You know the moment. You tap an app, and nothing happens. You tap it again, harder, as if that helps. Then the app finally opens, but it stutters, the keyboard lags behind your fingers, and a photo takes an embarrassingly long time to load. A phone that once felt instant now feels like it is thinking about every single thing you ask it to do.
Before you do anything drastic, take a breath. A slow phone is rarely one single problem. It is usually a pile of small problems: a storage drive that is too full, too many apps fighting for attention in the background, an old software version, or a battery that can no longer keep up. And most of those small problems have small, free fixes.
This guide walks through them in the order you should try them, from the easiest wins to the last resort. It covers both Android and iPhone, and where the steps are different, it says so clearly. You do not need any special tools, and you should be suspicious of any app that promises to magically speed up your phone. The real fixes are boring, built-in, and they work.
One honest note before we start: no tip in this article will turn a five-year-old budget phone into a brand-new flagship. If the hardware itself is worn out, these steps will make it noticeably better, not brand new. But for most people, “noticeably better” is exactly what they need, and it costs nothing.
First, restart your phone
Yes, really. Start here, because it is the simplest fix and it works more often than people expect.
When your phone runs for weeks without a restart, temporary glitches pile up. Apps leave bits of themselves running in the background. Memory gets fragmented. Something that should have closed stays half-open, quietly using resources. A restart clears all of that out in one go.
On iPhone, hold the side button and a volume button together, then slide to power off. Wait a few seconds, then hold the side button until the logo appears. On most Android phones, hold the power button and tap Restart, or Power off and then turn it back on.
Do this once, then use your phone normally for a few minutes. If it feels snappier already, great — you may have just fixed a temporary jam. If it still feels slow, do not worry. The restart cleared the way for the deeper fixes below, and some of them work better on a freshly restarted phone.
How often should you restart? There is no strict rule, but once a week is a sensible habit. Think of it like tidying a desk: you do not need to do it every day, but if you never do it, the clutter eventually gets in the way.
Free up storage: the single biggest win
If you do only one thing from this article, do this one. A phone that is almost full is a phone that struggles.
Your phone needs free space to work properly. It uses storage not just for your photos and apps, but for temporary files, updates, and breathing room while apps run. When the drive is nearly full, everything gets slower: apps take longer to open, the camera hesitates before taking a photo, and updates may refuse to install at all.
As a rule of thumb — not a manufacturer specification, just a practical target — try to keep at least 10% of your storage free. On a 128 GB phone, that is roughly 13 GB. On a 64 GB phone, roughly 6 GB. If you are below that, freeing space is your top priority.
Here is how to check. On iPhone, go to Settings, then General, then iPhone Storage. On Android, go to Settings, then Storage. Both screens show you what is eating your space, usually in a helpful bar chart: apps, photos, videos, system files, and everything else.
Then work through the biggest categories, one at a time.
Start with videos. A few minutes of video takes up far more space than hundreds of photos, and most people have old videos they will never watch again. Delete the duplicates, the accidental recordings, and the clips you already shared. If you want to keep them, back them up first — to a cloud service or a computer — and then delete them from the phone.
Next, look at your apps. Both iPhone and Android storage screens sort apps by size. You will almost certainly find apps you forgot you installed, games you finished months ago, and apps you opened once and never again. Delete them. You can always reinstall an app later if you need it, and deleting it does not delete your account — your account lives with the service, not on your phone.
Photos are trickier, because people are rightly nervous about deleting them. Do not delete in a panic. Instead, turn on a cloud backup if you use one, wait until it says your photos are backed up, and then use the built-in “free up space” option. On iPhone, look at iCloud Photos settings. On Android, Google Photos has a “Free up space” option that removes backed-up copies from the device while keeping them in the cloud. If you do not use cloud backup, copy your photos to a computer first. The rule is simple: never delete the only copy of a photo.
Finally, check your downloads folder and your messaging apps. Downloaded files, old attachments, and videos forwarded in group chats quietly pile up. On Android, a file manager app will show you the Downloads folder. On iPhone, check the Files app. A quick clear-out here can free a surprising amount of space.
After you free space, restart your phone again. Many people notice the difference straight away, especially when opening the camera and switching between apps.
Delete unused apps properly
Deleting apps is about more than storage. Every app you install can ask for background permissions, send notifications, and run little background tasks. An app you never open can still be part of the crowd slowing your phone down.
On iPhone, there is a feature called Offload Unused Apps, in Settings, then General, then iPhone Storage. It removes the app itself but keeps its documents and data, so if you reinstall it later, everything is still there. That is a good middle ground if you are nervous about deleting. But for apps you genuinely do not want, delete them fully: press and hold the icon, then tap Remove App, then Delete App.
