It can be excruciating if your Android screen is flashing on and off. Right here, find out how to stop screen flickering on your Android phone.
One of the deadliest experiences I ever experienced on my phone is the Android screen flickering problem, which causes the screen to flash, blink, and display unusual colors randomly. And from experience, I can say very much that it’s never a refreshing experience at all. However, I soon started enjoying my phone afterward after finding the perfect solutions for it.
So, if you’re also experiencing the display flickering problem on your phone, you’re not alone. The good news is that after reading and following our guides on this page, the display blinking problem will become a thing of the past on your phone.
How do I fix my Android screen from flickering?
Drastic times call for desperate measures, and when your Android screen flickers, there are a couple of ways to get over it. First, you need to understand that phone screen flickering is principally a software problem, so we tackle that first. In case it’s a hardware problem, visiting the service center would be your last resort. Either way, follow these 7 simple ways to fix your Android screen from flickering.
Reboot your phone instantly
Just like every other problem you may face on Android, a quick way to fix Android screen flickering is by rebooting your device. Restarting your phone can fix most software-related issues on Android, and it won’t take your time. So, to ensure the frequent display blinking problem on your phone is not a temporary hiccup, reboot your device.
Do it this way: first shutdown your device by long-pressing the Power button and select Power off on the power menu. Wait for 2mins after the device has shut down completely, then long-press the power button to restart your phone.
Disable Adaptive Brightness
5 out of 10 times, your Android/tablet screen flashing on and off is caused by the adaptive brightness feature on your phone. Adaptive Brightness, also known as auto-brightness, adjusts your screen brightness in different lighting conditions. But because of software issues sometimes, it might cause the display blinking problem.
On most Android phones, you should find the adaptive brightness toggle on the right side of the brightness slider in the notification shade. Just tap the 'A’ button to toggle off adaptive brightness. Alternatively, you can go to Settings > Display > Adaptive brightness to disable it on your phone.
Disable Hardware Overlays and Surface updates in Developer Settings
Your Android device decides whether to display contents with the CPU or GPU. But the screen flickering problem may occur sometimes when the system struggles to switch between the CPU and GPU to render the best graphics representation for an app on your phone. If you experience this, you may have enabled the wrong settings. Follow the steps below to check it out.
How to enable Developer options
- Launch Settings on your phone and open About phone or My phone
- Locate the Build number and tap it seven times.
- Confirm your password enable Developer options.
Now, open Developer options.
- On the Settings app, scroll down and select System.
- Tap on Developer options and enable it using the switch at the top of the screen.
- Scroll to the Drawing tab and ensure the “Show surface updates” is disabled.
- Next, ensure “Show view update” Is disabled under the Hardware accelerated rendering tap.
- Similarly, now enable “Display HW overlays” to force your phone to always use GPU for screen composition.
Note: Enabling "Display HW overlays" may cause high battery consumption.
Clear Android cache files
Still on how to stop screen flickering on your phone? We recommend you should erase the Android cache files if none of the solutions above has worked for you so far. In correspondence with the cache data on apps, you might experience screen flickering if the Android cached data is undermined. Follow the steps below to clear it.
- Switch off your phone completely.
- Now, power on your phone with the combination of Power + Volume down.
- When you’re on the Android recovery page, click the Power + Volume buttons simultaneously again to view recovery options.
- With the aid of your volume button, highlight the Wipe cache partition, and use the Power button to accept it.
- With the same process, highlight and select Yes to wipe the Android cache partition.
- When you’re done, highlight and select the Reboot system
Boot your phone in Safe Mode
What's more on “How do I fix my Android screen from flickering?” Well, if an app you installed recently has some wrong codes in it, it may cause display blinking problems on your phone by frequently drawing some colors on your screen. A quick way to check that and stop screen flickering on your phone is by booting into Safe Mode.
As you presumably know, booting your phone into Safe Mode loads only the system apps and pauses every third-party app on your phone. So, it’s an effortless way to diagnose if an app you installed earlier causes your Android tablet or phone screen to be flashing on and off.
In short, follow these steps to boot your Android phone into Safe mode
- On your device, press and hold the Power button to bring up the power menu.
- From there, press and keep holding the Power off button on the screen until you see a pop-up screen. On TECNO and some Infinix phones, you need to long-press the HiOS or XOS logo on the power menu instead.
- After that, you’ll see a prompt to reboot to safe mode. Simply tap on OK to confirm the action and wait for your phone to reboot.
- When your device is now in Safe mode, navigate your phone, as usual, to see if the screen flickering problem occurs.
If you notice nothing like the screen flashing on and off, you got the culprit already. Restart your phone manually to exit Safe mode.
Now, here’s where you need to work. Go through your apps to find the ones you installed recently and start uninstalling them one-by-one until you fix your Android screen from flickering. Here’s a tip for you; you can check the apps permitted to draw on your screen in Setting > Apps > Special app access > Display over other apps and start by uninstalling the strange ones from there.
Check for system updates
As earlier said, the screen flickering problem on your phone is likely a software problem. So, it's very possible that the problem emanated from a buggy software build. And to fix that, you probably need to update your software, hopefully, if your manufacturer has pushed out a fix for it.
To update your Android phone, go to Settings > System > Software Updates, and follow the screen guides to check and download available updates for your phone. Hopefully, you get an answer to "How do I fix my Android screen from flickering" after installing the update.
Bring it down to a professional
So far, so good. If none of the solutions above could stop the screen flickering problem on your phone, it's time to visit the oracle—we mean a repair professional. Perhaps your screen got damaged. So, if you noticed your phone screen flickering after it dropped, visit a repair centre to fix your screen.
Also, if your phone screen flickers after water damage, you need to take it to the repair center as soon as possible to get it fixed. On getting there, the professional will diagnose the main issue, and hopefully, he’ll find a fix for it.
If you use a TECNO, Infinix or itel smartphone, visit any Carlcare center near you to fix screen flickering on Android.
