Remaining the most popular operating system in the world, Android is still not without flaws. In addition to vulnerability and battery load, one of the most significant problems that users face is system disruption.
Finding out why the phone slows down, many sin on a faulty hardware and carry gadgets for repair within 2-3 months after purchase. However, on the spot it turns out that the stuffing of the phone has nothing to do with it. Applications take a long time to load, the interface does not respond to gestures, even system programs refuse to work - all these, as a rule, are symptoms of malfunctions in the OS.
In our article, we will look at the main reasons why a relatively new smartphone starts to malfunction, and also recommend how to deal with each malfunction.
Reason 1. A large number of unnecessary applications
The availability of most Android programs pushes the user to constantly download new applications. But in reality, it turns out that out of 10 applets, 2 or 3 bring real benefits. The rest hang like a dead weight, work in the background and clog up the smartphone’s memory.
If you often download new applications, at least once every two weeks, audit your smartphone. In the settings, open the tab with all the programs and determine which ones you need and which ones you can safely get rid of. By deleting unnecessary applications, you can eventually free up several gigabytes of memory.
In addition to cleaning your smartphone of unnecessary installed programs, it makes sense to disable some background processes: live wallpapers, widgets with weather, news and exchange rates, and so on.
You can read about how to properly get rid of unnecessary programs in the article "How to remove an application on Android".
Reason 2. "Garbage" in the memory of the smartphone
Those who spend a lot of time on the mobile Internet wonder why the phone starts to slow down over time. It would seem that two or three of all applications are involved here: social networks and one browser. In this case, the smartphone's memory is clogged with "garbage": downloaded files, data about the operation of the application, thumbnails of photo and video galleries, screensavers, and so on.
In addition, after deleting applications, unnecessary files also remain in the device’s memory, which overload the system.
There are two main methods for clearing the memory of a smartphone from garbage:
- System, using settings;
- Through special applications.
To clear the system cache of applications, go through the following steps:
- Enter the menu and select "Applications";
- Turn on the display of all programs;
- Choose an application that you use frequently;
- Click on the "Storage" item;
- Select "Clear Cache".
By processing the most massive applications in this way, several hundred megabytes of garbage can be cleaned up.
However, if you have a large number of applications installed on your smartphone, special garbage cleaning programs will help save time. They will also eliminate the need to delve into system folders, deleting download data. In the article " How to clean Android from garbage in five minutes"We have made a selection of the best apps for cleaning your smartphone.
For example, let's see how to remove junk files using the Clean Master application, which is free to download from the Google Play store:
- Open the application;
- Swipe left to open the list of commands;
- Select "Clear cache and memory";
- After analyzing the system, select the elements that need to be cleaned up;
- Click the "Clear" button.
After a few seconds, the application will inform you that the cleanup is complete and indicate how much memory was freed.
Reason 3. Full memory card
The adaptive storage feature in the sixth version of Android allows you to turn an external SD card into part of the system registry. Consequently, the card accumulates data about the applications installed on it, as well as camera media files. As a result, a clogged card can also affect the speed of the operating system.
Check which files can be safely deleted from the memory card. If they are photos or videos, they should be transferred to a computer via a USB connection. It is also worth getting rid of unnecessary applications that have been installed or moved to the SD card.
The radical solution to cleaning a memory card is to completely format it. Make a backup copy of all necessary data, then do the following:
- In the settings, select the "Storage and USB drives" item;
- Open the SD card;
- In the upper right menu, click on the item "Portable media";
- Click on the "Format" button.
Reason 4. Viruses on the phone
As we have already noted, Android is a rather vulnerable operating system. Harmful viruses that can be picked up through unsafe applications or websites become a serious reason why the phone starts to slow down.
