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Huawei Mate 8 problems and solutions

AndroidPIT huawei mate 8 screen apps new
© nextpit

The Huawei Mate 8 is as close to perfect as a phablet can get, but like any smartphone or tablet, it can encounter the odd problem from rogue apps, bugs in the operating system or just the wear and tear of constant use. If your mate isn’t behaving quite the way you’d like it to, we can help. These are the most common Huawei Mate 8 problems and the solutions we’ve found.

Huawei Mate 8 1
The Mate 8 is great, but like any device, it can encounter the odd problem. / © Xiaomi Today

"Camera failed" warning

Some Mate 8 users have reported a worrying error that pops up after a few days of normal use: “Warning: Camera failed”. As the message suggests, the camera has stopped working and rebooting the Mate 8 doesn’t appear to fix it.

The first thing to try here is to go into Settings > Apps and locate the Camera app. Force stop it, clear its data, clear its cache and restart your Mate 8.

No luck? The next option is to clear the system cache. To do that, turn off your device and then press Power, Home and Volume Up simultaneously until the device starts. When you see the system recovery screen, use Volume Down to navigate to Wipe Cache Partition and Power to select that option.

If none of those things work it’s time to go back to the retailer, because your camera may have developed a hardware fault.

AndroidPIT huawei mate 8 camera
"Warning: Camera Failed" isn't the kind of message you want to see. / © ANDROIDPIT

You can’t install a custom launcher

The Mate 8 may be a brilliant phablet, but there are a few bugs in its software. One particularly irritating one is that you can install a third-party app launcher, but it doesn’t set it as the default.

You might also find that some apps revert to their default settings for no good reason. We don’t know of a workaround for these issues, but we’d expect Huawei to solve them in its next software update.

Excessive battery drain

The Mate 8 has an enormous battery and the latest, most efficient version of Android, so battery life shouldn’t be an issue. If it is, something is clearly not the way it should be.

The simplest way to find the offender is to go into Settings and look up your battery usage; this tells you what’s using the most power on your device. Some apps are known to demand more power than we’d like – Facebook recently hit the headlines amid claims that it reduced battery life by as much as 20 percent – and uninstalling them can be a simple way to solve your problems.

It’s important to note that not all apps are using energy without good reason. For example, you’ll get much less battery life if you’re hammering away in a 3D game all day than if you use your Mate for texting and the odd bit of internet browsing. Similarly, using location-based apps such as navigation apps can suck battery life at a fairly alarming rate.

AndroidPIT huawei mate 8 screen apps new
That big, bright screen is more than balanced by an absolutely enormous battery. / © ANDROIDPIT

Camera takes too long to launch

There isn’t a fix for this, but there is a workaround. Launch the camera app before you’re planning to shoot anything. Waking the camera from cold takes forever, but once you’ve loaded it, switching to the camera from another app is much, much faster.

Wi-Fi or Bluetooth won’t connect

All phones experience connection issues from time to time. The most likely culprit is the infamous Wi-Fi problem that seems to affect every Android device, where you suddenly can’t connect to favorite networks.

In many cases the culprit for that one is your router and a reboot of the router fixes it; if that doesn’t work, try restarting your device too. Still no joy? Forget the network in Settings and try adding it from scratch. If the problem is Bluetooth, try deleting paired devices from Settings > Bluetooth and re-pairing again.

Huawei mate 8 Display
Like any Android device, the Mate 8 can encounter Wi-Fi or Bluetooth connectivity problems. / © ANDROIDPIT

Battery is charging slowly

Does your Mate 8 already have a reasonable charge? Batteries charge more quickly the more depleted they are, so a dead battery will charge to 50 percent faster than a half-full one will charge to 100 percent.

There’s another possibility, however, and that’s the use of a third party charger: while the Mate 8 supports fast charging, third party chargers don’t seem to deliver the juice that the Mate 8 needs for fast battery charging. For the fastest charging, you’ll need to use Huawei’s own charger.

Have you encountered a Huawei Mate 8 problem we haven’t listed here? Did you solve it? Let us know in the comments.

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Gary Marshall

Gary Marshall
Freelance writer

Former lion tamer, Girls Aloud backing dancer and habitual liar Gary Marshall has been writing about technology since Google was two guys in a garage. He's written for many fine magazines, newspapers and websites, written a range of how-to-books and a novel, co-written a BBC documentary series and dishes out weekly tech advice on BBC Radio Scotland.

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23 comments
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  • Zealous Monir 1
    Zealous Monir Jan 21, 2019 Link to comment

    Any one can help me with my problem , my mate 8 64GB 4G ram reset its factory settings by itself 3 times so what its problem and also the battery when it 0 percentage when I open it for 4 times at 5th time it told ( without charging ) 80% then its gradually Decreases from 80 to 60 then 20% then it shutdown and also it showed me Huawei E-Recovery system then it says select one of the choices 1.shutdown 2. Reboot


  • 1
    mohamed khafagy Aug 10, 2018 Link to comment

    Any one can help me with my problem , my mate 8 64GB 4G ram reset its factory settings by itself 3 times so what its problem and also the battery when it 0 percentage when I open it for 4 times at 5th time it told ( without charging ) 80% then its gradually Decreases from 80 to 60 then 20% then it shutdown and also it showed me Huawei E-Recovery system then it says select one of the choices 1.shutdown 2. Reboot


  • manoj karki 1
    manoj karki Jul 19, 2018 Link to comment

    What's the hell going on my device I do not understand....

