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RELATED: How to Access Android's List of Running Apps in 6.0 Marshmallow and Above Full Storage Leaves Little Room for Your OS to Run If you can’t uninstall it because it came with your device, disable it. If you don’t use an app that’s running in the background, uninstall it. How to Fix It: Disable live wallpapers, remove widgets from your home screen, and uninstall or disable apps you don’t use. To check what apps are using background processes, visit the Running Services menu in Developer Settings (on Marshmallow and above). Slim down your home screen and you’ll see an improvement in performance (and maybe even battery life). Similarly, if you’re using a live wallpaper or have a large amount of widgets on your home screen, these also take up CPU, graphics, and memory resources. If you’ve installed a lot of apps that run in the background, they can consume CPU resources, fill up RAM, and slow down your device. You’ve probably installed more apps as you continue to use your device, some of which open at startup and run in the background. Background Processes Can Slow Things Down If your apps seem slow, try switching to “lite” versions of the apps you’re already using.
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If your operating system seems slow, you could install a custom ROM that doesn’t have the bloatware and slow manufacturer skins many devices include-though keep in mind that this is generally for more advanced users and is often more trouble that it’s worth. How to Fix It: There’s not much you can do to alleviate this. RELATED: The Best "Lite" Versions of Your Favorite Android Apps You aren’t still using Microsoft Office 97 on your computer, for example-you’re using a newer version with more features that require more resources. This is true on every platform: as the years go by, websites become heavier, desktop applications want more RAM, and PC games become more demanding. As developers gain access to faster smartphone hardware, games and other apps may be optimized for this faster hardware and perform worse on older devices.
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RELATED: Why Your Android Phone Isn't Getting Operating System Updates and What You Can Do About ItĮven if you haven’t seen a single operating system update, the apps running on your device are newer. Or, your carrier or manufacturer may have added additional bloatware apps in an update, which run in the background and slow things down.
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If you’ve received Android operating system updates, they may not be as nicely optimized for your device and may have slowed it down. Your Android phone doesn’t have the same software it had a year ago (it shouldn’t, at least). Operating System Updates and Heavier Apps Require More Resources
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