My Android Phone Suddenly Became Slow. Here Is What I Checked Before Factory Resetting It.
Not long ago my phone began to work slowly; it took more time than usual to open applications, I felt a small pause when texting, etc. And the first thing I thought about was performing a factory reset of it and finishing my issues this way. But a reset requires doing all the things over again, including logging into some applications once more, etc. Therefore, before resetting my phone, I tried to understand why it worked slowly. As it turns out, there is quite a lot of things to check. Here is what I checked, step-by-step.
1. I checked how full my storage actually was
This is the very first thing I would consider. Trust me, this is the most frequent reason why a smartphone starts working slow. Just go to Settings – Storage, and you will see how much storage is left on your device. It is when less than 10 or 15 percent of your device is free that everything becomes sluggish.
I even looked at the details behind that total, beyond just the bottom line number. For me it was forgotten photos and downloads. It could be that being near full is the only thing stopping everything else on this list from working out fine for you.
2. I thought about what changed recently
Typically, phones do not suddenly become sluggish without any apparent cause. I had to ask myself questions such as: did I just add anything new? Did a system update just go through? Have I added something new like a launcher or widget?
The importance of this action is that it changes from "My phone is slow" to "I did something specific." I compared the history of my installations in Google Play Store by date of installation to when the problem first occurred. It is easier to fix an app rather than the whole phone.
3. I looked for the specific app causing trouble
A poorly-behaving application affects everything. I headed over to Settings > Apps and took note of each individual application's battery usage and data consumption.
The usual suspects would be social applications that tend to aggressively refresh, freshly updated applications which have developed some kind of bug, and gaming applications. I force-stopped the offending application and observed how it affected things. This is a much better method of troubleshooting rather than the generic "clear the cache".
4. I skipped the booster and cleaner apps
But to be honest, I was tempted to use a simple "phone booster" application and that would be all that I needed. Don’t do this! Android is capable of managing the memory on its own, and many of these applications are only doing something that Android does anyway, plus they even have additional functions running in the background that will make everything worse. Many of these applications come with too many ads and unnecessary permissions.
5. I actually restarted it — not just turned off the screen
There is a true distinction between the act of simply locking the phone from powering it down. Processes in the background and apps that are semi-frozen gradually accumulate over several days and get resolved only when the device is restarted.
I long pressed the power key, chose the option to restart, and gave the phone enough time to turn on completely. If you don’t quite recall the last time you did that, it could be worth trying this simple solution.
6. I stayed realistic about updates
But updates can be both helpful and harmful. Some updates help fix problems, while others might create new ones, especially when applied to older devices that are running the latest versions of the software but weren't designed to run them.
If your issue happened at about the same time as an update, try researching it by looking up your phone model, along with the version of the update and the word "slow". And I wasn't going to hope that the next update will somehow miraculously solve everything.
7. I paid attention to heat
In case the phone becomes warm while doing very little, then that indicates that some operation is being done with unnecessary exertion, and in that case, Android deliberately limits the processing speed so that the processor does not become overheated.
I realized this because my phone was running hot even during simple browsing tasks, which led me back to step 3 and indicated that it was the excessive work of an app that was causing this.
If the phone is becoming hot during intensive activities like gaming or navigation, then this is fine.
8. I was honest about the phone's age
It's by far the least satisfactory response, and that’s likely the reason why many people disregard it. Batteries fade with time, and once you have one that has lost some of its capacity, your phone would automatically slow down itself to accommodate for that, on purpose. Memory cards also wear out, and even the cheap ones found in inexpensive phones really do become slower with age.
If your phone is more than three years old, some lag is normal aging.So when does a factory reset make sense?
But after having gone through all of that – the storage was good, there was no single app causing trouble, a restart was ineffective, the device wasn’t overheating, and the phone was not too old for it – a reset becomes a justifiable step. In other words, you have exhausted all easy explanations and the problem lies somewhere beneath the surface (e.g., a corrupt setting, the years of cruft built up, a bad update).
Anyhow, make sure to back up your photos and data beforehand. This part remains unchanged.