You can secure your smartphone by installing a reliable antivirus for Android. In addition, it is important to follow simple recommendations:
- Do not download applications from untrusted sources. Malicious programs can often hide in the archive with the apk installation file;
- Do not ignore browser warnings about unsafe access to a particular site;
- When installing a new app, pay attention to the permissions it requires. By giving full access, you endanger the operating system.
Reason 5. Weak hardware
Despite the fact that the main reasons why an Android phone slows down lie in the features of the operating system itself, an important factor is the power of the hardware stuffing. When running several applications on a weak processor, even a newly purchased phone can seriously disappoint with slow speed.
Given the system requirements of most programs, when choosing a smartphone, you should adhere to the following minimum specifications:
- 1 gigabyte of RAM;
- 8 gigabytes of internal memory;
- 4-core processor with a clock speed of at least 1.5 GHz;
Also, the combination of a high screen resolution with a low-powered processor can affect system performance.
The obvious way to rid yourself of the brakes in the operation of the OS is to purchase a sufficiently powerful and reliable smartphone. Also, a clear plus will be the availability of the gadget. In this regard, we recommend paying attention to smartphones from the British company Fly.
Each model of this brand takes into account the modern requirements of users in terms of multitasking and speed. At the same time, Fly engineers put the productive filling in a spectacular case and provide a very pleasant price tag.
One of the models whose filling will minimize Android braking is the new one in spring 2017. Clean and optimized Android 6.0 is not overloaded with unnecessary applications here. The power reserve of the 1.5 GHz quad-core processor is enough to ensure the speed of the smartphone even when running multiple applications at the same time. By the way, it is worth noting a balanced combination of processor and screen characteristics. The HD technology of the 5-inch IPS screen does not overload the chipset, as it does with FullHD.
In conclusion, it is important to note that getting rid of the problem of brakes in a smartphone is best done by combining the various solutions we have described. Having bought a powerful and reliable gadget, install an antivirus program on it and regularly clean the internal and external memory. In this case, you will not soon ask yourself the question “Why did the phone start to slow down?”
Surely all owners of Android devices notice that only immediately after the purchase and the first turn on, the smartphone or tablet worked quite quickly, but over time, Android began to slow down. Applications start extremely slowly, you have to wait a very long time to open pages on the Internet, and indeed, sometimes the gadget even freezes. What is the reason for this phenomenon? What can be done to restore performance or at least partially speed up the system? We will talk about this further.
Why does Android slow down?
The main reasons for this behavior of this operating system, like any other, are usually considered to be excessive load on RAM and processor.
It is usually caused by numerous accesses of installed system and user applications running in the background, hidden from our eyes. Too large cache volumes, cluttering the drive with unnecessary user or residual files of remote applets, as well as exposure to viruses (yes, these also exist in nature) can also affect.
That is why Android slows down. What to do in such a situation? On this occasion, there are several recommendations, and not all of them come down only to cleaning the above garbage. In some situations, even these measures do not help.
Speed Up Options
Among the methods that allow, if not to restore the performance completely, then at least increase it, the most effective options are the following:
- disable unused services and processes;
- clear system cache and application cache;
- manual removal of unnecessary files and applets;
- use of optimizers and boosters;
- virus removal;
- uninstall custom firmware;
- reset to factory settings.
All these methods must be applied not one at a time, but in combination (if you want the system to really start to “fly” again). However, in this situation, you should immediately pay attention to the fact that some Android applications included in the standard system package cannot be removed without special tools. Therefore, even with a full reset, they will still work as if nothing had happened. We will dwell on this separately. In the meantime, about what measures you can take on your own without the use of third-party tools.
Disable unused services and processes
So, we have a situation where Android slows down. What to do in this case? First of all, you need to pay attention to the services and processes that are activated in the system by default (by the way, it is advisable to do this even after purchasing the device and turning it on for the first time).
In this case, to begin with, it is worth disabling the NFC module and geolocation when using an Internet connection. NFC devours a lot of system resources, and geolocation with frequent use of the Internet slows down opening pages and downloading files.
