LG G4 Incident

⚠️ Article status notice: This article has been marked as incomplete

This article needs additional work to meet the wiki's Content Guidelines and be in line with our Mission Statement for comprehensive coverage of consumer protection issues.

This notice will be removed once sufficient documentation has been added to establish the systemic nature of these issues. Once you believe the article is ready to have its notice removed, visit the discord and post to the #appeals channel.

Learn more ▼

This Article Requires Additional Verification

---

This article has been flagged due to verification concerns. While the topic might have merit, the claims presented lack citations that live up to our standards, or rely on sources that are questionable or unverifiable by our standards. Articles must meet the Moderator Guidelines and Mission statement; factual accuracy and systemic relevance are required for inclusion here!

Why This Article Is In Question

---

Articles in this wiki are required to:

• Provide verifiable & credible evidence to substantiate claims.
• Avoid relying on anecdotal, unsourced, or suspicious citations that lack legitimacy.
• Make sure that all claims are backed by reliable documentation or reporting from reputable sources.

Examples of issues that trigger this notice:

• A topic that heavily relies on forum posts, personal blogs, or other unverifiable sources.
• Unsupported claims with no evidence or citations to back them up.
• Citations to disreputable sources, like non-expert blogs or sites known for spreading misinformation.

How You Can Improve This Article

---

To address verification concerns:

• Replace or supplement weak citations with credible, verifiable sources.
• Make sure that claims are backed by reputable reporting or independent documentation.
• Provide additional evidence to demonstrate systemic relevance and factual accuracy. For example:
  • Avoid: Claims based entirely on personal anecdotes or hearsay without supporting documentation.
  • Include: Corporate policies, internal communications, receipts, repair logs, verifiable video evidence, or credible investigative reports.

If you believe this notice has been placed in error, or once the article has been updated to address these concerns, please visit the #appeals channel on our Discord server: Join here.

❗Article Status Notice: Unacceptable Tone/Word Usage

This article needs additional work to meet the wiki's Content Guidelines and be in line with our Mission Statement for comprehensive coverage of consumer protection issues. Specifically it uses wording throughout that is non-compliant with the Editorial guidelines of this wiki.

Learn more ▼

How You Can Help: If this is a non-Theme article (See: Article types):

• Persuasive language should not be used in the Wiki's voice. Avoid loaded words, or the causing of unnecessary offense, wherever possible.
• No direct attacks on named individuals or companies. Malice may be attributed to bad and proven offenders, but only through the use of quotation and citation - never in the Wiki's voice.

If this is a Theme article:

• Where argumentation is used make sure it is clear and direct but not inflammatory. Avoid strong language, or causing unnecessary offense.
• No direct attacks on named individuals or companies. Malice may be attributed to bad and proven offenders, in a formal and calm manner.

This notice will be removed once sufficient documentation has been added to establish the systemic nature of these issues. Once you believe the article is ready to have its notice removed, visit the Discord (join here) and post to the #appeals channel.

The LG G4 was an Android smartphone developed by LG Electronics as part of the LG G series of smartphones and was released in April 2015.

Shortly after its release, it was found to have issues that resulted in the device becoming unstable, inoperable or even so far as data loss. LG released a series of forced updates where the phones installed them without the user's consent or permission.

Issues

Touchscreen

In 2015 it was identified that the G4 was experiencing touchscreen issues, making the device unresponsive or causing the device to restart. LG released several patches in an attempt to rectify the issue, however some of the patches had to be pulled as they caused more problems to the device itself. By November 2015, LG had released a series of software updates to address the issue.

Boot looping

From approximately September 2015, users reported an issue in the device wherein it would constantly cycle between booting and restarting without being operable (known as a "boot loop"). Initially appearing to only affect a small number of devices, the issue quickly became more widespread and by the end of 2015 it was apparent that this issue could afflict almost any model.

Users either complained that the devices were not having appropriate repairs undertaken or called for LG to acknowledge that there was a major fault with the devices. In some instances users started online petitions calling for LG to address their concerns.

LG acknowledged in January 2016 that there was a hardware issue causing the boot loop and advised they would repair or replace affected devices. LG did not offer assistance with the recovery of data from affected devices.

It was identified that the fault was caused by detached soldering between components, resulting in lost user data and complete interoperability of the affected devices.

Other issues

Other problems included:

• Charging port death^{[citation needed]}
• Speaker function damage^{[citation needed]}
• Double tap features no longer functioning^{[citation needed]}

Class-action lawsuit

LG settled one class-action lawsuit in relation to boot loop issues in the USA, with LG offering affected device owners either $425 in cash or $700 in store credit to buying an alternative LG device.