Android has kept its source code open for all. This means developers from all around the world can incorporate the operating system to their custom made devices. Some of these devices are premium and some of them are economical. The performance of the software depends hugely on the hardware resources it has. But people often relate the software to the speed and not the device capabilities.
It is perhaps because of this perception that Android devices are infamous for their responsiveness or the lack of it. Over its 10 years of evolution, Android and Play Store have done a lot to enlighten people about how to optimize their devices by practicing common exercises. These exercises include clearing temporary memories and managing the apps in a certain way.
Reasons Causing App Performance Slowdown
As iterated, the reasons are mainly twofold: software and hardware. Here is a detailed explanation to both of these preliminary reasons.
Hardware
The performance of the system overall and particularly the app launches and slowdowns could be down to the hardware not being capable enough to deal with a lot of functions at the same time. Most of the hardware and memory resources are dedicated to maintaining the general functions of the software. This leaves very little space of memory for the apps to launch and function smoothly.
Software
The slowdowns could also be because of bloatware or a skin applied on top of the software UI. These skins are a set of animations and user interfaces that are different from the stock or default ones. This way every time the user interface is interacted with, the system takes time to display the custom animations and custom graphics.
Another software related issue could be an older version of the operating system that is not apt enough to function smoothly. Updating the software is very much possible compared to updating the existing hardware resources of a device.
Ways to Speed-up Android Apps
The above issues that cause a slowdown are partially curable. We say partially because the existing hardware cannot be upgraded. The software too can be updated but without a strong hardware, this solution too would be just a haphazard one. Here are four ways by which you can improve the speed of your Android apps.
Update
Apps are built keeping the current programming and designing trends under consideration. Often these trends change. The programming language on which the Android apps are built often go through updates and codes are shortened or better. In these cases, top Android mobile application development services offer regular version updates of their apps. This ensures that the app is updated with its coding and other functionalities. This may result in an improved performance overall.
Storage
All apps need some storage to offer local functions such as launch and other hardware integrations. Other functionalities could be operated with a remote storage. Some apps store a lot of app data that may include codes locally in the device. The app keeps broadening its storage and saves a lot of user inputs to make the back and forth easy. This may lead to memory clusters. One way to free the unnecessary memory is to clear the cache memory that stores temporary user data. Another way is to clear the app storage which may include login credentials and other details from the app. You may have to enter the data again but clearing the memory cluster will avail a lot of temporary memory for your app to function.
Device
A device consists of multiple apps. The software storage also rests on the device memory. A lot of times the inbuilt memory is only sufficient to host a certain amount of data. Anything exceeding that amount can lead to slowdowns. Modern day Android devices are excellent but the thing with them is that they cannot be upgraded with the existing setup. One way to cure this is to uninstall and remove apps that you no longer use or apps that you rarely use. The web applications i.e. the website versions that operate from the browser are pretty much capable of performing all the functionalities that a mobile app does. Web applications do not store any data permanently on your device unlike the mobile apps. So for any static app, you can choose to remove it from your device and access it through its website. This keeps your device optimized and lets the apps that you chose to keep function smoothly.
OS
The operating system of a device plays probably the biggest role in how an Android app functions. Just like apps, even operating systems are made of programs that are written in a language. When the programming, algorithms and syntax evolve, it is important to reform the basis of an operating system. Updating the version of the OS could also lead to improved performances. This is of course if your device has the hardware resource to facilitate the new version. If it does, upgrading your OS could improve the launch time, speed and overall performance of your app. Of course there is a chronological order that you have to follow here. Your app also needs an updated version to comply with the overall system update. If both are done correctly, then the results will be obvious for you to experience.
Apps offer endless and wonderful possibilities. But maintaining Android apps is a tough task since the performances depend on various different aspects. Being open source also means that Android can be both optimized and wasted as a platform. Availability of your premier resources can prove to be fatal for your business and this is true for all businesses. Underwhelming devices can really notch down the user experience of the system and apps particularly. But optimized devices with maintained memory along with updated software and well maintained app versions can offer a seamless experience for the users.
Conclusion
Android, unlike its fierce rival Apple does not have a uniform user experience across the devices. The lack of synchronization between the software itself and the hardware that it powers can sometimes result in inconsistent performances for apps. This has been an ongoing issue for Android for years. This could perhaps also be the reason why we see so many version updates for Android apps and the platform itself. While the developers at Android do their bit to keep the platform neat, we can do our bit with our devices, the software and especially the apps to ensure that the user experience remains optimum.