The second is the very frequent use of Bluetooth and Wi-Fi wireless modules. Some users sometimes do not disable these modules at all, believing that this will not affect the system performance in any way. Absolute delusion! The fact is that they put a load not only on system resources, but also drain the battery quite strongly, which, in turn, affects the performance of both the system and the third-party applets that are launched.
In general, a weak battery, by and large, can also be called one of the reasons that Android slows down. How to fix the situation? Yes, just replace the battery with a more powerful one. This option, of course, can be attributed to one of the solutions, but it is assumed that the factory battery is designed just for a certain type of device. So you will have to act at your own peril and risk.
Manual cache clearing
However, Android's problems don't end there. Another stumbling block is the constant increase in the cache (both system and application cache). To the great regret (and sometimes to the indignation) of most users, the system developers did not take care to include an automated cleaning tool in the operating system toolkit.
And, if the system cache can still be deleted using the settings menu, the memory section and the cache line for this, then the situation with applications is much worse.
You can delete the cache associated with system and user applets from the applications section in the settings menu with the choice of each individual application. It is simply impossible to do this for all programs at the same time. Huge minus! But if the system does not provide for the installation of some kind of optimizer, at worst, you can limit yourself to this.
Sometimes applications for Android installed by the user can also lead to system braking. Here it is worth paying attention to the fact that not all devices support their transfer from the internal drive to a removable memory card. In addition, many of them very often start in the background with the system. Take the same Facebook, Viber, Messenger, news or weather informers, etc.
Why Android slows down, I think, is already clear: there is a constant load of RAM and the processor, and sometimes to such an extent that there are simply no resources left for system processes. Again, there is no means of excluding applets from startup in the system.
You can correct this situation in two ways: either remove everything unnecessary or unused yourself, or use special optimization programs (this will be discussed separately).
Removing unnecessary files
Overflowing the internal drive can also cause situations when Android slows down. What to do with installed programs or an excessive number of files? As it is already clear, get rid of everything that interferes with work.
The situation can also have two sides of the coin. If the main drive is too busy, installing something new from the same Play Market storage will be quite problematic. Even if the place, as they say, is back to back, the system will think for a long time, not to mention the fact that if there is not enough space, it will give an error.
But deleting files and folders is best with the help of at least some simple file manager, since similar actions using regular tools will take too much time and require remarkable efforts to search for them on the part of the user.
The second point is related to the fact that many users are engaged in, so to speak, embellishing the system by installing various kinds of launchers that replace its standard shell. As is already clear, they not only start with the system, but also consume the lion's share of RAM, loading their own components into it. From here follows the simplest conclusion: do not install too many programs. Better to limit yourself to what you really need. And you can change the interface only if you have sufficiently large amounts of RAM (at least at the level of 3-6 GB).
How to clean Android so that it doesn’t slow down with the help of optimizers?
Today, in the same Play Market, you can find not even dozens, but hundreds. And not all of them are equal. Some belong to narrowly focused cleaners, others can perform complex maintenance with garbage removal and system acceleration, others are designed to improve performance or vice versa - to save battery power, the fourth, in addition to all available tools, also contain anti-virus modules, the fifth can perform the most complete uninstallation of applets with the removal of the remaining garbage, the sixth ones are able to manage autoload, etc. But if you have root rights, many of them allow you to remove even system components.
Among the most famous and most popular applets are the following:
- CCleaner;
- cleanmaster;
- 360 Security;
- Assistant Pro;
- smart booster;
- D.U. Speed Booster;
- AVG TuneUp;
- smart booster;
- Easy Uninstaller;
- SCleaner;
- All-in-one-Toolbox;
- Root Booster, etc.
Removing custom firmware and resetting to factory settings
Finally, it is worth mentioning separately situations when the user installs custom firmware on his own. The point is that the mismatch of the configuration firmware also causes the problem that Android slows down. What to do in this case? Remove the firmware, but it’s better not to install it at all, otherwise the whole system will become unusable. At the same time, removal is not such a simple matter.
