Android phones have become wicked fast nowadays, with state-of-the-art storage types, RAMs, and processors working in conjunction to make things snappy. However, you cannot expect your phone to continue performing as well as it did on the day of its unboxing. The junk piles up in the form of cached data over time and starts gumming things up. After that, it’s only a matter of time before you will start searching for the best tips and tricks on how to speed up your Android phone.
But before we go on and tell you how to speed up your Android phone, we’ll take a look at some of the reasons that may have caused your Android phone to run slow.
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Why Is My Android Phone So Slow?
Your Android phone might be running slow because:
- You’re running an outdated Android version on your phone.
- Your storage space might be running slow.
- Multiple apps are running in the background.
- The apps are piling up cached data in your storage space.
- You have installed apps intended only for flagship devices.
Tips and Tricks to Speed Up Your Android Phone
Now that you understand the potential reasons behind the sluggish performance of an Android phone, it’s time to walk you through the best tips and tricks to get the most out of your phone.
1) Restart Your Device
The most obvious answer to how to speed up your Android phone is to restart your phone. The answer is not a bad one either. In fact, restarting your phone every once in a while will help free up the background resources.
This tip will prove to be particularly useful for devices with limited RAMs; however, you must not expect it to do wonders if you’re using any latest flagship device.
2) Clean Up Your Storage Space
Your Android phone’s performance will certainly take a hit if your storage space is filled up with too many apps. So, take some time out of your busy schedule to find the apps you can live without and get rid of them.
There are many ways to uninstall an app. However, the easiest one is to long press the app’s icon that you want to uninstall and tap ‘Uninstall’ when the option becomes visible.
3) Install the Latest Updates
Manufacturers of Android phones continuously roll out new updates to improve the performance of their devices. These updates usually contain performance-enhancing features and bug fixes; therefore, installing them will instantly result in a non-laggy and snappy performance.
Furthermore, you should turn on the auto-update feature in your device’s Play Store to ensure that your favorite apps remain up to date and bug-free.
4) Clear Cache of Selective Apps
Clearing your cache is another simple answer to how to speed up your Android phone. You see, every app has its own cached data. It helps them to load quickly—however, the excessive accumulation of cached data by apps like web browsers can impact their performance. This is the reason why some apps perform worse than others.
You can sort this issue out by either reinstalling these apps or clearing their cache. However, if you go for the latter, you won’t lose your data, including preferences, history, and logins.
5) Use ‘Lite’ Apps
One way to speed up your Android phone is to put reins on the power-hungry apps. Almost every popular app in the world has a lite version. They do wonders for low-end Android phones with limited storage and RAM.
These lite apps usually shed some of their features to improve their responsiveness and loading times but doing so doesn’t stop them from fulfilling their true purpose. E.g., if you choose to use Facebook Lite, you will still be able to scroll your news feed, comment on posts, post statuses, and find local events, among other basic things.
6) Don’t Use Live Wallpapers
Even though live wallpapers look fancy on home screens, they certainly put extra load on your phone, especially if you’re using a low-end Android phone with limited RAM.
So, if you’re experiencing lag while switching between apps, we suggest using a static wallpaper instead and removing all the unused widgets and icons from your phone’s home screen.
7) Turn Off Animations
Ditching animations can improve your device’s speed significantly. Doing so will help your phone use less memory and render apps more quickly. Wondering how to speed up your Android phone by disabling animations? Well, it’s not difficult at all, what you need to do is:
- Go to your phone’s ‘Settings’ option.
- Scroll up and down to find the ‘About Phone’ option from the list and tap it.
- Tap your phone’s build number consecutively until you gain access to ‘Developer Options’.
- Enter your PIN if the phone prompts you.
- Now you should have access to the following three scales:
- Transition Animation Scale
- Windows Animation Scale
- Animator Duration Scale
- You can either scale these animations down to 0.5x or turn them off altogether.
8) Install Custom ROM
Install a custom ROM if you’re considering buying a new smartphone and have the stomach to digest a lengthy process. This trick will breathe new life into devices that no longer receive support from their manufacturers.
Paranoid Android and LineageOS are two of the most stable custom ROMs. However, they may not necessarily work well for you, so it’s better to do some research and find the one that best suits your phone.
9) Perform Factory Reset
The reason resetting the phone features last on my list of tips and tricks on how to speed up your Android phone is because it should be your last resort.
Make sure you create a backup of all your data before performing a factory reset, as it will wipe your device clean and restore your phone to its original state. However, performing it will certainly speed up your Android phone by clearing up all the residual data and apps.
What’s New in Android?
Now that you know how to speed up your Android phone, let’s learn something about Android’s latest features:
1) Scrolling Screenshots
Want to take a screenshot of the entire webpage? Android’s scrolling screenshot feature enables you to capture an entire webpage in one go. Don’t know how to take one? Don’t worry; we’ve also got you covered on this front.
All you need to do is:
- Take a screenshot by simultaneously pressing the ‘Power’ and ‘Volume Down’ buttons.
- Tap the ‘Capture More’ button that will appear right next to the screenshot’s pop-up.
- Scroll down to the screen length of the webpage that you want to capture via a small magnifying glass.
- Tap the ‘Save’ button.
2) Do Not Disturb Mode
Android’s Do Not Disturb mode lets you stop your phone from controlling your life. You can use it to block visual disturbances, stop vibrations, and mute sounds; when you don’t want your phone to bombard you with notifications from your social media accounts.
Even though you may have heard of it before, there’s more to this mode than you think. You can configure this mode as per your preferences. It enables you can schedule the turn-on time, filter contacts to exempt them from this mode and receive notifications about repeated calls.
Wondering how you can enable this mode? Go to your phone’s ‘Settings’ and tap ‘Notifications’ or ‘Sounds & Vibrations’. Inside Notifications/Sounds & Notifications, you will find an option to enable this mode.
3) Game Mode APIs
Gamers can use this API to prioritise characteristics like battery life and performance to optimise their gameplay. The feature is enabled by default on Android 12. But if you’re using a lower version, then you will have to:
- Go to your phone’s ‘Settings’.
- Scroll up and down to find ‘Advanced Features’.
- Find the ‘Game Launcher’ option and enable it.
The developers need to enable this feature’s support for their games to allow the gamers to optimise them. Therefore, you will have to go to the game’s info section to see if a game supports this feature or not. If the section displays a message stating “This feature isn’t available for this game” or you find it empty, it means you won’t be able to prioritise its characteristics.
4) Google TV Remote
Has your couch devoured your remote? Don’t worry; you can use Google’s TV app to:
- Control Media
- Navigate the TV’s screen
- Change the volume
- Turn the TV on and off
- Perform searches
- Activate Google Assistant
Wondering how to set up a virtual remote? Well, that’s easy, just follow the steps given below, and you’re good to go:
- Turn on your device.
- Open the Google TV app on your phone.
- Tap the TV remote button.
- Select your device.
- Your TV screen will now display a code; enter it on the app and tap ‘Pair’.
5) Notification History
How often do you dismiss important notifications by accident? This feature offers you a way to get access to those notifications. To enable this feature, all you need to do is:
- Open your phone’s ‘Settings’.
- Tap ‘Notifications’.
- Scroll up and down to find the ‘Notification History’ option and enable it.
To access your notification history, you need to scroll down to the bottom of your unread notifications and tap the ‘History’ button.
We hope that in addition to the tips and tricks on how to speed up your Android phone, this valuable information on the latest Android features will help you get the most out of your phone.
