Common Moto G5 problems and how to fix them

If you're having issues with your Moto G5 or G5 Plus, we're here to help.

The Moto G5 and G5 Plus are great new additions to the Moto G lineup, but that doesn't mean they're not without their issues. Whether it's erratic Wi-Fi connectivity, background noise in videos, or issues with the bundled TurboCharger, you can rely on a workaround to solve the problem.

Here are some of the common problems affecting the Moto G5 and G5 Plus, and potential fixes.

Wi-Fi issues

There's a Wi-Fi issue on a few Moto G5 and G5 Plus units wherein the phones routinely disconnect from Wi-Fi networks and reconnect after a few minutes. The issue isn't limited to one region, as customers in India, UK, and the U.S. seem to be affected by the bug. There isn't a fix available for this particular problem yet, but you can try a few workarounds to see if it solves the issue:

Forget your Wi-Fi network: Go to Settings > Wi-Fi and select your home Wi-Fi network. Hit the Forget button to remove your network from the phone. Manually add the network again.
Reset network settings: If removing and adding your Wi-Fi network didn't solve the issue, then try resetting the network settings.

Camera tint and video recording issues

Noticing a lot of background noise when shooting video on your Moto G5 or G5 Plus? You're not alone. The issue plagued both devices, but Motorola has rolled out an update to address the problem. Make sure you've downloaded and installed the latest update.

The same update also fixed an issue with the camera where users would notice a pink tint around the edges of the viewfinder.

Running out of storage

Based on your region, your Moto G5 or G5 Plus may come with a paltry 16GB of storage. Thankfully, both phones offer a dedicated microSD card slot that can accommodate cards up to 128GB in size. You'll be able to move your media files and photos — as well as a few apps — to the SD card, freeing up precious internal storage.

Looking for a microSD card? Here are our favorites!

All Motorola phones come with two years' worth of free original-size uploads to Google Photos, and there's no reason to not take up the offer. Offloading photos to a cloud storage service is one of the easiest ways to save space on your phone.

If you're still routinely running low on storage, you should just uninstall apps you don't use often. You can also try clearing the cache frequently to free up some space on your G5 or G5 Plus.

TurboCharging troubles

Several users in the Lenovo forums are having issues with lengthy charging times with the Moto G5 Plus even after using the bundled TurboPower charger. The Moto G5 Plus comes with an 18W wall unit that charges the phone in an hour and forty-five minutes. You'll see a notification on the home screen that says TurboCharging when you plug in the charger.

One line in Motorola's marketing materials in particular seems to be causing a lot of confusion: The included TurboPower charger provides up to 6 hours of battery life with just a quick 15-minute charge.

That line doesn't mean you'll be able to play games for six hours after charging your phone for 15 minutes. What Motorola is trying to say is that you can get up to six hours' worth of usage — including a lot of standby time, a few calls, and some web browsing — with a quick 15-minute top up. That statement only holds up when your battery life is 15% or lower, and that's because of the way fast charging works.

Fast charging delivers higher voltages initially and peters out as the battery starts filling up.

Fast charging delivers a higher voltage to your phone, and as a result you'll see the battery charging up quickly initially — it takes just about an hour to charge the Moto G5 Plus from 5% to 80%. It takes another 45 minutes to get from 80% to the 100% mark, and that's because as the battery charges up, the controller starts regulating the power to normal levels.

Think of it this way: initially, the charger delivers 18W of charge, but as the battery hits its saturation levels, the power management regulator cuts back on the charge delivered to avoid overcharging.

This is the way all phones charge. The 3500mAh battery on my Galaxy S8+ also takes two hours to charge, and the initial 80% gets finished in about an hour. This isn't an issue isolated to the Moto G5 Plus — in fact, Motorola's fast charging standard is one of the better solutions out there.

That said, if you're unable to see the TurboCharging icon when you connect your Moto G5 to the wall unit, you should either get a new wall charger direct from Motorola or get another unit.

VoLTE woes

Amassing over 100 million customers in just over six months, Jio is one of the largest carriers in India right now. The carrier is also the only one that's currently offering VoLTE. As a result, VoLTE support is now a key requirement for phones sold in the country.

The Moto G5 and G5 Plus offer VoLTE out of the box, but it looks like there was a software bug that prevented a few customers from being able to access the service. If you do not see VoLTE with your Jio SIM, you can try inserting a secondary SIM in your phone in the SIM 1 slot. If you're using another SIM card along with your Jio number, try switching the positions of the SIM cards and restarting the device.