Asus released its latest ZenFone 9 flagship smartphone in September. The phone may be smaller in size than its predecessors, but it improves on performance thanks to its fast processor.
The flagship phone is compact and easy to handle and is also equipped with some high-end capabilities, such as the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 SoC, 6–16GB of RAM, a side-mounted fingerprint sensor, and fast charging support.
These features make the ZenFone 9 stand out in its league.
Despite these powerful specs, some people are facing several issues with the mobile device. Several users are already complaining about an issue with random restarts or reboots throughout the day.
ZenFone 9 random restart issue persists with Android 13
According to reports (1,2,3,4,5), multiple ZenFone 9 owners are reporting an issue where the phone will restart at random instances, hampering one’s work.
The problem is alleged to have started with the pre-installed Android 12 and has persisted even after Asus recently released the Android 13 update for its ZenFone 9 line of devices.
While no issues popped up when updating to Android 13, the problems seems to persist even after their smartphones have completely updated to the new OS. This implies no fix has been included in the new build.
One may easily miss an important call, text message, or any work-related notification due to this issue, leading to a decline in productivity of some users or even missing out on a job opportunity.
Reportedly, for some, the phone stops charging after the automatic restart even though it is still connected to the charger.
I bought my Asus ZenFone 9 3 weeks ago, since day 1 I had random restarts. It happened few times during the day, sometimes during calls, so its really annoying. It also happening every night (I don’t charge the phone during the night). I realise it restarts because it asks to enter the password manually.
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My phone reboots almost every single time I’m charging during the night. At first I thought it was the Ultra saver mode putting it in flight mode, but it also happens with normal Saver mode selected. And then the pass code/pin screen states the pass code has to be entered after reboot.
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Some Galaxy Note 9 smartphone owners had also experienced such issues in the past, in which the main culprit turned out to be a faulty ‘fingerprint sensor’.
Due to this, some users are unable to fully utilize their phones. Some customers even tried updating the system apps, and restarting or resetting the ZenFone 9 device, but were unable to resolve the persistent problem.
Potential workaround
Unfortunately, Asus has not yet officially acknowledged the issue. But we did come across some potential workarounds that could help solve the problem for some customers.
It has been suggested that one should disable the bedtime and automatic DND modes. Disabling them seems to have solved the issue for some.
Since my restarts occur mostly at night, I disabled the bedtime mode and automatic do not disturb mode. it still did not happen again (4 nights passed).I just don’t understand why in the phone with this price tag there are so many issues and Asus is not responding to any of them.
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Another user on the Asus support forum suggested turning off the ‘face unlock’ feature.
I had similar issue. The faceunlock is responsible for it.
Try to turn it off. Should help.
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It seems like certain apps or in-built features are causing some major functional issues with the phone.
This boils down to the fact that the manufacturers need to be more vigilant and carefully test their apps’ and devices’ compatibility before launching them for use by the general public.
You can also get the phone’s motherboard replaced with the help of a technician at an authorized service center. This process can take some time so it is recommended that you get an alternative phone, but it has been a success for a few.
Also, it must be noted that any data saved within the phone’s internal memory will not be recoverable once the phone’s motherboard is replaced. Backup your important data before replacing the motherboard.
That said, we’ll keep an eye on the issue with random restart on Asus ZenFone 9 and update this article accordingly.
While we wait for an official response on the cause of this issue, you can share your thoughts in the comments below.
Note: We have more such stories in our dedicated Asus section so be sure to follow them as well.
Featured image source: Asus ZenFone 9.
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