Ever asked, “Why Is My Phone So Slow All of a Sudden?” A slow phone is one of the most annoying things a phone owner can experience. Everything on the device becomes so slow that you might have a snail in your hand.
It could be several reasons, and knowing the cause would help to find a fix. In this article, we will discuss 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 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 to function correctly.
Here are some other things that can cause a phone to get so slow all of a sudden;
- 1. 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 overheat 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.
- 2. RAM
If your phone has, say, a lesser RAM and the apps are maxing this out, you can expect your phone to get slower over time. So, try to 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 be the way to go.
- 3. 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 slow.
- 4. 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
Fix 1: Check Storage
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 (the default Android browser) or clear cache from third-party apps – you might as well do both.
To clear cache from the 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
Fix 3: Restart or Reset
You can try restarting or doing a factory reset when your phone gets slow suddenly. 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 look as 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 will 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
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. Aside from your privacy and security being at risk, they could also stop the background apps your phone needs to run correctly. 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 critical 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, you should try to update your phone.
To do this:
- Go to ‘Settings’
- Select ‘System’, then ‘System update’
- Here, you will see any available updates; simply download and install it
Fix 6: Troubleshoot Apps
Troubleshoot your apps and make sure an app isn’t the reason 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, try deleting them each, and check to see if it is fixed. This would help you figure out which particular app is 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, restart the phone normally.
Fix 7: Delete Unwanted Widgets and Disable Live Wallpaper
Nowadays, a lot of Android users make use of live wallpapers instead of regular static picture wallpaper. Sometimes, this might make your phone so slow all of a sudden. 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.