PRIV Troubleshooting Guide

Originally posted on Inside BlackBerry Help Blog.

Are you encountering an issue with your PRIV smartphone?

Follow the steps below to help troubleshoot any stability issues you may be encountering, and don’t forget to test after each step before moving onto the next step.

• Step 1 – Reboot
• Step 2 – Check for OS updates
• Step 3 – Check for app or game updates in Google Play
• Step 4 – Check your available storage space
• Step 5 – What’s misbehaving?
• Step 6 – Force Stop & Clear Cache
• Step 7 – Clear Data
• Step 8 – Uninstall the app or game
• Step 9 – Safe Mode
• Step 10 – Uninstall, test, repeat
• Step 11 – Factory reset

Step 1 – Reboot

The first thing you will want to do if you are encountering stability issues, or have an issue with a specific app or game, is reboot your device. Doing so will close any running applications or processes and re-initializes hardware drivers within your device.

To reboot your device, press and hold the power key followed by tapping Reboot.

Test your device after it restarts. If the issue persists move onto the next step.

Step 2 – Check for OS updates

Verify your device is using the latest OS as updates can contain feature enhancements as well as system stability and security improvements.

To check for available OS updates complete the following steps:

1. Using two fingers, swipe down once from the top of the screen
2. Tap   followed by About phone
3. Tap System Updates
4. Tap CHECK FOR UPDATE

If an OS update is found, install the update followed by testing after your device restarts.

Step 3 – Check for app or game updates in Google Play

Verify that you are using most up-to-date version of any applications or games you have installed using the following steps:

1. Open Google Play
2. Tap  followed by My apps
3. Tap Installed
4. Tap Update or Update All if you have multiple app or game updates available.

Note: If you are using Android for Work, complete these steps using the work instance of Google Play and selecting My work apps instead of My apps in step 2.

Test and, if the issue persists, proceed to step 4.

Step 4 – Check your available storage space

Verify that your device has 10% or more free internal storage space as anything less than 10% may result in instability. To review your internal storage space complete the following steps:

1. Using two fingers, swipe down once from the top of the screen
2. Tap  followed by Storage
3. Verify that you have at least 10% free space

If you do not have 10% free space, consider clearing some space on your device, then testing your device to verify that stability issues are still present.

• Tip: For help freeing up space on your device, check out these tips.

Step 5 – What’s misbehaving?

Should you still encounter stability issues, the next step is identifying if the issue is specific to a single app, game or something unknown.

If the issue is specific to a certain app or game, such as a specific app closing whenever you try to open it, proceed to step 6. If the issue isn’t specific to an app or game, proceed to step 9.

Step 6 – Force Stop & Clear Cache

Should the issue occur when using a specific app or game, consider using the Force Stop option to completely shut the app or game down. This option will also temporarily stop any background services that are accessing this app or game which may help resolve the issue.

Note: The “Force Stop” & “Clear Cache” options do not affect application data stored on your device

1. Using two fingers, swipe down once from the top of the screen
2. Tap  followed by Apps
3. Within Downloaded, tap on the app or game that may be causing stability issues
4. Tap Force Stop followed by tapping OK

After using this option, open the app or game again and test. Should the issue persist, try clearing the app or game cache to remove any temporary files that may have become corrupt.

1. Using two fingers, swipe down once from the top of the screen
2. Tap  followed by Apps
3. Within All, tap on the app or game that may be causing stability issues
4. Tap Clear Cache

Proceed to test and, should the issue still occur, move to the next step

Step 7 – Clear Data

If using the Force Stop and Clear Cache options didn’t help, you will next want to use the Clear Data option. Using this option will result in the application or game data being deleted permanently – this includes all local files, settings, accounts, databases, etc. associated with the app or game.

WARNING: Before using this option please ensure you make a record of any important information and backup any data you would like to retain from the specific app or game. Some apps or games may offer cloud based backup solutions so take advantage of those options before using the Clear Data option.

1. Using two fingers, swipe down once from the top of the screen
2. Tap   followed by Apps
3. Within All, tap on the app or game that may be causing stability issues
4. Tap Clear Data followed by tapping OK

Step 8 – Uninstall the app or game

The next step is uninstalling the app or game to see if this addresses the issue.

Similar to using the Clear Data option, uninstalling an app or game will result in any local data associated with the app or game being permanently deleted from your device.

After verifying you have saved and recorded any important details of the app or game you need to uninstall, complete the following steps:

1. Using two fingers, swipe down once from the top of the screen
2. Tap  followed by Apps
3. Within Downloaded, tap on the app or game that may be causing stability issues
4. Tap Uninstall followed by tapping OK

When the app or game has been uninstalled, proceed to test again. Should the issue persist, before moving onto next step, reboot your device one more time followed by testing.

Step 9 – Safe Mode

The next step is placing your device into safe mode.

When used, Safe Mode will disable any third party apps or games you have installed. As a result of this, should your device not exhibit the issue while in Safe Mode it’s safe to assume the issue is specific to an app or game you have installed.

1. Press and hold the power key
2. Tap and hold Power off when it appears
3. When prompted, tap OK to reboot to Safe Mode

To get out of Safe Mode, press and hold the power key followed by tapping Reboot.

After testing, should your device not exhibit any issues, the next step is to remove recently installed applications one by one until the issue is resolved.

Step 10 – Uninstall, test, repeat

WARNING: Before using this option record any important details and backup any data you would like to retain from the specific app or game.

We recommend removing recently installed apps and games one by one, followed by testing.

To view a chronological listing of apps and games you have installed so you can remove recently installed apps and games first, complete the following steps:

1. Open Google Play
2. Tap  followed by My apps
3. Tap All
4. Tap on the most recently installed app or game, and, after you have backed up any personal data or settings, tapUninstall.

When the app or game has been removed, test and identify if the problems have gone away.

If, after removing several apps or games, the symptoms haven’t gone away, and the steps in this article haven’t helped resolve the issue, the final step is performing a factory reset of your device.

Step 11 – Factory reset

This process will result in your device being restored to factory default settings, which means your data, settings and any apps or games you may have installed will be removed. Since this is the case, before proceeding further, backup any data, settings or files that you would like to retain, followed by completing the steps below.

• Tip: The Android Backup Service can help you backup and restore your device wirelessly. For an overview of how to use this feature and what content is backed up and restored, check out this article from Google’s support website: Back up or restore data on your device

WARNING: This process will return your device to factory default settings – before completing these steps ensure you have backed up any important data, settings, files etc.

1. Using two fingers, swipe down once from the top of the screen
2. Tap followed by Backup & reset
3. Tap Factory Data Reset
4. Review the message shown on the screen
5. Tap Reset Phone

When the factory reset process has finished, you will be shown the out of box setup wizard.

Complete the wizard followed by testing – should your device still exhibit any symptoms, the final step is contacting your point of purchase for assistance.

To learn about PRIV by BlackBerry or troubleshoot an issue, there are several great options available to help. Visithttp://blackberry.com/privsupport for access to product documentation, how-to demos, tips and tricks, YouTube videos, support forums, knowledge base articles, Twitter support, and contact information for your region.