Is your Android smartphone/tablet running slow? Here’s how to bypass the lag and speed up your device.
Android (powered by Google) is arguably the most widely used smartphone brand in the world, with a mammoth global userbase, which is many times larger than that of the second-placed iPhone.
However, a common issue on Android phones is the issue of device lag, which, if left to linger, could result in the eventual crash of the affected device.
Hence, if your device is running slow, you can try the methods herein to speed things up.
How to Speed Up Your Phone
A number of factors could be in play, if/when a phone is running slow. The most notorious factor, however, is a “cluttered storage or clogged up RAM”
In any case, you can follow the set of steps below to speed up your smartphone:
Method 1: Restart Phone
Before running any fix, it is pertinent to first make efforts to identify the cause of problem. However, if the cause could not be determined, you can try some fixes, starting with “device reboot”.
By restarting your device, temporary files are cleared; running processes are stopped; and minor glitches and bugs are fixed. Normally, this would get your phone running smoothly again.
Method 2: Free Up Space
If system reboot could not resolve the issue, it is possible that your storage is cluttered. Hence, you can delete some apps and files (videos, images and audio files) from your phone. This way, less resources are used and your phone should now run at a faster pace. For some essential apps that consume a lot of storage space, you can clear their respective caches.
Also, having many apps running at the same time clogs up your RAM. So, by killing off some of these tasks, you are able conserve RAM space and speed up your phone.
Note: Do NOT use third-party cleaners or task killers. They do more harm than good.
Method 3: Update Apps & OS
Outdated apps are usually filled with bugs. which impede the smooth-running of your smartphone. Hence, ensure that all installed apps are up-to-date.
Also, always install recent updates on your device. Normally, you get the notifications of available updates, to facilitate easy installation (of the updates).
These updates are basically security patches and bug fixes, designed to speed up and improve the performance of your device.
Method 4: Reset Device
As a last resort, you may have to reset your phone to “factory settings”, especially when (not if) the RAM becomes fully clogged up.
For every Android user, factory reset is a procedure you have to go through, at one point or another.
Closing Note
In some cases, especially on old Android versions (Android 5.0 and older), the ultimate solution may be to upgrade to a newer. version or simply acquire a brand new device (with an updated OS).
Hope you were able to speed up your android device by applying any of the aforementioned methods? Let us know by dropping a comment below.
Daniel Segun is a technology writer with over 5 years of experience. He loves to teach and inspire others. When he is not writing, he’s probably busy developing websites. You can reach him here.
