Huawei Honor 9 Lite common issues and how to solve them

Huawei’s subsidiary, Honor, does make some good phones. Their Honor series (closely followed with the Honor Lite series) is a nifty bunch of amazing handsets and the sales are showing people like what they have to offer for more than the affordable price tag. Today we’ll be talking about one of the most interesting devices from the last year, the Honor Lite 9. We decided to tackle head-on most prominent issues this handset has and provide you with solutions.

If you’re a proud owner of this, both visually and performance-wise, spectacular device and having some minor problems, check the list below.

1. Battery drainage
2. Wi-Fi and Mobile Data issues
3. Phone lagging and freezing
4. Camera issues
5. The display is pixelated or reddish
6. Bluetooth issues
7. Underwhelming audio output
8. Fingerprint issues
9. Overheating
10. Common Advanced steps for Honor 9 Lite

1: Battery drainage

This isn’t uncommon for a feature-packed device which the Honor Lite 9 certainly is. Sometimes the problem is, of course, that you get used to a certain performance, a certain battery longevity and Screen-on Time, so even the smallest discrepancy gets on your nerves. Not in this case, sadly. Users reported a noticeable drop in the battery life after some time.

Now whether this is provoked by a firmware update, or you’ve made certain changes to a way you’re using your device – we can’t say with certainty. What we can do, on the other hand, is offer you a few ways to improve your battery life substantially. Check them out below:

• Change the screen resolution to HD+ instead of smart or FHD+.
• Limit the unnecessary apps from starting and working in the background with the Phone Manager.
• Use Greenify or a similar app to additionally limit the background activity of some apps. Have in mind that this will affect the push notifications and most of them won’t come through.
• Disable Mobile Data always on in Developer Options.
• Manually adjust brightness instead of relying on Adaptive brightness.
• Kill the Wi-Fi overnight.
• Update the system.

2: Wi-Fi and Mobile Data issues

Wi-Fi performance on Huawei-made devices was always above the average. And that’s basically the same on the Honor 9 Lite. With one little bug being an exception, and that’s the Bluetooth throttling the Wi-Fi. We run into this error and we ensure you that a simple system update addresses this completely. Until then, you can opt-out of Bluetooth while roaming online.

In regards to Mobile Data issues, some users reported problems with VoLTE, where there are unable to connect. We strongly encourage you to restart your handset and check the SIM card positioning. Also, resetting the APN settings might help. Here’s how to do it:

In addition, if you’re still stuck with particular Wi-Fi or Mobile Data related issues, the explanation on resetting Network settings is at the bottom.

Although be advised, this will clear all saved SSID passwords, remove Bluetooth pairings, and reset APN settings.

3: Phone lagging and freezing

With the introduction of GPU Turbo mode which substantially improves the in-game performance, users were hoping for even smoother and fluent experience. However, some of them reported various lags and freezes.

Now, this only applies to users with the fully stock ROM. If you’ve meddled with custom ROMs, we can’t help you and the only thing we can suggest is reflashing the latest stock ROM.

On the other hand, if lags and freezes were triggered by an update or started suddenly on the official ROM, make sure to check the steps below in order to fix or at least reduce them:

• Reboot your phone in the Safe mode and look for changes.
• Disable some intensive applications from the Phone Manager. Some apps you don’t need working in the background might slow down the performance.
• Update the firmware.
• Wipe cache partition.
• Reset the device to factory settings.

4: Camera issues

Users are quite loudly asking for a multitude of features the stock camera app is missing. And they have right, as the back dual-sensor combo deserves a better software support. There’s only so much you can do but wait in regards to camera bugs. Honor promised some improvements and, since they used to deliver until this day, we can expect them soon enough.

For the time being, if you’re not satisfied with how the camera performs or by the lack of AI support, try a third-party camera from the Play Store. Also, here’s the list of some general troubleshooting steps when it comes to camera issues:

• Reset Camera app’s cache and data.
• Reset Camera settings to default values.
• Update the firmware.
• Test the camera in the Safe Mode.
• Reset the device to factory settings.

5: The display is pixelated or reddish

Users also have had a hard time with the pixelated display in some third-party apps. This makes the content gloomy and barely readable. Others, on the other hand, reported that the red hue is too dominant, so the display has a reddish tint. We encourage you to update your device as soon as possible if any updates are available at the moment.

Also, if you want to be handy on your own, follow these steps to resolve the pixelization issue:

• Change the width in the Developer options from 360 to 401.
• Use an alternative browser (Stable Chrome has known issues with this).