The easiest way to reset Android to factory settings is through the settings and the backup and restore section with the selection of the general reset item.
In some cases, other methods may be used. So, for example, the factory settings of Android on Sony XPERIA smartphones in the form of initial firmware can be restored using the Sony PC Companion utility, which is installed on a computer or laptop. For models from other manufacturers, there are own programs. In any case, it looks even better than a general reset directly on the device. Then you can definitely get a “clean” state of the gadget, as if you had just bought it.
Finally, if all this does not help, you will have to use the Hard reset function. But it is advisable to use this technique only in the most extreme cases.
Brief conclusions
These are the main reasons that Android slows down. What to do, I think, has already become clear to many. To be honest, the best option is still to use optimizers (preferably containing anti-virus modules), since manual configuration or cleaning requires too much time and effort, and resetting or restoring factory settings only leads to data loss.
Android is a popular system for tablets and phones of different models and manufacturers. Android received approval and distribution in a few years all over the world, and takes huge strides forward without standing still. Every day more and more powerful models of tablets and phones appear, with parameters that were even hard to imagine 7 years ago. In the wake of the development of iron, Android OS developers constantly have to develop and modify their operating system for various devices. Perhaps therefore, we may encounter the problem of braking and system freezes on phones and weak tablets. Let's try to figure it out why is your android slow and how to deal with the problem.
Advantages of the Android operating system:
- minimum hardware requirements for the device;
- easy use and development by users;
- many free applications and games;
- huge opportunities for personalization and customization of the gadget interface;
This list can be continued for a long time, but we are more interested in the problem with braking and the operation of the device. Once you have bought the machine, it will fly fabulously and you will be happy for the first months of operation. But after 40-50 games and applications are installed on your device - a tablet, for example, if not more, you will feel the slow operation of the gadget. What is it connected with? Why did the Android tablet start to slow down? What to do and how to solve the problem.
We remove applications that slow down the device.
The first step is to run through all the installed games and programs, and find those that you have not even launched, or have already completed the game completely. All these applications just need to be removed from your device! They take up precious free space this time, and secondly, some applications can hang in the RAM of your device, thereby taking up extra megabytes of your RAM, and loading the CPU. You can learn more about the message "" in this review.
Disable processes in the background.
First of all, you removed those programs that you no longer need. The most necessary and useful utilities remain, now let's optimize their work in the background. In simple terms, you need to disable the processes in the system that slow down our Android tablet and which we do not use in our work. You can do this by going to your OS settings:
Settings - Applications - Running
Here in this form you can observe how much memory is consumed by certain applications installed on your tablet or phone. We look through the list, and disable unnecessary programs. Attention: We strongly recommend that inexperienced users disable Google Services, because it can lead to a complete freeze or lag of your device.
Widgets and launchers slow down Android no less.
A widget is a small piece of software that displays information about the weather, time, settings, etc. on the main screen of your tablet or phone. All this looks nice, but if you clutter up your entire screen with these gadgets, you will also experience Android system freezes. In addition, the battery of your device will be additionally discharged, so we also recommend disable all unnecessary widgets and launchers. Yes, it is precisely such sacrifices that have to be made in order to achieve the best performance of your Android.
As can be seen from the screenshot, it ate as much as 28 megabytes of memory, which is not enough for such an application. So if your Android has not yet begun to terribly slow down and freeze, bypass all unnecessary widgets.
Android slows down while working
Another reason for slowing down your phone or tablet may be a weak hardware “stuffing”. What does it mean? This means that your tablet or phone is obsolete, and the program or game that starts glitch and slow down cannot work with this configuration. It makes sense to look at the minimum requirements of the application, and if they are high, it's time to get a more modern phone or tablet. We hope that the problem is at least somehow solved for you, and we wish you less braking!