On Android, go to Settings, then Apps, and sort by the apps you use least. Or long-press an app icon and tap Uninstall. Some phones also have a “manage apps” screen that shows when each app was last used, which makes the decision easy. If you have not opened it in three months, you probably do not need it on your phone.
A word about the apps that came with your phone. Some pre-installed apps cannot be fully uninstalled, only disabled. Disabling is still worth doing: it stops the app from running and hides it from your home screen. On Android, go to the app’s info page and tap Disable. On iPhone, most built-in apps can now be deleted like any other app, and reinstalled from the App Store if you change your mind.
Be careful with one thing, though. Do not delete apps that run things you rely on without thinking: your banking app, your authenticator app, or an app that holds tickets or passes you need this week. If in doubt, leave it and move on to the next app.
Clear cache where it helps, and skip the “booster” apps
Cache is one of those words people throw around without explaining. In plain English, cache is temporary data that apps save so they can load faster next time. A maps app caches map tiles. A social media app caches images you have already seen. Used well, cache makes your phone faster.
The problem is that cache also grows. An app you use every day can build up a large cache over months, and occasionally that cached data gets stale or corrupted, which makes the app sluggish instead of fast. Clearing it gives the app a fresh start, without deleting your account, your messages, or your saved content.
On Android, you can clear an app’s cache individually. Go to Settings, then Apps, pick the app, then Storage, then Clear Cache. Do not tap Clear Data by accident — that is different, and it will sign you out and delete the app’s saved data. Clear Cache only. Start with the apps you use most, or the one that feels slowest.
On iPhone, there is no single “clear all cache” button, and that is deliberate. Instead, many apps have a cache or storage option inside their own settings. Safari’s cache can be cleared in Settings, then Safari, then Clear History and Website Data — but note that this also clears your browsing history and signs you out of websites, so only do it if you are comfortable with that. For other apps, the reliable way to clear a bloated cache on iPhone is to delete the app and reinstall it, which is annoying but effective, and your account data will still be there when you sign back in.
Now, the warning. You do not need a “phone booster,” “RAM cleaner,” or “speed up” app. In fact, on modern phones, these apps often make things worse. Android and iOS already manage memory themselves, and they are good at it. An app that constantly kills other apps in the background forces your phone to reload them from scratch every time, which uses more battery and feels slower, not faster. The same goes for apps that claim to “cool your CPU” or “boost your RAM” with one tap. Skip them. The built-in tools in this article do the job, without the ads and the background drain.
This is also a good moment to be honest about one common myth: closing all your apps from the app switcher does not speed up your phone. Swiping away every app feels productive, but your phone is designed to keep recently used apps ready in memory so they open instantly. Force-closing them all just means your phone has to start them cold next time. Close an app if it is misbehaving or frozen, by all means. But do not make a ritual of closing everything, several times a day. It is wasted effort.
Update your software, and your apps
It is tempting to ignore update notifications. Updates take time, they need storage, and occasionally one changes something you liked. But software updates are one of the most reliable ways to speed up a phone, because they often include performance fixes, bug fixes, and efficiency improvements that you never see listed in detail.
On iPhone, go to Settings, then General, then Software Update. On Android, go to Settings, then System, then Software Update — the exact wording varies by brand, but it is always in Settings, near the bottom. If an update is available, install it when you have a charger and a stable Wi-Fi connection, and back up first if you have not backed up in a while.
Then update your apps. Outdated apps can misbehave on newer software, and app updates frequently fix the exact kind of sluggishness you are trying to solve. On both platforms, open your app store, check for updates, and install them. Turning on automatic updates, over Wi-Fi only, saves you from having to remember this step in future.
One caution: if your phone is very old, and the manufacturer has stopped offering updates for it, that itself is useful information. A phone that no longer receives security updates is a phone whose useful life is coming to an end, however well you maintain it. That does not mean you must replace it tomorrow, but it is worth knowing, and it is one of the factors in the “repair or replace” decision at the end of this article.
Tame background activity and animations
A lot of slowness is not about one app being slow. It is about twenty apps all trying to do something at the same time, in the background, while you are trying to do one thing in the foreground.
Background App Refresh is the iPhone name for this. It lets apps check for new content even when you are not using them. Go to Settings, then General, then Background App Refresh, and turn it off for apps that do not need it. Your messaging and email apps probably do need it. That game you finished, that shopping app, that news app you open once a week — those do not.
On Android, the equivalent is background data and battery usage. Go to Settings, then Apps, pick an app, then Mobile Data or Battery, and restrict background activity for apps that do not need to run constantly. Android also has a Battery Optimisation setting that puts rarely used apps to sleep, and on most phones it is on by default. If you turned it off at some point, turning it back on is worth doing.
Notifications are part of this too. Every notification wakes your screen, buzzes, and pulls your attention. That is not just a distraction problem; it is a battery and performance problem, in a small way, across a whole day. Go through your notification settings and turn off notifications for apps that do not genuinely need to interrupt you. You will probably find that half of them do not.
