


And while clearing your cache partition is a fairly simple solution to speed up your phone, we really only recommend wiping your phone clean if the above steps didn’t help fix your speed problems. It isn’t a perfect operating system, and especially after a couple of years of system and security updates, things can start to feel a bit slow.Īs with most problems on Android, there are really only two solutions to every problem on Android: clearing your cache partition, and wiping your phone entirely clean.

If you’ve moved a lot of your apps over to the SD card, but you’re running on an older style of card, it might be too slow to reliably play files or load apps and games from the card.Īdvanced Options for Speeding Up Your PhoneĮverything we talked about above is good and all, but at the end of the day, they’re all temporary solutions to a major problem with Android. Widgets can use up unnecessarily large amounts of RAM on your device, and most phone owners only use widgets on occasion. Try clearing some of the widgets kept on your phone if you don’t use them very often.Some applications, however, have absolutely no self-control and this can create some serious speed problems on Android. Most apps manage their cached data well enough, knowing when a cache-clear will be necessary for the system to continue running at a smooth and steady pace. This simple process can help boost your performance on Android by cycling and cleaning out any cached data leftover from unused or rarely-used apps, as well as system apps that can’t be uninstalled from your system. Clear Your Cached DataĪnother app-centric trick, one well-known to the Android-enthusiast community, is clearing your cache. Though the app will still take up room on your phone’s internal storage you’ll be satisfied to see that the app no longer can update, push notifications, or run in the background. Just find the app you wish to disable, tap the “Disable” button at the top of the display,” and confirm “Disable” upon the pop-up warning about errors in other apps. On our test device, we disabled apps like Slacker Radio and NFL Mobile-apps that couldn’t be uninstalled, but we had no use for them. We don’t have any specific suggestions since each phone includes different included applications, and what you use in your daily life is up to you. To disable apps on your application manager, you’ll want to find and select the app you wish to disable. This screen may look different, depending on which device you have, but the process will be largely the same. To disable pre-installed applications on your device, head into your settings menu either by using the Settings icon within your phone’s app drawer or by accessing the Settings shortcut from the quick settings at the top of your notification tray. A disabled app will still take up space on your phone, but it won’t run in the background, saving your phone from the toll of too-many system apps using your phone’s CPU at once. Luckily, most system apps not required by the operating system to function can, at the very least, be disabled within your system settings. This could be pre-installed apps, system applications, or your carrier’s sponsored apps. And unless you’re running a Nexus or Pixel device-and, in some cases, phones from Motorola and OnePlus-you probably have a decent amount of bloatware on your phone. This will bring up an option at the bottom of the screen to open or update, but simply tap the name one more time, then hit “Uninstall” on the app page inside Google Play.Įven though Android manufacturers (and, to a lesser extent, carriers) have scaled back their inclusion of bloatware in the more recent versions of Android, it’s still a problem on Google’s operating system. When you find an app you don’t want to keep installed on your device, tap on the application name in your menu. Some of the apps at the bottom of your list might be system apps that can’t be uninstalled, and don’t worry, we’ll cover those further down this list. As you scroll you’ll notice more apps than you originally thought. Typically, Google Play shows this in Alphabetical mode but we want to select Last Used, which will show your apps from most-recently opened to least-recently opened.įrom here, you can view the apps most recently used by your device. Google Play will display every app you have installed on your device, along with sorting options shown off to the right of your device. Swipe to the right or select the Installed tab from the top of the menu.By default, this page opens on your recently-updated apps-however, we need to view your installed apps. At the top of the menu, hit My apps and games to open the list of all your apps.Open up the Play Store from your app drawer or from your home screen, and slide the left menu open (or hit the menu button in the top-left corner).
