With all the high-end features and specs that come with today’s Android phones, it’s easy to assume they would run fast and smooth at all times. However, the truth is, even the best smartphone will become sluggish after a period of time, especially if you download a lot of apps or have a few games on your device. If your Android phone feels slower than usual and you can’t figure out why, read on for some tips to get your phone back to its speedy self. Whether it’s clearing up unnecessary files or re-adjusting your settings, these tricks should help boost performance in no time.
Update Apps and Firmware
Whether you use an Android phone or a smartphone, it’s always a good idea to update the apps on your device. Keeping your apps updated will ensure that all your apps are running as smoothly as possible. But why is updating apps important? It’s not just a matter of aesthetics, it’s actually a safety issue as well. Updating your apps ensures that any security issues are patched so malware infections don’t hurt your phone. Unfortunately, not all apps automatically update themselves. If you notice that a certain app is running slowly or crashing, the first thing you should do is update it. Additionally, you should also make sure your firmware is up to date. Newer phones are usually programmed to automatically update their firmware, but if your device is a few years old, it might not have that capability.
Clear Out Storage
If your phone’s performance has recently gone downhill, one of the common culprits is having too much data on your phone. Whether it’s photos, videos, or apps you’ve downloaded and haven’t used for a while, it can really bog down your device. Clearing up storage is a simple way to improve the performance of your Android phone by freeing up space on your device. You can clear out some storage by deleting photos and videos you don’t need anymore. If you’ve been snapping away like crazy and are running out of space, you can also offload some images to cloud storage like Google Photos or iCloud. To clear out the apps on your device, you can go to Settings > Apps and select the ones you don’t use anymore.
Turn Off Animations
Having a sleek, stylish phone is definitely a nice perk of owning an Android device. However, having tons of features and settings with fancy animations can affect your phone’s speed and performance. So if you’re experiencing slowdowns and have tried clearing out your storage, you may want to turn off most of your phone’s animations. Keep in mind that not all animations on your phone are created equal. For example, the animations you’ve turned on in Settings > Accessibility > Interaction are designed to help people who have trouble using their phones. You should keep these animations turned on. If you’re experiencing issues with your phone, you can also try turning off some of the animations in Settings > System > Advanced > Transition animation.
Reset Your Phone
If your phone is still super slow and nothing you’ve tried so far has worked, you may want to consider resetting your device. A factory reset is a good way to clear out all the data on your phone, including any viruses or malware that could be causing your performance issues. Resetting your phone is a good way to solve a lot of issues. However, keep in mind that this will erase everything on your phone, including apps, photos, and data. Before you reset your phone, you should make sure you have created a back-up of your data. You can do this by plugging in your phone and selecting “Back up my data” in Settings, or downloading a third-party app like Google Drive. If you have a Pixel, Pixel 2, or Nexus device, you can reset your phone right from the settings. If you have another Android device, you may have to go into your Settings > General > Backup and reset.
Disable Unused Apps
Another way to keep your phone running smoothly is to make sure you don’t have a ton of apps running in the background. You don’t need apps like Google Play Music or Kindle or games like Candy Crush still running in the background. These apps are primarily using up your storage and slowing down your phone. You can easily turn off apps from your home screen by swiping up on the app to reveal three dots. These dots will let you know the app has additional settings, like the ability to turn off location tracking or notifications. You can also turn off apps from the app settings. Open the app, go to the settings page, and turn off the option to run in the background.
Try a Different Launcher
If all else fails, you may want to try a different launcher. Because Android is an open-source platform, there are a ton of different launchers you can download to change up the way your phone looks and operates. New launchers can help speed up your phone because they have different settings that may be better than the ones on your stock launcher. Some popular launchers include Google’s Pixel Launcher, Nova Launcher, and Lawnchair. You can download them via the Google Play Store or APK file from a website like XDA. You can also download a different home screen app, like Evie, for a different look and feel. Swapping out your launcher for a new one is a great way to jump-start your phone and hopefully get it back up to speed.
Conclusion
If your phone is running slowly, it might be time to clean up your device. It’s important to keep your phone free from clutter and running smoothly so that you can be as productive as possible. Keep in mind that you should make sure you have enough storage on your phone. With all the features and apps on your phone, it’s important to keep things organized.