Then there is a small visual trick that can make a phone feel faster, even if it is not technically faster: reducing animations. Animations are the little transitions when you open an app, switch screens, or go back home. They look nice, but on a struggling phone, they can make everything feel slow, because you are waiting for the animation to finish before you can do the next thing.
On iPhone, go to Settings, then Accessibility, then Motion, and turn on Reduce Motion. On Android, go to Settings, then About Phone, and tap the Build Number seven times to unlock Developer Options — this sounds dramatic, but it is a standard, safe step — then in Developer Options, set Window Animation Scale, Transition Animation Scale, and Animator Duration Scale to 0.5x, or off entirely. Your phone will feel noticeably snappier, because it stops making you wait for flourishes you stopped noticing years ago.
While you are in settings, check your home screen widgets. A widget that updates live — weather, news, stocks, sports scores — is a small app running on your home screen, all day. One or two are fine. A whole home screen of live widgets is a crowd. Remove the ones you do not actually glance at.
Check your battery health
This is the step most people miss, and it explains a lot of mysterious slowness, especially on older phones.
Batteries age. After hundreds of charges, a battery cannot hold as much charge as it did when new, and it cannot deliver power as steadily. When a phone detects that its battery cannot reliably deliver peak power, it may slow the processor down to prevent unexpected shutdowns. That is not a conspiracy to make you buy a new phone. It is a safety measure to stop your phone switching off in the middle of a call. But the result feels the same: a phone that used to be fast now feels sluggish, particularly when the battery is low or the phone is cold.
On iPhone, you can check this directly. Go to Settings, then Battery, then Battery Health and Charging. You will see Maximum Capacity as a percentage. A new phone is at 100%. As it ages, that number falls. There is no magic threshold, but if your battery health is well below 80% and your phone feels slow and dies quickly, the battery is very likely part of the problem.
On Android, there is no single built-in battery health screen on every phone, which is frustrating. Some brands, such as Samsung, show battery health in Settings, then Battery and Device Care, then Diagnostics. On other Android phones, you can check battery health through your manufacturer’s support app, or by dialling a diagnostic code if your brand supports one. If you cannot find it, look at the symptoms instead: does the phone die suddenly from 20% or 30%? Does it feel slower when the battery is low? Does it get unusually hot during normal use? Those are all signs of an ageing battery.
If the battery is the problem, the fix is a battery replacement, not a new phone. A replacement is usually far cheaper than a new handset, and for many phones it restores both battery life and speed in one go. Get it done by the manufacturer or a reputable repair shop, because a poor-quality battery is worse than an old one. And back up your phone before you hand it over, just in case.
Try safe mode, and check for a rogue app
Sometimes the problem is not your phone in general. It is one app, misbehaving, and dragging everything else down with it.
Think back: did the slowness start around the time you installed something new? Does the phone get hot or slow only when a particular app is running? Does the battery drain far faster than it used to, with no change in how you use the phone? If so, that app is your prime suspect.
On Android, you can test this with Safe Mode, which restarts the phone with only its built-in apps running. To enter Safe Mode, hold the power button, then long-press Power Off until you see the Safe Mode option, and tap it. If your phone feels fast in Safe Mode, a downloaded app is almost certainly the problem. Restart normally to leave Safe Mode, then uninstall recently installed apps one at a time, starting with the most recent, until the slowness goes away.
On iPhone, there is no Safe Mode, but the same logic applies. Check Settings, then Battery, and look at battery usage by app over the last 10 days. An app using a huge share of battery in the background, when you barely open it, is a red flag. Delete it and see if things improve. You can also check Settings, then General, then iPhone Storage, and look for apps with unusually large documents and data — sometimes an app’s stored data has grown out of control, and deleting and reinstalling it fixes the problem.
This is also a good time to review app permissions. An app that does not need your location all the time should not have it. Go to your privacy or permission settings and change location access to “While Using” or “Never” for apps that do not need it always. It will not transform your phone’s speed on its own, but it reduces background work, and it is good privacy hygiene anyway.
The quick 5-minute checklist
If you only have five minutes, do these, in this order. They are the highest-impact steps, and you can do most of them while waiting for a kettle to boil.
- Restart your phone.
- Check your storage. If you are nearly full, delete a few large videos or unused apps right now.
- Delete three apps you have not opened in months.
- Turn off Background App Refresh, or restrict background activity, for apps you rarely use.
- Update your software and your apps, or at least check whether an update is waiting.
Then use your phone normally for a day. If it feels better, you have your answer, and you can work through the rest of this guide at your leisure. If it still feels slow, move on to the deeper steps: clear cache on your slowest apps, reduce animations, and check battery health.
