Android Phone App
Lesser apps running means faster phone. Pictured: This photo illustration shows the Android application logo of Swedish music streaming service Spotify on March 7, 2013 in Stockholm, Sweden. Sweden is at the forefront of a global recovery in music sales driven by streaming music services such as Spotify. Getty Images/Jonathan Nackstrand

Sometimes, Android smartphone user interfaces may get a bit boring and slow down after some time. However, this problem is solvable through installing the right apps for the job. Here are some apps and tricks that we have to help you out.

Changing Launchers

If you notice your phone slowing down for no reason, you can change your launcher to fix that. So far, the official Google Now launcher works best as it is from Google and the company developed Android. However, if you need a different style, you can also get other third-party launcher apps like Nova launcher. With these installed, you can make your phone’s UI faster and even customize it to your liking.

Forcing GPU Rendering

With this feature activated, the UI will respond faster and allow you to move faster in your phone. To activate this feature, check the About page in your Settings menu and tap the build number for seven times. A new setting will show called Developer Options, and from there, you need to find the Force GPU Rendering. Some phones work differently for this, and you may have to search for your own phone’s version.

Turning Off Animations

While animations may make your phone look better, it actually eats up the performance speed of your phone while doing that. By turning this feature off, your phone will focus its processing more on running your apps than doing extra animations. With its focus on processing, your Android phone will definitely be faster. The settings for this will also be in the Developer Options page.

Closing Unused Apps

More than just hanging out in the background, idle apps actually use up your phone’s processing and may interfere with other processes as your phone struggles to try to run all active apps at the same time. To avoid this, clear up your active apps every now and then or simply close the app active app list once you’re done with it. This way, your phone can focus on processing more on the apps you’re currently using, making it work faster. Apps like ShutApp can automate closing these unused apps for you or you can do this manually through the active app manager and close them off one by one.