Do you often wonder, “Why is my phone running slow?” I notice my Android phone behaving slower than usual when apps take a long time to open, the screen buttons respond slowly, updates take longer, or games lag. To quickly improve the performance of your slow Android phone, try these easy fixes.
1. Check Individual App Settings
Over time, the accumulated clutter of apps on your phone will interfere with its performance. Continuous background updates, notifications, and accumulated cache impact the phone’s processing power and RAM.
To pinpoint which apps are slowing down my phone, I examine the settings of each app individually via Settings -> Apps. I navigate to the App info section and review Battery and Memory usage. As the app below doesn’t impact my RAM or battery, it’s safe to retain it. It’s good to perform a similar check for each app on your device.
If any unused apps are consuming system resources, I prefer to uninstall them. However, if I’m unsure whether I’ll need them in the future, it’s easy to disable permissions and block notifications from the App info section.
It’s also good to disable other app permissions, such as alarms, picture-in-picture, location, and more.
I always prefer manually checking each app’s settings to disable the unnecessary activities that can impact the phone’s performance.
However, if there are too many apps on your device, and you want to quickly identify the slowdown culprits, some third-party apps will fetch the data. We recommend Storage Analyzer & Disk Usage. It’s free, lightweight and gives you a quick snapshot of which apps are resource hogs. The following apps are arranged in descending order of their cache impact.
Tip: learn more about app caches and how to manage them on Android.
2. Send Unused Apps to Deep Sleep
To ensure my phone isn’t running slow, I use Android’s built-in feature to send unused and hidden apps to deep sleep. This not only conserves battery life, but also stops these apps from running in the background. You’ll no longer get their updates and notifications.
The deep sleep method is easy to use. Go to Settings -> Battery and device care -> Battery -> Background usage limits, and tap Deep sleeping apps. I can add as many apps as I want by clicking the + button so that my phone can allocate system resources to the apps I use regularly.
Putting rarely used apps and the phone manufacturer bloatware into deep sleep has consistently given me good results, thereby increasing the phone speed.
Tip: learn how to bulk uninstall Android apps.
3. Clean Out Storage
Your phone’s RAM isn’t the only thing that can slow it down – internal storage is another factor to consider. Even if you have plenty of unused storage, individual files can add up over time. This is especially true for media files, photos, and videos shared on messenger apps.
While each file may not take up much space on its own, managing them all can be a burden. I’ve noticed that browsing through my phone’s gallery takes a long time, as I have several thousand files spread over 14 GB of data. It would be a good idea to shift all the older media files to another backup device.
I typically use the Files by Google app for quick suggestions on which files to keep and which to delete. By tapping the Clean button, you get an overview of junk files, memes, large files, screenshots, duplicates, and downloads. It’s a real time-saver compared to manually checking each folder in your internal storage.
FYI: follow these other tips on how to reduce storage space on Android.
4. Disable Automatic Backup for Media Files
I used to have automatic sync and backup enabled for uploading all my DCIM files to Google Photos, which often led to my phone running slow. Now I keep it turned off by default and only enable it when I have access via a high-speed, unlimited Internet connection.
Open the Google Photos app, tap your user icon, go to Photos settings, select Backup, and disable the Backup toggle. If you’re using OneDrive or any other cloud storage on your phone, there are similar options to disable automatic backup.
Good to know: learn how to back up Google Photos to your computer.
5. Update and Restart Your Device
Automatic updates on your phone protect it from bugs and introduce system improvements that help optimize memory. If you haven’t updated your phone’s operating system in a long time, your apps may start running inefficiently. Additionally, it makes your phone more susceptible to malware, a leading cause of device slowdowns.
All recent Android devices send you update reminders, which you should complete as soon as possible. If you’d rather do it manually, go to Settings → Software update → Download and install. If it’s a major update, your device will restart automatically; otherwise, do it immediately.
Even when there are no updates, I like to do a weekly restart. It helps fix common issues, like slow apps and Wi-Fi connectivity problems. I also restart my device after heavy usage, such as playing games or binge-watching YouTube Premium for several hours. This clears temporary files and provides a fresh home screen experience.
6. Clear Browser Cache and Close Tabs
If you’re using a mobile browser like Google Chrome and have several tabs open, it can strain your device’s performance and slow it down. The first step is to close any unnecessary tabs. In Chrome, go to Settings from the three-dot menu at the top, then select Privacy and security -> Clear browsing data -> Advanced tab.
I deleted the All-time browsing history. They can be several hundred megabytes with thousands of items open.
Another way is to go to App info settings, and delete the cache and storage data for the most intensive applications. Apart from browsers, I’ve found that apps like YouTube or Netflix, and most ride-sharing and delivery apps, can accumulate a lot of cache over time. It’s good to delete the entire history from time to time.
Tip: you can change the default web browser on Android.
Other General Causes of Android Slowdown – and Fixes
If you often encounter the “why is my phone running slow” question, other than the above factors, there are a few others that can contribute to a phone slowdown.
- Outdated operating system: If you’re using a very old Android device, it will stop receiving security updates and slowly accumulate unwanted files. The only solution is to upgrade to a newer phone. Currently, any device running an Android version older than 11 has stopped receiving system updates.
- Hardware issues: if your device has a worn-out battery, it can cause slowdowns. There are many things you can do to extend an Android phone’s battery health. If your device is overheating, though, you need to cool it down.
- System brightness and other issues: is your phone screen brighter than it should be? Consider switching to a dark mode, especially in the evening, as it would save many pixels.
Consider doing a factory reset of your phone, but only as a last resort. I haven’t done it in many years, as making a phone backup is time-consuming, but I can see the benefits of starting over with a fresh device.
Don’t forget, whether it’s an Android device or an iPhone, when we attribute the slowness to apps and browsers, the real issue could be the Wi-Fi connection.
Image credit: Pexels. All screenshots by Sayak Boral.
