With regular, long-term software updates and current midrange devices powerful enough to handle most apps and games, the only real threat to your phone’s speed is age. Even budget devices pack a punch these days. From the moment you unbox your shiny new device, you install apps and games and store lots of junk files that will mess things up. You will drain and recharge the battery and test the phone to its performance and temperature limits with demanding applications. It’s a vicious circle.
Eventually, even the best Android phones will show signs of slowing down after a few years. There are things you can do to improve your phone’s performance. While these methods won’t make it as fast as last-gen flagships like the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4, you should notice significant performance improvements.
Here are our top tips for rejuvenating your Android device.
1. Free up storage space
If your phone is running out of storage space, things will slow down. Google says you’ll notice performance issues when there’s less than 10% storage available on the device. We think keeping your unused storage around 20% is a better bet.
Here’s how to remove the clutter:
-
Open the
Settings
application. -
Go to
Storage
settings or search for “storage” in the settings search bar. You will find it under
Battery and Device Care
on a Samsung phone. -
Follow these steps to free up storage space if your available storage is running low.
Most manufacturers have a way to optimize storage space. For example, Samsung phones have a Device Care option that deletes old files. You can also download the Files by Google app to clear app caches, duplicate images, large files, and unwanted media files.
2. Uninstall Unused Apps
Unused apps take up storage space and can clog memory (RAM) if they are running in the background, slowing down your phone. Uninstalling old apps often improves system smoothness and can improve battery life. There are different ways to uninstall apps, but you can usually long press the app icon and select Uninstall or drag the icon to the uninstall prompt that appears at the top of the screen.
3. Change system animation speed
Changing the system animation speed on your Android phone won’t natively speed it up, but it will create a perception of your device running faster. This feeling of improved system performance is due to reduced animation delay, which allows graphics sequences to complete faster.
This trick can almost feel like magic if the animations on your Android phone seem particularly sluggish or sluggish. You can disable system animations for better results. However, you will sacrifice flashy transition effects in the process. The setting is usually hidden in Developer Options, so check out our guide to speeding up animations on your Android phone for more details.
4. Restart your phone
Restarting is the first thing to do when troubleshooting an electrical device. This simple hack can do wonders for your phone’s performance, especially if some pesky background processes have been causing the drop. Android’s memory management system is excellent and most phones have enough RAM. But if you’re using a budget phone with 3GB or 4GB of RAM or less, a restart can free up resources and improve overall performance.
It’s a good idea to restart your phone at least once a week. But if you notice it getting slow between reboots, increase the frequency to every other day. Don’t expect dramatic results from this trick if you have a new flagship or mid-range phone.
5. Use Lite Edition apps
Google and several other developers offer Lite or Go editions of their apps for older and low-end Android devices with limited RAM and storage. Lite edition apps are smaller, less resource-intensive alternatives to their full-fledged counterparts.
Google offers Lite editions of several apps, including Google Go, Camera Go, Assistant Go, and Maps Go. You’ll also find Lite editions of other popular apps on the Play Store, including Twitter, Spotify, and Facebook.
6. Update to latest software
If your phone seems slow, check for available updates that you haven’t installed yet. Google optimizes Android with each new release, and most manufacturers do the same for their software skins. So, upgrading to the latest version of Android can free up system resources on your device, which, in turn, could help speed up app load times and improve system fluidity.
All major OEMs have come a long way since the early days of Android and now tend to roll out frequent software updates for their devices. The best part is that these manufacturers try to improve the performance and smoothness of the system based on user feedback with almost every update. Go to your software update settings and check for any available OTA software.
7. Perform a factory reset
If you’ve worked through all the suggestions so far and you’re still dealing with a pokey device, it’s time to step up a gear. A factory reset is a great but extreme way to improve performance. It restores your device to its factory state and erases all your data.
If you are ready to factory reset your Android device, create a backup of your essential data first. Then, after resetting the phone, go through the list of apps you download, making sure to only install the ones you will use.
8. Consider Installing a Custom ROM
If you have an Android phone that is relatively old (and slow) or has reached the end of support from its manufacturer, consider installing a custom ROM or kernel on it. Installing a custom ROM or kernel voids your warranty unless it has already expired, in which case there is nothing to worry about.
Before proceeding, make sure your phone’s bootloader is unlockable, as you’ll probably be out of luck without it. On phones where unlocking the bootloader is not an issue, the method for rooting and installing a custom ROM or kernels varies depending on the device variant and manufacturer.
Custom ROMs can brick your phone, so it’s not something you want to do unless you’re ready to buy a new phone.
LineageOS and Paranoid Android are some of the most popular custom ROMs, though they might not be the best for your device in terms of stability. Do your research before deciding which custom ROM to install on your device. The XDA forums are usually a good starting point for this.
Slightly speed up your phone
While these tips may slightly improve the performance of a slow phone, they won’t work miracles. If your device is old or has limited resources, consider buying a new phone.