Our phones help us connect to the world. Especially in this digital age where most people are glued to their screens. And if you are like me, you probably operate your phone for several hours at a stretch.
It is important then, that our device is up to speed and gives us a smooth doorway into the digital world. How frustrating it could be sometimes when this doorway seems clogged up and our connections slow. You want to check out that new video, and then your phone crashes. Bummer! Or you want to browse your favourite website but your device hangs, huh! Probably feel like smashing the phone or screaming at it "come on! "
If your phone seems slow, here are eight ways to help speed it up.
1. Restart your phone:
Yes! Your phone is a digital device and it could slow down over time, you probably have several apps running in the background, consuming memory and battery power, making your phone seem like its on a highway with clogged up traffic. A simple restart would freshen things up.
Just hold the power button for a five to thirty seconds and select the option to restart. Your phone would really appreciate that break, coming back fresh and strong, giving you a smooth performance.
While not mandatory, you should aim to restart your phone every couple of days, or at least once a week.
On some phones, you can even set it to automatically restart at a certain day and time of the week. This way even if you are forgetful of it, your phone still gets its refreshing.
2. Close Unused apps
Sometimes we navigate from one app to another. We open up the calculator to perform some quick sums, then we check out our Facebook page, feeling bored, we open our favourite game app and play a while, next we check out some idea with Google Search... Wow. All this tasks consume your phone's resources. And it is quite easy to forget that these apps are still running in the background. They could cause your phone to slow down. If you are done with an app, close it. And I do not mean just tapping the home button to exit, no, clear it from the background. When you close unused apps, you ensure that your phone's resources are given mostly to the current app you are using.
To clear apps running in the background, tap the three parallel lines ||| on the left of your home button, this can vary with your device type. For some phones, you would have to swipe up from the bottom on the home screen. Once you do that, you would see all the open apps in small windows. Close each one by swiping up or sideways, or just tap the X button on each window. Alternatively, you could just close all at once by tapping a small broom icon at the bottom. Doing this frequently would enhance performance.
3. Update your device operating system
When was the last time you updated your phone? Developers would regularly roll out updates to fix bugs in a previous version. If your software is outdated, it could lead to poor performance.
To check, go to Settings > scroll down to System and tap on it > Tap on Software version, or Update. At the bottom of the screen, tap on check for updates. If your device is up to date, you are good to go. However, should you have any updates, install them.
4. Clear cache and storage
Low storage space can cause your device to run slower than expected. On most phones you would be informed to free up storage. Go to Settings > Storage > Free up space. You would be presented with several options :
- clear junk files;
- delete large files;
- delete unused apps;
- delete photos and videos.
You can also tap on each app and see their storage use, and you can decide to clear up the data or cache for that app.
Clearing up storage regularly would ensure optimal device performance.
5. Clear Browsing Data
If you browse a lot, over time you begin to accumulate several cookies and history data that use up storage space. You should clear these once in a while.
Go to your browser > Tap on the menu icon
Settings
Select Privacy and Security
Next, select Clear Data.
Here you can select the data you want to delete; your browsing history, cache, or cookies.
6. Uninstall unused apps
For some of us, we install apps, use them for a few days and forget about them. These apps are using up storage space. If you have apps you have not used in the past three months, it is a good idea to uninstall them.
To uninstall an app, simply tap and hold the app icon and select uninstall.
You could also uninstall from your storage settings. Go to Settings > Storage >Apps Look for their app you do not need and then tap uninstall.
7. Scan for malware
If you install apps from unofficial sites, or download files from just any website, or source, chances are that you may have installed malware on your device. This poses security risks as well as slows down your phone.
You can install an antivirus on your device, simply go to your AppStore or PlayStore and install a good antivirus.
Also you can use PlayStore to scan for malware. Head over to PlayStore > Menu or profile > Play Protect > Tap on scan.
If there are harmful apps found on your device, follow the instructions to remove them.
8. Factory Reset
This is the last option you should resort to if all else fails. You should try out the tips above before performing a factory reset, and you should only do so if entirely necessary. Performing a factory reset returns your phone to how it was after it was first purchased. It returns everything to the original manufacturer's settings. This means all apps you installed would be cleared, all files, videos and photos would be lost, and your phone would seem brand new.
It is crucial to back up important files before performing a factory reset.
To do a Factory Reset, Go to Settings > System > Backup & Reset > Factory Data Reset.
Ensure your device is fully charged, as this may take a while.
There you have it.
Do not let a slow device be an inconvenience for you. Try out the eight steps above and enjoy a top performing digital device.
If you have any questions or wish to share your thoughts on this, drop a comment below.
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