Huawei Mate 20 Lite common problems, and how to fix (some of) them

Huawei Mate 20 Lite has instantly positioned itself as a leading budget phone on the market. It delivers the premium feel for an affordable price, and a list of specs that can compete with any other device in the category. Sure, it’s not the premier budget phone, as there are phones with better cameras, CPUs, screens, etc. But if you’re looking for the most complete package and a phone that does everything exceptionally well, the Huawei Mate 20 Lite is the way to go.

Given its approval by the consumers and reviewers, a lot of people already own this device. And judging by the reviews and feedback, the Huawei Mate 20 Lite is working quite well for most people.

However, an issue here and there may occur occasionally. That’s why we wandered the forums in search of the freshly reported issues with the Huawei Mate 20 Lite. So, if you’ve recently encountered any of these issues on your new phone, I hope you’ll find a solution in this article.

Note: All the issues mentioned in this article are individually reported cases, which doesn’t mean any of the problems will occur on other devices. If you’re looking to buy this phone, DON’T take these problems into consideration.

Table of contents:

1. Screen dimming
2. Battery drainage
3. Headphones volume too low
4. Bad Bluetooth audio quality
5. SD card appears as damaged
6. Notifications not showing
7. Common Advanced solutions for the Huawei Mate 20 Lite

1.Screen dimming

Screen dimming is not a bug per se, it’s “caused” by a poorly designed system feature. And it’s not exclusive to the Mate 20 Lite, as actually, all Huawei phones have the same “issue”. That “dimming”, as users usually describe it, is actually the Adaptive brightness, which changes the phone’s brightness depending on the ambient light, or apps’ background.

Now, I’d normally advise you to go and disable the Adaptive brightness feature to resolve this problem, but that’s not entirely possible here. Namely, the Huawei Mate 20 Lite (and other Huawei phones) controls the brightness on its own. And even though the option for disabling the Adaptive brightness is available, it will be re-enabled on the next reboot. Nobody knows why it’s like that, but it’s simply the way EMUI is designed.

Right now, there’s nothing you can do about it. A lot of people are complaining about this, so Huawei may decide to change this setting in the future, but we don’t know anything about it right now.

2. Battery drainage

Right now, there’s no known trigger for the battery drainage problem. So, even if you do experience bad battery life, the issue will probably get resolved with the next software update. So, just make sure to check for updates regularly.

On top of that, there could be some other reasons for the battery drainage, like an app that eats too much battery or unnecessary background services (although, due to a good optimization of the system, this isn’t as big of a factor as it was before).

Just make sure you have everything in check.

3. Headphones volume too low

This is another issue that’s common to multiple Huawei phones. Namely, numerous users have reported that MIUI is simply designed to decrease the volume automatically. So, if you’re not satisfied with the volume level on your Huawei Mate 20 Lite, keep in mind that’s just how your phone works.

What’s even more interesting is that this ‘volume stabilization feature’ doesn’t work the same way on different Huawei phones. That’s why some users are complaining about it, while others don’t even notice anything.

To partially resolve this ‘problem’, you can use a sound boosting or equalizer app to gain more control over audio on your phone.

4. Bad Bluetooth audio quality

Bad Bluetooth audio quality can also be associated with the above-mentioned sound controlling feature. However, one of the main reasons for bad Bluetooth audio quality generally is using the wrong Bluetooth codec.

So, if you’re not satisfied with the audio quality on your Bluetooth headphones or speakers, go to settings and change the default Bluetooth codec. To do this, you’ll need to have the Developer Options enabled. In case you don’t have this feature enabled, here’s how to turn it on:

1. Go to Settings.
2. Scroll down and tap About phone.
3. Find the Build number section.
4. Start tapping the Build number section continuously until you get a pop-up message saying that you’re a Developer now.
5. After this, the Developer Options section will appear in the Settings.

Now, that you’re officially “a developer”, it’s time to change your Bluetooth codec. Most phones use the SBC codec by default, which is now outdated, and you should switch to the aptX codec for better audio quality. Here’s how to do that:

1. Go to Settings > System > Developer Options.
2. Scroll down, and open Bluetooth Audio Codec.
3. Select aptX HD from the list of codecs.

You’re now using the aptX HD codec, and the audio quality should be better, at least that’s how it is in theory. Please also keep in mind that, depending on your Bluetooth headphones, the audio quality is generally lower than in the wired headphones, so there might be nothing you can do after all.

5. SD card appears as damaged

Now, we’ve come to this phone’s biggest and probably most controversial issue so far. Namely, numerous users have been reporting that they cannot use their SD cards normally, as the phone recognizes them as damaged.

This topic has raised a big debate on Huawei’s official forum, as more and more people are reporting the exact same issue.

Huawei’s official support claims it’s a software issue, and that the developers are working on the fix. However, the problem still seems to exist, as no one actually received the fixing update yet.

Some people even report they had their phones taken to the official service, but the service failed to do anything, and they got their phones back without any improvements.

On the other hand, not all phones are affected by this problem, so it’s really the Russian roulette here. You may get a faulty phone, but you also may not. Right now, there’s nothing you can really do to resolve this problem, except using your warranty to replace the phone.

The debate is ongoing on Huawei’s official forum, so you can keep track for any updates on the situation. If/when the problem gets resolved, we’ll update this article accordingly.

6. Notifications not showing

The push notifications problem is another issue common to notched Huawei phones, especially to the Mate 20 series. Namely, as the notch occupies a huge portion of the screen, there’s no much space left for anything other than permanent icons (battery, time, network signal, etc.), so the notifications from other apps don’t usually appear. Oddly enough, even turning off the notch won’t resolve the problem.

That’s just how the EMUI user interface is designed, and a fixing update is nowhere in sight. So, you’ll probably have to bear with this as long as you’re using the Huawei Mate 20 Lite.

7. Common Advanced solutions for the Huawei Mate 20 Lite

And now something none of you like to see, but I had to include the general solutions in this article, simply because one of these may actually resolve a potential issue. That means you can use these workarounds to resolve basically any problem inside the Huawei Mate 20 Lite. It may not help, but you never know.

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.

Reset the Huawei Mate 20 Lite 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.

That’s about it. I certainly hope you found a solution to your problem, or at least understand the issue better. If you’ve encountered some flaw I didn’t mention here, don’t hesitate to share it with all of us in the comments below.