A slow running phone is the worst possible thing that could possibly happen when using your phone. Being in a situation where you have to quickly take a picture but it takes forever to open the camera app. Yes.
It is both annoying and embarrassing especially if you have people around. In this article, you will know the reasons why your phone is running slowly and be given the best solutions.
Reasons Your Android Phone is Running Slow.
- Low storage space
- Too many apps running at a time
- Overheating
- Bad internet connection
- Outdated phone
How to Fix a Slow Running Android Phone
Knowing the reasons your phone may be running slowly is just the first step into enjoying the speed of your phone like when you first got it. Get a faster running phone by doing the following:
Free up space
When your phone is low on storage space, a lot of activities are affected negatively and one of them is that you would experience a painfully slow device. You can increase the size of your phone’s storage by using an SD card. Check out how to use an SD card as default storage.
However, you can delete unnecessary and unused apps and files on your phone. Clear the cache of frequently used applications for these ones may have bigger cache sizes and be taking more space. To uninstall apps, you can easily long press on the app’s icon and move it.
A bin icon should appear at the top or bottom of the screen depending on the device you are using. Drag it and drop it on the bin icon and tap ok on the pop up to delete the app.
Clear Browser Cache:
Cache from browsers also add up to factors that add up to making a phone’s storage full. To clear cache on your Chrome browser, follow these steps.
- Open Chrome app
- Open the menu by tapping on the three dot icon
- Select History, then clear browsing data
- Select cached images and files
- Tap the clear data button to clear cache
Update Operating System:
Android phones are constantly being updated with newer features for better performance and user experience. A reason your phone is running slowly, could be that your device is outdated. Check for system’s update.
- Open settings app
- Scroll down and select System updates
- Tap on check for system’s updates. If your device is up to date, you should get a message that it is else proceed to updating your phone
Close Running Apps and Programs:
Apps running can consume CPU resources and fill up the RAM thus, slowing down your phone. Some apps also run in the background without you knowing. These apps also contribute to slowing down your phone. Closing opened apps on one phone is different from another.
Disable Live Wallpapers and Reduce Apps and Widgets on Home Screen:
Live wallpaper, just like running apps, uses CPU and RAM which in the long run affects the performance of the phone. Adding many apps icons and widgets on your home screen also do the same thing.
Reduce or remove live wallpapers and items on home screen and experience a faster running phone and even have a long lasting battery.
Change Battery:
An aged or damaged battery could be the reason your phone is sluggish. Changing a battery is easy. Go to a trusted mobile phone accessories vendor and purchase a battery for your phone.
If your phone has an inbuilt battery, the phone repairer can change it for you if you cannot do it yourself. It is however advised you get it changed by an expert.
Use Lite Versions of Apps:
A lite app is basically a limited version of an app. Unlike the original version, lite apps take more space, use less internet data, take shorter time to load and generally store less cache.
Developers mostly provide lite versions as alternatives for mobile devices with lower power and usage in areas with poor internet connectivity.
By doing so, they don’t lose potential patronizers. With lite versions, you can get access to almost every basic feature the original has. You can get lite versions of popular apps like Facebook, Twitter, TikTok and some others from play store.
Leave Phone to Rest:
Using your phone for long hours without any rest could lead to the phone overheating. When a phone starts overheating, it is a sign that it is overworking. This could be a possible cause of it running slow. Close all running apps and if possible, turn off your and set it aside to cool down.
Restart or Factory Reset Your Phone:
Powering off your phone and turning it on again could be all your phone needs to speed up. You can factory reset your phone also if all the other options fail to work.
You should only fall on this as your last option. Make sure you backup your important files and data or store them on an external storage device.
- Open settings app
- Tap on system and then select Reset
- Select Factory data reset
- Select OK to confirm factory reset
All data will be erased from your phone. You can turn on your phone and download your backed up data and files.
Do Phone Booster Apps Work
Phone boosters are third-party applications that supposedly increase the speed of phones. Whether they indeed increase speed or not relies on how these apps work. They simply clear background apps hence, giving you more RAM space.
Though, this is a good thing, apps will now have to take longer time to open since no app information is stored on the RAM and the booster apps keep clearing. Some of these phone booster apps are actually culprits in slowing down phones.
As long as you clear your phone’s storage every two to four days you can be assured of a smooth running device.
We all want the best performance from our mobile phones and so a slow running phone should not be the reason to blow an alarm. This issue can be addressed easily and cheaply.