A few years ago, in the electronics market, only Apple and Samsung were normal tablets that meet the needs of the buyer.
In those days, buying a weak Chinese android meant condemning yourself to endless torment, because they rarely contained high-quality hardware and could freeze for a long time when performing even the simplest operations.
Now it is quite possible to count on the fact that even a budget choice will be fully justified, because for activities such as surfing the Internet, viewing mail, instant messengers and social networks, listening to music or watching a movie, you do not need a lot of RAM, and even the simplest smartphone has this good 1-2 gigabytes. So if the tablet slows down, perhaps its speed can be increased. The question reasonably arises what to do if the tablet on Android slows down?
First of all, you need to determine why your gadget slows down. The problem may be the following:
- Not optimized resource usage. This is something we can influence: littered memory, background processes, automatic updates - all this takes away your productivity. If it is impossible to change the technical characteristics of your device (well, perhaps replacing it with a newer one), then everyone can optimize its work, optimization methods will be described below.
- Too demanding application. It's simple, you downloaded software that requires a lot of RAM or it is demanding on the processor. Nowadays, colorful games are created for very powerful devices, so if the technical characteristics are not high, the game will not work. On the other hand, performance can be improved by optimizing other factors.
- Written software. Anyone can program, but few people can program well. If errors often occur in the source code of the software, this affects its performance. But only the developer can fix the problems, so if the tablet is buggy in only one program, there may be a bug in the code. Below is an easy way to check this.
- Other reasons such as poor internet connection. If the application needs to be connected to the network, then it will not be possible to use it outside the city unless you find a place with a good connection.
How to understand that the problem is in the device
If the tablet became dumb after installing a particular application, or if it malfunctions in only one program, the problem is probably outside your android.
You can check this in the following way:
- in the settings, find the item "Developer Mode"
- in the "Monitoring" sub-item, activate the "Show CPU usage" function.
Now, if the android is stupid and freezes, but the CPU usage is low, the problem is in the software itself. In this case, if you need this particular application, you can contact the software developer with your problem and wait for updates. If you do not have time to do this, just replace it with a similar one.
If you find out that the processor is working to its fullest and therefore the software lags, the reason is in the hardware. But even in this case, its work can be optimized and the extra load off the CPU can be removed.
What can be done to improve performance
You can discuss the reasons why the android slows down as much as you like, but you can roll up your sleeves, get to work and unload the processor a little. Perhaps the problem of your device is not optimized resource consumption?
Background apps
How many programs have you installed in the last week/month? How many have been removed? Each of them, even when turned off, consumes resources and slows down the android. First of all, it concerns live wallpapers and widgets on the desktop. Do you often look at the weather when you unblock your Lenovo? If widgets and wallpapers are of secondary importance, it is better to remove them in the name of performance.
To manage background applications, you can install the Disable Service program - in it you can stop the work of software that you do not need. An alternative application is Autostarts.
Quick System Information is another software that allows you to look beyond your RAM. Convenient interface, a good alternative to Disable Service.
Trashed device memory
You can forget yourself by taking hundreds and thousands of selfies / pictures. If you rarely look into your photo/video/download folders, the performance issue may be due to a lack of free space. Scroll through the file manager, in particular, folders with videos and downloads: you may find a couple of episodes of "Game of Thrones" that you watched a couple of months ago.
Upload photos and videos to social networks, upload large files to cloud storage. Delete excess from the gadget's memory. CCleaner can help to cope with this burden - this is a program whose very purpose is to help when the android slows down.
Automatic software updates
Auto-update is convenient, but if the application starts updating at the wrong time, it's annoying. Personally, I update the software on all my devices exclusively manually. To disable automatic updates:
- go to play market
- "Settings" (menu on the left)
- leave a tick on the item "Notifications" (we will know when you can update)
- "Auto-update" - "Never"
In addition, updates are not always beneficial. In pursuit of users with new phone models, developers sometimes forget about regular users who are left with the question of what to do if their favorite file manager or music player slows down. As mentioned above, all that remains is to leave a review and wait for a bug-fix (or install an older, more stable version of the software).
