Useful maintenance tips for Android handsets

Any electronic device will slow down and perform less effectively as it gets older.

Unfortunately, smartphones are no exception.

Indeed, the constant variety of uses they’re put to means mobile phones are particularly prone to suffering performance drop-offs and general issues.

Performance slowdowns manifest themselves in various ways, from freezing and hanging to sluggish webpage/document downloads.

Games may begin to experience lag, apps might take longer to open up, and you could even find the screen isn’t as responsive as it used to be.

However, it isn’t necessary to meekly accept your phone has lost its former sprightliness, and start browsing websites dreaming of a replacement handset.

And nor is it necessary to conduct a full factory reset to restore some of your current device’s original performance.

Operating systems tend to feature a variety of tools which will improve processing speed and efficiency.

And while some techniques are well-known, such as moving old media files to the cloud, others are less well publicised.

These are some of the Android maintenance tips which will keep your phone operating to the best of its abilities…

Key Android maintenance tips

1. Conduct periodic power-offs. One of the best Android maintenance tips involves letting the phone battery run flat, and then rebooting it to empty memory and update software.
2. Delete unused apps. Getting to level 800 in Candy Crush in 2017 doesn’t mean you need to keep the app forever. Free up space and memory by uninstalling old or unused apps.
3. Uninstall social media apps. Instagram apart, you can do everything on webpages that you can do in an app. Facebook, Messenger and Snapchat are voracious battery-eaters.
4. Investigate usage information. On many devices, entering *#*#4636#*#* into the dial pad will reveal usage information, from app history to recent WiFi performance.
5. Perform software diagnostics. Android’s in-built Device Maintenance tool automatically frees up storage space, stops background apps running and improves battery life.
6. Run hardware diagnostics. Entering *#0*# should bring up a menu which lets you check the performance of hardware components, ranging from cameras and speakers to sensors.
7. Delete web history. This isn’t just useful if your viewing habits are NSFW. Clearing out your cache, cookies and temporary files can turbocharge a device’s web browser.
8. Install the latest operating system. Although certain smartphones get the newest version of Android before others, check if your OS can be updated in Settings > Software Update.
9. Nurture the battery. Don’t charge it overnight, since this will damage battery cells. Charge at 40 per cent back up to 80 per cent, letting it fully discharge once a month.
10. Don’t rely on the hard drive. If your handset supports microSD cards, transfer media files onto it. Phones run faster if they have a higher percentage of available internal space.