honestly im having the exact same issues with mine too. its super frustrating because on paper that snapdragon 450 should handle basic tasks but the lag is just unreal lately. i noticed my stylo 5 struggles way more than my brothers Samsung Galaxy A14 5G 64GB which is kind of embarrassing tbh. lgs software optimization just feels so heavy compared to other brands. quick tip... grab a SanDisk Ultra 128GB microSDXC UHS-I and move your dcim folder there immediately before the system ui crashes for good. also if you decide to jump ship, the Google Pixel 6a 128GB is way smoother for daily use. hope you get those photos saved... im still trying to get mine off too.

honestly i'm reallyyy nervous about factory resets too... i dont want you to lose those photos!! before you do anything permanent, here are some safe and budget-friendly things i've been looking into to make sure it's reliable: • try connecting to a computer with a USB-C data cable. it is basically free if you already have one, and you can just drag and drop your photos to a folder. it feels way more reliable than trusting the cloud sometimes.
• maybe pick up a cheap SanDisk microSD card? they are usually pretty low cost. you can move your photos there and then pop the card out before you do the reset so they stay 100% safe.
• for the battery drain, have you checked the health? since the phone is three years old, the battery might just be worn out. i use a free app called AccuBattery to see if the battery is actually dying or if it's just software. if the health is super low, a reset might not actually fix the lag. so basically, pleaseeee make sure those photos are in two places before you hit that button! anyway, i hope it works out for you.

I reset my Stylo 5 last month when it started lagging badly. The easiest way is through Settings > System > Reset options > Erase all data. BUT backup everything first! I lost all my photos and contacts. The phone does run much better now though.

If your LG Stylo 5 is totally locked up and you can't even get into the menus, you gotta use the hardware key combo. Honestly, it's the most "pure" way to do it. Basically, turn the phone off, then press and hold Volume Down and Power at the same time. Once you see the LG logo, quickly release the Power button and then immediately press and hold it again (keep holding Volume Down the whole time). If you timed it right, you'll hit the factory reset screen. About those photos... yeah, you will lose everything. Don't risk it. Just use Google Photos to back them up for free before you wipe it. Tbh, after 3 years, the battery is probably just physically wearing out, but a fresh install definitely helps with the lag. These budget processors get bogged down by app updates over time, so cleaning the slate is the most cost-effective way to get another 6 months or a year out of the device without buying a new one. Well actually, make sure you know your Google login info too, or you might get locked out by the FRP security stuff...

Nice, didn't know that