And these should help you resolve the reddish tint:

• Disable Eye comfort.
• Change the screen resolution to HD+ instead of smart or FHD+.
• Change Colour temperature to cool or default.

6: Bluetooth issues

We already mentioned Bluetooth negatively affects the Wi-Fi for some reason on some Honor 9 Lite devices. Besides that bug, we have gathered more than a few reports about a failed Bluetooth pairings or crashing connection. Especially while using wireless headphones or car system.

This is quite an underwhelming issue for users who like to link their handset with a plethora of devices, but a firmware update should fix it. Meanwhile, while we’re waiting for Honor to do something about that, give this steps a shot:

• Unpair devices and try pairing them again.
• Check the second device.
• Disable Wi-Fi and Mobile Data temporarily.
• Reset Network settings.

7: Underwhelming audio output

Out of all complaints (and there’s not many of those to start with), the audio output and overall sound on the Honor Lite 9 get the most negative impressions from the community. This applies both to the sound while playing multimedia files or while talking on the phone.

It’s hard to expect miracles from a budget (or low-midrange device) like this, but we also can name a few from the top of our head which does have much better sound quality. Now, we might expect some updates in the future but the thing with this mono speaker is that it’s just, well, not that good at all. And you can’t do much about it.

8: Fingerprint issues

There are some things OEMs need to cut in order to make the mid-range or budget device priced at that range. Those cuts don’t apply to the fingerprint scanner, luckily. The back-placed fingerprint scanner on the Honor 9 Lite is as snappy and responsive as it’s a much more expensive device in question. However, some minor issues might emerge from time to time, and they’re most of the time related to software.

A simple restart can take you far in resolving minor hiccups like a temporary unresponsive fingerprint reader. With that in mind, if you’re indeed stuck, follow these instructions:

• Re-configure the fingerprint and set a new Face Unlock.
• Try booting into Safe mode and, if the fingerprint and IR scanner perform better, uninstall all recently installed apps.
• Remove the tempered glass or cases which may cover the fingerprint scanner.
• Clean the fingerprint sensor from a debris and greasy dirt with a wet cloth.
• Reset your phone to factory values.

9: Overheating

Finally, the last but not least place is reserved for rare overheating occurrences. Now, don’t mistake a slightly hot on touch phone with the overheating. If you’ve played a graphically demanding game for some time or charged your device, it will get hot.

However, if it gets hot even when it’s in the idle state, then we’re looking at the possible overheating and that’s not something you want to neglect. With the gaming mode and the GPU Turbo at play, this handset can do great but, in comparison to Honor Play, it doesn’t have a specialized cooling system.

That’s why you should leave it be while charging (fast chargers will heat up the device fast) and also remove the case. On the other hand, if the phone is hot at all times, consider resetting it to factory values and, eventually, taking it to the responsible official service for mandatory tests.

10: Common Advanced steps for Honor 9 Lite

Reset Network settings

1. Choose Settings.
2. Open System.
3. Choose Backup & Reset.
4. Select Network settings reset.
5. Reset Network settings.

Boot into Safe Mode

1. Turn off your device.
2. Press and hold the Power button.
3. Once the Huawei screen appears, release the Power button and press and hold the Volume Down key.
4. You should see the ‘Safe mode’ notification in the lower-left corner of the screen.

Wipe cache partition

1. Power off your device.
2. Press and hold the Volume Down key and Power Button simultaneously.
3. When the phone starts, use the Volume Down to navigate throughout the menu.
4. Select Recovery mode with the single press of Power button.
5. Press the Power button to start Recovery mode. The Android robot with exclamation point should appear.
6. Hold Power Button and press once Volume Up key. The menu should appear.
7. Use the volume buttons to scroll to “wipe cache partition” and confirm with a single press of Power Button.

Enable Developer Options

1. Open Settings.
2. Tap System.
3. Select About phone.
4. Tap 7 times in succession on the Build number.
5. Get back to System and there you should see Developer options.

Reset the Honor Play to factory settings

1. Open Settings.
2. Tap Backup & Reset.
3. Choose Backup Now to save your data to a cloud service. Additionally, you can backup your data to a PC.
4. After it is done, in the same menu choose Reset Phone.
5. Tap Erase All and confirm.
6. The device will reboot and start the process that should last for less than 5 minutes.
7. This will completely restore every customized setting, so make sure to back up your data.

After these, we can conclude this article. Have in mind that these are isolated issues (with the sound being an only exception), and that there’s a high chance you’ll never see any of them. So, don’t let this discourage you from acquiring this great device.

Also, tell us about your issues with the Honor Lite 9 in the comments section below. We’ll be glad to help if capable.