The last resort: factory reset, with a warning
If you have tried everything above and your phone is still painfully slow, a factory reset is the final software fix. It erases everything and returns the phone to the state it was in when it left the factory. That is why it works: it removes every accumulated glitch, bloated cache, and misbehaving app in one go. It is also why you must treat it with respect.
Back up first. Completely. On iPhone, back up to iCloud or to a computer. On Android, back up to your Google account and check that your photos, contacts, and messages are included. Do not start a factory reset until you have confirmed that the backup is finished. People lose years of photos this way, every single day, and it is entirely avoidable.
Then, on iPhone, go to Settings, then General, then Transfer or Reset iPhone, then Erase All Content and Settings. On Android, go to Settings, then System, then Reset, then Erase All Data. The phone will restart, and you will set it up as if it were new.
Here is the important part: do not restore every single app immediately. Set the phone up, restore your contacts, photos, and messages, and use it for a day with just the essentials. If it feels fast again, the problem was software, and you have fixed it. Then reinstall apps gradually, a few at a time, and you will spot quickly if one of them brings the slowness back. If you restore everything at once, you may simply restore the problem along with it.
A factory reset will not fix a worn-out battery or failing hardware. If the phone is still slow after a reset, with only a few apps installed, that points to hardware, and it is time to make the repair-or-replace decision below.
When it is time for a new phone, not a new trick
There comes a point where no amount of tidying will help, and it is kinder to say so than to keep promising tips. Consider a new phone, or a professional repair, if several of these are true: the manufacturer no longer offers software or security updates, the battery health is very low and a replacement is not practical or economical, the phone is slow even after a factory reset with few apps installed, or it has physical damage that affects how it works.
That decision is also getting more expensive, which is worth knowing before you shop. The same AI boom that is pushing chip demand to record levels is also pushing up prices for phones, laptops, and consoles, so a phone you buy today may cost more than the equivalent model did a couple of years ago. That is one more reason to try the free fixes first, and to get the most out of the phone you already own.
On the other hand, if you do decide to upgrade, the market is moving fast, and it pays to check what is actually coming rather than buying on impulse. Our roundup of the next phone wave, from iPhone 18e leaks to the Vivo X500 series and the OnePlus Ace 7 Pro, is a good place to start, because it separates confirmed launches from leaks and tipster claims. A phone bought a month too early, just before a launch you would have wanted, is an avoidable regret.
Whichever way you go, make the decision on evidence — battery health, storage, update support, and how the phone feels after a proper clean-up — not on frustration in the moment. Frustration is a bad shopping advisor.
Frequently asked questions
Will deleting photos speed up my phone?
It can, if storage is nearly full. Photos themselves do not slow a phone down just by existing, but a full drive does. Back up your photos first, then remove the copies from the phone, and you should notice the difference, especially with the camera and app switching.
Is it safe to clear cache?
Yes, if you clear cache and not data. On Android, use Clear Cache in the app’s storage settings. Clearing cache does not delete your account, messages, or saved content. Clearing data does, so do not confuse the two. On iPhone, most apps do not offer a cache button, and deleting and reinstalling the app is the reliable equivalent.
Do “phone booster” apps work?
No. Modern Android and iOS already manage memory well on their own. Booster and RAM cleaner apps usually force apps to reload from scratch, which uses more battery and feels slower. Stick to the built-in settings in this guide.
Should I close all my apps to speed up my phone?
No, not as a habit. Your phone keeps recently used apps ready in memory so they open instantly. Force-closing them all means the phone has to start them cold next time. Close an app only if it is frozen or misbehaving.
Why is my phone slower when the battery is low?
Because an ageing battery cannot always deliver peak power reliably, and the phone may slow the processor to prevent sudden shutdowns. Check battery health in your settings. If it is low and the phone dies suddenly, a battery replacement may restore both battery life and speed.
Will a factory reset definitely fix a slow phone?
It fixes software problems, which are the most common cause. It will not fix a worn-out battery or failing hardware. Back up completely before you reset, and reinstall apps gradually afterwards, so you can spot if one app brings the problem back.
How much free storage should I keep?
As a rule of thumb, aim for at least 10% free. This is a practical target, not a manufacturer specification. If you are below it, freeing space is the first thing to do.
The bottom line
A slow phone is annoying, but it is rarely a mystery, and it is rarely a reason to rush out and buy a new one. Restart it. Free up storage. Delete the apps you forgot you had. Clear cache where it helps, and ignore the booster apps. Update your software. Tame the background crowd, and turn down the animations. Check the battery, because an ageing battery explains more slowness than most people realise. And keep the factory reset in reserve, with a full backup, for the day nothing else works.
Work through those steps in order, and most phones feel noticeably better — often after just the first few. You bought your phone to serve you, not to make you wait for it. A little tidying, done properly, usually gives you that feeling back, without spending a penny.
