Almost every smartphone feels slower after a year or two. Apps take longer to open, the keyboard lags and the battery seems to drain before lunchtime. The good news is that most slowdowns have ordinary causes that you can fix yourself without buying a new handset.
This guide walks through nine practical steps, roughly in the order worth trying them. They apply to both iPhone and Android, although menu names vary slightly between manufacturers and software versions. Work through them one at a time so you can tell which change made the difference.
Restart the phone properly
A full restart clears temporary files and stops background processes that have got stuck. Many people only lock the screen for weeks at a time, which means the phone never gets a clean start. Switch it off completely, wait a few seconds and turn it back on.
If you only do one thing today, do this. Making it a weekly habit is a cheap way to keep a phone feeling fresh, and it costs nothing.
Install pending updates
Both Apple and Google release software updates that include performance and security fixes. Check the system update section in Settings and install anything waiting, ideally while the phone is charging and connected to Wi-Fi. Also update your apps through the App Store or Google Play, because an outdated app can be slow or buggy on its own.
Be aware that very old handsets may stop receiving updates altogether. If yours is out of support, that is worth knowing, because it affects both speed and security. Our guide to setting up two-factor authentication is a useful extra layer if your phone can no longer be updated.
Free up storage space
A phone that is almost full tends to run poorly, because the system needs spare room to work. Aim to keep a healthy amount free rather than filling the device to the last gigabyte. Delete apps you no longer use, clear large downloads and remove old videos you have already saved elsewhere.
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Photos and videos are usually the biggest culprits. Moving them to cloud storage or a computer can free a surprising amount of space, and our guide to backing up phone photos explains how to do it safely before you delete anything from the handset.
Tidy up apps that run in the background
Some apps refresh content, track location or send notifications constantly, which uses processing power and battery. In your settings you can limit background refresh and restrict which apps can use location all the time. Notifications from apps you never read are another quiet drain, so switch off the ones that add nothing.
Check which apps use the most battery in the battery settings. If an app you barely use appears near the top, that is a good candidate for removal or tighter limits.
Clear caches and browser clutter
Browsers and apps store temporary files so pages load faster, but over time these caches can grow large and sometimes cause glitches. On Android you can clear the cache for individual apps in the app settings. On iPhone, clearing website data in the Safari settings has a similar effect. Expect to be signed out of some websites afterwards.
Closing dozens of open browser tabs also helps. Each one takes memory, and old tabs are rarely needed.
Check battery health
A tired battery can make a phone feel slow, because the software may deliberately limit performance to avoid unexpected shutdowns. Both major platforms show a battery health indicator in the settings, though the wording and availability vary by model. If the figure is low, a battery replacement from the manufacturer or a reputable repairer is often much cheaper than a new phone.
Avoid leaving the phone in a hot place, such as a car dashboard in summer, because heat shortens battery life. Charging habits matter less than most myths suggest, but extreme heat is genuinely harmful.
Reduce visual effects and widgets
Animations, live wallpapers and busy widgets look nice but use resources. Turning on a reduced-motion setting in the accessibility options can make an older phone feel snappier, since screen transitions become simpler. A plain wallpaper and fewer widgets on the home screen also help.
This is a trade-off between looks and speed, and you can easily switch it back if you do not like the result.
Scan for problem apps and scams
Occasionally a slow phone is a sign of unwanted software. Only install apps from the official stores, and be wary of apps asking for permissions that make no sense, such as a torch app wanting access to your contacts. If you have clicked a suspicious link, read our advice on stopping spam calls and texts and change important passwords from a clean device.
Both platforms include built-in protections, so a separate security app is rarely essential. If you do choose one, pick a well-known name and read recent reviews first.
Back up, then consider a factory reset
If nothing else works, a factory reset returns the phone to its original state and often removes stubborn software problems. Before you do this, make a full backup, confirm that your photos, messages and app data are safely stored, and make a note of the accounts you will need to sign back into. A reset erases everything on the device, so do not skip the backup.
After resetting, restore only the apps you actually use rather than restoring everything automatically. That alone can keep the phone fast for much longer. If it is still slow, the hardware may simply be ageing, and it may be time to think about repair or replacement. We are not able to diagnose individual devices, so the manufacturer’s support pages are the best place for model-specific advice.
