How to make your Android phone work faster again

Android operating system suffers from numerous inconsistencies, which tend to show up after a while. Lags while switching between apps, inability to run games smoothly and frequent app crashes are some of the issues that many Android phone users face in their Android smartphones after some time of using them and filling up the space with apps and photos.

We take a look at some of the factors which may be slowing down your phone and what steps you can take to resolve them.

Old version of Android

If you are using a smartphone that runs on an older version of Android you may have noticed lags while switching between apps. This occurs due to the inconsistency between the older OS and the newer apps which are updated regularly to accommodate them for newer versions of Android OS. If the new Android version is available to your phone as an update, and you have been holding back on it, you should download and install the update. It will reduce app stutters and other performance issues too. Many phone makers never provide new Android update to their phones, which is why if you are considering buying a new phone, it’s better to buy one that already runs on new version of Android.

Reduce animation time

Every Android device comes with a set of hidden options which allow users to control the length of animation. Longer animation time makes the phone appear smoother but if your phone is already lagging, it will slow down your phone’s performance even more. User can improve things by reducing the length of the animation or by completely disabling them.

To do it go to your phone’s Settings->About phone->Build number and tap on it seven times until the developer mode is activated and shows in your phone’s settings page. In the Developer options go to Drawing and look for Window animation scale, Transition animation scale, and Animator duration. You can disable them one by one by setting their number to zero. The difference will be visible right away as apps will open faster and games will stutter less.

Issues with Custom UI

Custom user interfaces are very popular with mainstream users as they offer more features and customisation options than plain Android. Asus’ Zen UI and Xiaomi’s MIUI are quite resource intensive and run better on powerful phones. The problem occurs when many phone makers offer the same heavy UI on their budget phones. While a higher smartphone with powerful processor and more RAM can handle it well, the smartphone with inferior processor and lower RAM is likely to struggle after some time.

Clear cache regularly

Clearing cache files from time to time can help as cache files can slow down your phone. Many of the Android phones running Android 6.0 or higher provide the option to clear cache in the phone’s Settings itself. However, that is not always very effective. It’s best to use apps like CCleaner (free: Google Play Store) which can clear all cache files.

Close unnecessary apps

In many cases a phone slows down if a user has too many apps open and running in the background at the same time. If the number is limited to 8 to 10, many of the phone’s can still handle it without any issues, but you have more than 30 to 40 tabs open simultaneously even the most powerful Android phones can feel lethargic.