    While I updated new version EMUI 5.0 android 7.0, the battery is almost 60% and I fell to connected in the charger, surprisingly it's not charging.
    I shut down the device and connected to the charger Its support for just 2 seconds again disconnected. I try couple times shut down, restart
    while I connect charger its blink sound of charging and also shows the screen charge of mobile, then just 2 seconds later automatic lost of charging.
    Its happen when I restart mobile its only one time shows connected charge than a second automatic lost.

    But while I shut down the device and connected charge, it's continually connected and disconnected, its happen second by second and sometimes its charging mobile so I scare to charge also. I went Brussels Huwai customer care & service team told me issued charger than I bought a new charger, charging place still facing the same issue. I Try from laptop also from the USB cable.
    I better explain I can charge sometimes only, not regularly. If it's charging then I pull out cable again I face the issue. this issued come when I update new version, I am sure mobile charge port and charger working fine but when I update new version software that time my wifi not working fine, it takes time to download software almost 2 days. That time I can,t download software contumely. I think that the software issue happens like that.

    Need your support to fix the problem.


    • 1
      Hassan Mehmood Jun 27, 2021 Link to comment

      I have this same issue
      can you help how to solve
      exactly the same issue


  • 1
    HA H Apr 4, 2018 Link to comment

    Recently, my mate 8 started rebooting itself constantly for no reason and the battery appears as if it is 60/70% (or whatever the number is) but after the phone reboots im left with 0 or 1%.


  • Neill Mutimer 1
    Neill Mutimer Mar 30, 2017 Link to comment

    I have an unusual issue with my mate 8, in that when trying to use it as a wifi hotspot, my laptop can connect without issue, the phone can connect to the internet without a problem, but the laptop cannot get any internet access, any one with any bright ideas on this.


  • 1
    ibrahim alshami Jan 7, 2017 Link to comment

    I have a problem with Huawei Mate 8 Sintific Calculator when it comes to sin and cos it gives wrong values, please advice


  • Chak Wc 1
    Chak Wc Sep 30, 2016 Link to comment

    There are 2 issues I faced:
    1. When using Skype, video call, once you turn your phone to horizontal or vertical from one position, the camera froze. Needs to restart the phone every time. Clearing the the caches and force stop the camera doesn't work if no restart.
    2. NFC doesn't not work. It can read a FlashPay card or another device with NFC.

    Other than that, the phone works fine. Camera is good.


  • 2
    rabia Sep 29, 2016 Link to comment

    aa


  • 2
    rabia Sep 29, 2016 Link to comment

    i am not satisfied with its camera even p9 lite takes good picture then mate 8 it doesnt gives the real affect ,the picture it takes is dull and pale plz guid mewhyit is so? althoug its the mist expensive in all huawei models


  • ff Amaya 1
    ff Amaya Sep 26, 2016 Link to comment

    I've had the mate 8 for a month and I absolutely adore it. Only problem I have is that when I write and use a word the phone doesn't recognize, the moment I end off the sentence it jumps back and deletes the word. Is there a setting I need to change to stop this? Its driving me up the walls.


  • 1
    Mark Sep 15, 2016 Link to comment

    One annoying thing I'm finding with this phone is I can't make it automatically use the same sim it used last time when calling a contact. This makes calling with a car kit hard since I have to select the Sim on every call. Further it's working perfect, if anyone has a solution for this please let me know.


  • Rehmatullah Alias Adil 1
    Rehmatullah Alias Adil Sep 6, 2016 Link to comment

    Some of the widgets does not update.. i tried Huawei Launcher, as well as google laucncher and nova as well
    any solution for that??


  • Anarda Soza 1
    Anarda Soza Sep 6, 2016 Link to comment

    I do not remember my password to log in my Mate 8 what can I do that is not factory reset???


  • 8
    prusiner Sep 4, 2016 Link to comment

    WiFi connection gets difficult.

    Try to enter advanced wifi configuration and setup a static IP address (instead of automatic DHCP)
    Uses to work.


  • Yvonne Lai 1
    Yvonne Lai Aug 4, 2016 Link to comment

    How about when fast charging not working anymore after my friend used my charger to charge his iphone?


    • Chak Wc 1
      Chak Wc Sep 30, 2016 Link to comment

      Fast charging can be due to the charger and also the micro USB cable. Did you try using another cable and charger?


  • mark cockcroft 1
    mark cockcroft Jul 18, 2016 Link to comment

    My Mate8 reboots itself for no reason-have sent it back and a month later I got it back with no explanation as to what is wrong with it but it is still doing it! Please help-I really love this phone but this is very annoying


  • Nicole C. 1
    Nicole C. Jun 2, 2016 Link to comment

    My hubbie is considering to buy this phone. We're not too sure 'cause the camera bug. Did you guys experimented real issues with the camera??


    • 8
      prusiner Sep 4, 2016 Link to comment

      Not any issue with the camera.


  • Alex 17
    Alex Apr 25, 2016 Link to comment

    Wow!Gary it seems you own every phone that comes by ,have seen your articles about all the phones present over the globe and their solutions regarding it,Thanks for posting the articles mate :)


  • 2
    Aldrex Caparros Feb 23, 2016 Link to comment

    Uh,yes you can install a 3rd party launcher. I have been using Nova Launcher since day 1 with my mate 8. You just need to go into the advanced settings. That is where you can set the 3rd party launcher as the default, as well as other apps for text messaging, calender, etc. One quirk is that, ultra saving mode could cancel out some defaults one might set.

    Nicole C.


    • 1
      10324800 Jun 30, 2016 Link to comment

      You can control the auto turn off/warning I settings as well.
      SETTINGS -> APPS -> {your app} -> BATTERY
      Some apps don't have this option

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