No matter how good and expensive our mobile phone is, the truth is that the passage of time affects us all, even smartphones. Not only because of the simple wear and tear that we make of these devices on a daily basis, but there are also other factors that will cause any mobile to be slower than before.
In addition, it is quite common that, over the months, our terminal begins to reduce its power, that is, its performance is lower than at the beginning. For this reason, we will explain the main causes that will make us want to have, at this point, a new smartphone in our hands. Although, some of the solutions that we give you may help you in your cases.
Causes and reasons that slow down your phone
The factors that make any Android or iOS phone much slower than before are a few. In addition, we will leave aside the alleged conspiracy theories of some users who think that it is made this way so that people continue spending their money. We will base ourselves on fact. And it is that, the passage of months and years, not only affects us, but also smartphones.
Lack of space
One of the first points that leads to any phone slowing down is the lack of space. There comes a point that the internal memory of our phone is not enough. Here we must also include the cache of smartphones , since, whether we like it or not, it is a type of memory that phones use.
So, as the days go by, we fill our mobiles with documents, photos or apps. This will make it much slower than before, especially because of the cache. Although, as we will see later, this case will have an easy solution and it will only take a few minutes.
On Android phones we can help ourselves with tools like those included in Google Files to eliminate those junk files that have been accumulating on the phone. To do this, we must follow these steps:
- Enter the application .
- Click on the Clean tab.
- Tap on Clean > Delete . You can also free up space from large files, duplicates, videos, etc.
In the case of iPhones, we must go directly to delete multimedia files, documents and apps that we do not use. Well, in iOS, we will not have the help of Google Files as is the case with Android smartphones.
Hardware is old
The different manufacturers of the parts and components of smartphones do not stop at any time. In just a few months we can easily see how new processors have been released, increasingly powerful, new technologies that improve power… Therefore, it is normal that, at a time, the hardware of our mobile (the CPU and GPU) that they are especially in charge of performance , they are outdated. In addition to the degradation of these elements will also be an element to take into account.
Everything will depend on the daily use that we give to the smartphone, as well as the demand that we constantly ask of it. Therefore, this is a common cause that makes a mobile slower than before. If this is your case, there is little we can do. Basically, because our alternative is to buy a new phone to replace the old smartphone.
Blame the apps
The main problem may not be with the mobile , but rather that the apps you have on your phone demand too much from the smartphone’s hardware. In addition, this is related to the previous point, since it may be too old to use some of the different applications that we can find in software stores.
Furthermore, as we progress, the apps will become even more demanding, so they will need more resources and space to be able to work on the different mobile devices, making the performance of the terminals even more difficult. Therefore, our best option is to uninstall those softwares that demand too much. Although, we will also give you an alternative later that may come in handy if you want to continue maintaining certain applications.
can’t update
Although, one of the decisive factors is that the software of our mobile cannot continue to be updated . This will mean a before and after, more than anything, because if our phone can no longer continue to have new versions for its operating system, it means that its useful life for the company has come to an end, since it is too old.
Therefore, by not having the new best versions, the phone’s software becomes outdated, causing the different operating system updates to not continue to correctly optimize the operation of the Android or iPhone device. So, at one time or another, it will be almost inevitable that the performance of the smartphone will slow down.
Common Solutions
However, you must be clear that many of the following tricks to improve performance are intended to carry out daily maintenance of the terminal. In other words, it will be useless to leave it until the last moment (although it would still be helpful), the truth is that, as we will see later, the best solution is to prevent reaching this point. Although, there will be a good way to leave it as when we took it out of its box.
Delete what you don’t use
Many mobiles incorporate their own cleaning tool between their apps or within the system settings. If not, we can always do it on our own. It will be enough for us to empty space from the phone’s gallery of images and videos that take up more than necessary. In addition, we also have the option of deleting all the applications that we no longer use on the phone. In this way, we will make the smartphone go more fluid. And we can’t forget to empty the terminal’s own recycle bin, which is included in the reel app.
If we told you before about the option that includes Google Files, it will come in handy at this point. More than anything, because it will also tell us what files may be left over on the mobile device. And it is that, with this little help, it will be much easier to distinguish those elements that may be left over in the phone, which are weighing down its power.
Use lightweight apps
You are not the only one, there are many users who are unaware that there is software capable of continuing to fulfill practically, or most, of the functionalities of the original apps. But coming to occupy much less memory of the mobile device. We are talking about the ‘ lite ‘ versions of different apps for phones.
More and more apps that have a lighter version of themselves. We are, as we mentioned before, before apps that will take up less space than traditional ones, they will even be able to consume less. Among the best known we can find Messenger Lite , Facebook Lite or the Go versions of Google Chrome, Maps, etc. However, the negative side of this is that it is not available in most software, so it is a solution that falls short. Also, these alternatives are not available on the App Store.
expand your memory
If the internal storage of your phone has said enough, that is to say, you do not have a single giga or mega unoccupied, it is time for you to take action on the matter. You can always choose to clean the mobile trash. Although, if your smartphone has a microSD slot, you have an easier option, buy a card with large capacities. In this way, you can get the mobile to increase its speed . However, not all phones, such as iPhones, have this option.
Even, there are already many smartphones that have been able to enjoy virtual RAM memory technology. Basically, with these we will make the power of the smartphone more efficient when running various apps. However, this functionality has not reached everyone. But, you can always check it from your phone settings, using the quick search engine. And it is that more and more smartphones are adding this software tool.
Reset your mobile
It is a drastic solution, but effective. If we want it to be as fast as before, we have to start from scratch and delete all those unnecessary files that we don’t use or find on the smartphone. We only have to make a backup of the most important mobile.
Afterwards, it will be time for us to leave the Android terminal as new, recovering a large part of its storage. For this, we will have to follow these steps on Android phones:
- Enter your settings and go to the System section.
- Then, we must access its Reset Options > Factory data reset / Erase all data (These steps may vary from the customization layer of your Android device).
- Surely, it will ask us for the smartphone password to proceed with the reset.
- Finally, the phone will reboot after all data has been erased .
If you have an Apple smartphone, this will be the process that you will have to carry out on your iPhone :
- Go to Settings .
- Next, tap on the General tab > Transfer or reset iPhone .
- Within this section, we will find some reset options, but if you want to delete all the content you must click on the option Delete contents and settings .
- Then, tap on Continue . You may be required to enter your device security code or your Apple ID password to finally format your phone. In addition, it will show you everything that will be deleted from the smartphone.