A slow phone is one of the most annoying things that a phone owner can experience. Every single thing on the device becomes so slow that you think you just might have a snail in your hand. The experience is annoying and frustrating enough to make you want to throw the phone away – but hold on just a moment, we can fix this.
Are you wondering why your phone is so slow all of a sudden? It could be a number of reasons and knowing the cause would help to find a fix. In this article, we would be talking about some of the things that can make a phone so slow all of a sudden and the best fixes for it. Keep reading if you want to fix that phone.
Why Is My Phone So Slow All of a Sudden?
Your phone is slow all of a sudden because of a full storage and low RAM. When the available storage space runs out on your phone, it becomes overloaded and this can cause it to run very slowly. Apps and simple actions on the phone become extremely slow because there is too much pressure on the phone for it to function properly.
Here are some other things that can cause a phone to get so slow all of a sudden;
Overheating Battery
Using a phone while it is charging is one of the most common ways to get the battery overheating. Another way is to run multiple heavy apps at the same time. The battery could also get overheating when you use a counterfeit charger or the phone/battery is faulty. When a battery starts overheating, it causes the CPU to perform poorly, hence, making your phone so slow all of a sudden.
RAM
If your phone has, say a lesser RAM, and the apps are maxing this out, you can expect your phones to get slower overtime. So, try see what percentage of the RAM your devices need to run and if they’re maxing it out, or are close to maxing it out, or the phone has been in use for over 4 years, you can expect that it gets slower. So changing the device might just be the way to go.
Excess Cache
Every time you go on the web, your phone stores cache from each web page for easier access when you visit that page again. This can build up over time and cause the phone browsing to become slow.
Old Operating System
The reason why phones need to be updated as soon as new updates are published is that software updates usually come with bug fixes and new features to make the phone better and improve performance.
Phone So Slow All of a Sudden? Best Fixes
The first fix to try is to check that you are not running low on storage. If you are, you can try deleting unused apps or those you rarely use. You can also back up all your data and then delete those you don’t need to use every day (make sure they are backed up first). Next, try clearing all background apps, some apps will continue to run in the background when you are multitasking and this might cause your phone to slow down – especially if they are heavy apps. Lastly, you can try to turn OFF apps running in the background. To do this:
- Go to ‘Settings’ and then select ‘Apps’
- Select the app you want to stop and then click on ‘Force stop’
Fix 2: Clear Cache
Another fix that can make your phone run faster is to clear your cache. You can either clear cache from Chrome (default android browser) or clear cache from third-party apps – you might as well do both.
To clear cache from browser:
- Open the Chrome browser app on your phone
- Tap the menu icon at the top right corner of the screen
- Select ‘History’ from the dropdown menu
- Using the ‘Time range’ menu, select the oldest date you would like to clear from
- Click on ‘Cached Images and files’, then click on ‘Clear data’ to clear it
To clear cache from third-party apps:
- Go to ‘Settings’
- Click on ‘Storage’ and then ‘Internal storage’
- Select ‘Cached data’ then click ‘OK’ in the dialogue box that comes up
Read also: Why Won’t My Phone Send Pictures?
Fix 3: Restart or Reset
You can try restarting or doing a factory reset when your phone gets slow all of a sudden. This would reset the phone, clearing all data and previous settings on the phone. This way it would clear whatever is making the phone so slow all of a sudden and make it good as new. Note: make sure you back up your data before doing this.
To reset your phone:
- First, back up your data to your computer or One drive
- Go to ‘Settings’ and select ‘General Management’
- Then select ‘Reset’ and click on ‘Reset settings’
- After this, your phone would return to its original settings. Restart the phone and check if it’s still slow
- If it is, follow steps 1 to 3 again but instead of clicking ‘Reset settings’, click ‘Factory data reset’
- Restart the phone again and check if this fixes it
Read also: How to Know If Your Phone Is Being Tracked by the Police
Fix 4: Uninstall Cleaner Apps
Most android users turn to cleaner apps and task-killing apps to clean their cache and stop background tasks. More often than not, these apps do more harm than good. Asides from your privacy and security being at risk, they could also stop the background apps that your phone needs to run properly. The app might say it has cleared up a certain amount of space but actually, it hasn’t done anything. You might want to locate these apps and uninstall them if you have them.
Fix 5: Check for Updates
Updates are very important to the proper functioning of any phone because they come with bug fixes and performance improvements to make your phone work better. If you are facing the ‘phone so slow all of a sudden’ issue, then you should try to update your phone.
To do this:
- Go to ‘Settings’
- Select ‘System’, then ‘System update’
- Here, you would see any available updates, simply download and install it
Read also: How to Tell If Your Phone Is Spoofed
Fix 6: Troubleshoot Apps
To troubleshoot your apps and make sure an app isn’t the reason why your phone is slow. First, update all apps, then restart your phone and see if it’s fixed. If not, restart your phone in safe mode, this will temporarily turn OFF all downloaded apps. If the phone works properly in safe mode, then the culprit is one of your downloaded apps. Restart the phone normally and try deleting them each and checking to see if the phone is fixed. This would help to figure out the particular app disturbing your phone.
To update your apps:
- Go to ‘Play Store’
- Click on your profile in the top right corner of the screen
- Select ‘Manage apps and devices’
- Then you can choose to update all apps or just a specific one under ‘Updates available’
To restart your phone in safe mode:
- Press and hold the power key until a menu pops up
- In that menu, press and hold ‘Power OFF’ until you see ‘Reboot to safe mode’
- Click ‘OK’ to reboot to safe mode
- To exit safe mode simply restart the phone normally.
Read also: iPhone Not Charging But Turns On When Plugged In? Best Fixes
Fix 7: Delete Unwanted Widgets and Disable Live Wallpaper
Nowadays, a lot of android users make use of live wallpapers instead of the regular static picture wallpaper. Sometimes this might be the culprit making your phone so slow all of a sudden. Simply stop the live wallpaper, restart the phone and check if it’s fixed.
You can also delete unwanted or unused widgets from your home screen. To do this:
- Press and hold on to the particular widget, then drag it to the ‘Remove’ or ‘X’ button to delete it.
Conclusion
At the end of the day, there can’t be a fix for everything. If you’ve tried all these fixes and none of them worked for your phone, then it might be time to let go. You can also give your phone the last chance at survival by taking it to the nearest certified technician. They’ll definitely know what to do.
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A tech writer with a passion for demystifying complex technology for the masses. With a background in computer science and a knack for clear and concise communication, I have made a name for myself in the tech industry as a go-to source for understandable and engaging explanations of the latest developments. Learn more about tekpip and the team here on our about us page.