System update
A separate word is the update of the operating system itself. In general, the standard advice would be: try to stay as close as possible to the latest available version of the OS. But, as already mentioned in the aspect of automatic updates, new is not always better. Old tablets are forgotten when you need to release a version for modern phones, and your device may not work well with the new firmware. In such a case, it is sometimes better to install an older version of the firmware that worked fine.
Now you know what you need to do to increase the productivity of your device. If you have any questions or know a way to improve performance that is not described in the article, write in the comments.
Conclusion
I hope our tips have helped you. Try the generic algorithm described above. See you on the pages of the site!
Video instruction
There are precedents when a xiaomi smartphone freezes on the 3rd day of operation, but I will not touch on individual situations here, but only typical ones - what to do if an android smartphone freezes.
What smartphones do not freeze? Everyone can freeze: samsung, lenovo, lg, asus, xiaomi, htc, fly, zte, sony, nokia lumiya, alcatel and so on.
Why? There are several reasons. After the purchase, the speed is usually normal and there are no glitches, but over time it often slows down and freezes - does not react to anything.
This can happen on the logo when you turn it on, on the splash screen, when watching a video, when downloading applications, your favorite game or the Internet freezes.
Most of these problems are not difficult to fix on your own - with a minimum of knowledge (you need to be able to navigate the settings).
Of course, hardware problems are not excluded either - then you cannot do without a service, since it may not be possible to make an accurate diagnosis without special equipment.
How to turn off your smartphone if it freezes
I'll start with the emergency. Perhaps right now your smartphone is frozen and nothing reacts - it does not turn off and does not restart.
If the battery is removable, it's great - pull it out, insert it, turn it on, that's all you need to do, but what if it's not removable?
All you need to do is force reboot (the developers are well aware that the smartphone can freeze and have provided such a function).
To force reboot, press the power button + volume down at the same time for about 10 seconds.
Sometimes you may need to long press on the power, Home and volume up. Also, sometimes it is enough to hold just one shutdown button.
What to do if the smartphone began to freeze constantly
This can happen for several reasons, including the firmware itself (Android OS). Immediately after purchase, the smartphone works fine.
You usually install various programs, and the manufacturer is working on improvements and releasing a firmware update.
Usually it is installed automatically (it takes one click to confirm), but the programs installed remain old and one of them may start to conflict with the firmware.
Although this is rare, it still happens. Much more often, the smartphone freezes through memory, or rather it is not enough.
In inexpensive devices, as a rule, there is very little both RAM and internal memory. Therefore, make sure that there is always free space (at least 25%), otherwise the freezes will not keep you waiting.
The second common cause is background processes. If you install dozens of applications running in the background, especially live wallpapers and widgets, then expect surprises.
Therefore, try to delete too much or at least transfer it to a memory card and regularly clean the cache and temporary files (you can use the CleanMaster program).
Why does the smartphone freeze in the game or the Internet
If it freezes in the game, then the reason may be the requirements - the device is weak, the game is voracious and is unable to pull it.
If on the Internet, then try resetting the network settings, or the option from the section below.
How to identify the reasons why the smartphone freezes
Not everyone knows and uses in Android smartphones such a function as safe mode.
How to run it. What will it give you. You will determine the reason: the matter is in the firmware or in the installed programs.
Safe mode only runs built-in programs, drivers, and nothing personally installed.
If you see that the smartphone does not freeze in safe mode, then the problem is in the applications you have installed.
If it freezes in safe mode, then it may be in the hardware, although before you bring it to the service for diagnostics, be sure to try Good luck.
NOTE: each smartphone has its own “individual habits”, so if you didn’t find solutions here, write the model name in the comments. Good luck.
