like this green banding, then you should contact your carrier, retailer, or LG and ask about a replacement.
Problem: Camera lens scratches
Quite a few people have been complaining about small scratches accumulating on the camera lens of the LG G6 — our own unit has a scratch as well. It’s a good idea to shop for LG G6 cases and get some protection to prevent any damage to the lens, but if you’ve already got scratches, you still have a couple of options.
Potential solutions:
- Some people are claiming that the scratches are not actually in the camera lens itself, but just on the coating, which can be removed. PolarisX on Reddit suggests using a polishing compound, but we would advise caution. Try this solution at your own risk.
- The obvious thing to do is to contact your carrier, retailer, or LG and ask about a replacement. It’s possible that there was a bad batch with a problem coating or some defect. Some people have exchanged for a new LG G6 and say that it does not have the same problem.
Glitch: Lagging and stuttering
The LG G6 is a powerful smartphone and the performance should be smooth and lag-free, but we’ve seen some owners complaining about lag and stuttering when scrolling and typing.
Workarounds:
- Go to Settings > Developer options. If you don’t see Developer options in the Settings menu, then go to About phone > Software Info and tap on Build number seven times. You should get a pop-up message about Developer options being enabled, and you’ll find the option back in the Settings menu now. Scroll down and find Window animation scale, Transition animation scale, and Animator duration scale. Set all of them to 0.5x or turn them off completely, and you should feel a difference.
- Some people also report that the lagging was reduced after they toggled on Force GPU Rendering in Developer options.
Potential solutions:
- You should always make sure that you have the latest software in Settings > About phone > Software Update > Update Now.
- The lagging might be down to old settings or apps if you restored a backup from a previous phone. Try backing up anything important, then factory reset your LG G6 via Settings > Backup & reset > Factory data reset > Reset phone. Once it is reset, make sure that you set it up as a new device, don’t restore a backup. Test to see if the performance is improved.
- If the factory reset without backup doesn’t do the trick, then you might have to consider returning your handset and asking for a replacement. There’s a slim chance it has a hardware fault.