Is your slow phone driving you crazy? Here are 10 simple hacks for speeding up your phone so you can get back to chatting, gaming, and scrolling faster.
Did you know that today’s average smartphones have more than 1 million times the processing speed of the Apollo computer that took the astronauts to the Moon? This happens because the components that make up a CPU have become very small and efficient, so engineers can cram more of those in a tiny circuit board.
But what if you need more processing speed? Do you know how speeding up your phone works? Do you know how to make apps and games run faster and enjoy a more streamlined browsing experience? Keep reading to find the answers to these questions and discover how to speed up your phone.
Remove Junkware and Bloatware
Certain apps and games tend to slow down your phone, whether you have an iPhone or an Android device. These apps consume a lot of RAM and might download data in the background. You should uninstall any apps you don’t use on a regular basis. Ideally, you might also uninstall or disable certain factory apps that come preinstalled. These are called bloatware and most people never use them.
You can manually uninstall these apps or use a third-party program to scan for and delete certain programs. For example, CCleaner is a good tool to clean up your phone’s memory and delete apps that slow down your device.
Simply Reboot Your Phone
In some cases, the simplest solutions work best. If your phone seems to become unresponsive and slow, maybe it has pieces of code that run mindlessly in the background. Just reboot your phone and this will automatically clean up the memory. Rebooting your phone takes about one minute and it will instantly refresh your device, making it run optimally again.
Disable Animations and Visual Effects
Today’s smartphones are designed to be practical as well as “eye-candy”. There’s nothing wrong with animations and visual effects that create smooth transitions between apps. However, keep in mind that these features can drain your battery and slow down your phone. Especially if your device is slightly old, animations and visual effects can take a big toll on your phone’s processing speed.
To increase this speed, simply disable the animations. You can do that by going to the “Settings” of your phone and look for something like “Performance”, “Motion”, or “Reduce Animations”. Although you might not see a smooth transition between your app, you will definitely appreciate the insane processing speed your phone has after you have disabled the animations.
Use the Lite Mode in Chrome
Google Chrome is one of the most popular internet browsers for both computers and mobile devices. On top of the regular version everyone uses, Chromium also features a Lite Mode or Lite Version. This is a lightweight internet browser that consumes little to no resources when in use. If your smartphone is slightly older or you need as much processing speed as you can get, use the Lite Mode in Google Chrome and you’ll be golden.
Keep Your Phone Updated
As information technology advances, engineers and developers find new ways to solve complex problems. They write more efficient pieces of code that solve common problems people have. These pieces of code are released as regular updates for software programs and apps. You should make a habit to keep your phone updated to increase processing speed and improve the security of your device.
On top of that, updated apps also consume less battery. Again, these apps perform the same functions, but more efficiently, so they don’t need that much power anymore. Update your phone’s operating system and main apps on a monthly basis to improve battery life and processing speed. Check out our other smartphone articles for more details on how to keep your phone updated and running at full speed.
Say Goodbye to Live Wallpapers
Live wallpapers look so beautiful on a large screen. They help you personalize your smartphone and there are tons of apps that offer live wallpapers for free. However, they act as just another animation that will slow down your phone and consume battery. Live wallpapers run in the background even when the screen of your phone is turned off, so you cannot simply disable them by pressing the “Power” button.
What to do in this case? Just disable live wallpapers. Don’t use them at all and enjoy a faster phone with longer battery life. Some people use a black wallpaper to keep the pixels turned off when using the phone. This might conserve some battery life, but not much. It’s perfectly ok to have a bright, colorful static wallpaper as long as you stay away from live ones that consume your phone’s resources.
Use a Different Launcher
Android phones come with different types of preinstalled launchers. These launchers allow you to navigate through apps and select different options for each separate application. However, you can always change your launcher and by doing so, you might free up some processing power for your device.
That’s because certain launchers are designed to be lightweight and consume as little resources as possible. Experiment with different types of launchers and see which ones work best for your particular Android smartphone.
Kill Background Processes
As mentioned earlier, there are many apps that keep running in the background even if you turn off the screen of your phone. These apps consume resources, drain battery life, and reduce bandwidth space. You should go to your phone’s settings and kill some apps that you don’t want to run in the background. You might also want to simply download an application that allows you to control background apps and select which ones are put to sleep and which ones remain active.
Now You Know How Speeding up Your Phone Works
As you can see, speeding up your phone is a matter of making fine adjustments and sensible choices. Apart from the list mentioned above, you can also try to disable your phone’s Bluetooth and location services when not in use. This will preserve battery life and even increase your download speed.
For more useful information on how to boost your smartphone and customize your experience, make sure that you check out the other articles posted on our website.