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There are millions of Android apps in the market and each one wants to get to the top. Many app maker companies come up with different marketing strategies in order to attract customers and keep them using their app forever. However, some of the apps go to the extent of bloating your Android phone with many useless features and options. This may hinder the performance of your device and also make your device vulnerable.
To keep your device secure and keep it running like the day you bought it, we have created a detailed guide for you. This tutorial will significantly improve your Android’s performance, make it secure and also help you extend battery life.
Delete apps that induce too much bloatware onto your Android phone
Clean Master started off as one of the best Android apps on the Google Play store due to its efficient cache cleaning services. However, throughout these years the app has become too heavy on options and features. Features that you will never use. Some of these apps start showing up everywhere including your home screen, lock screen, notification panel, your charging or standby panel, and much more.
Moreover, it becomes a necessity for these app makers to make their customers keep using the app in order to make money. Even for a simple cache cleaner which you would rather use once or twice a month, you end up using it daily or all the time. This is because the app is everywhere right in front of you and also because it keeps pushing useless notifications. This is one of the reasons why Clean Master, ES File Explorer, and Battery Savers keep on adding new features with each update.
This strategy will heavily bloat your phone and gradually decrease the performance due to excessive services and apps running in the background. Bloatware is the features, services, programs, or software that you may never use, but they still exist.
Other such popular apps we have come across is the ES File Explorer, Battery saver apps, etc. The ES file explorer comes with tons of useful features. But sometime earlier it started showing ads even on the lock screen.
Here’s a simple logic –
The more people use the app, the more they can serve you advertisements. The more people see their ads, the more profit the companies make. Although showing ads is not a crime, but inducing tons of useless features and using a lot of memory is not a good practice.
Here’s why this logic is flawed –
The more the features, the more resources hungry the app gets. Thus, consumption of resources leads to degradation of performance.
How to setup Clean Master and its alternatives
In order to configure Clean Master, open the app, go to settings and disable every option there is. This will make the app consume less memory and improve performance.
There are many alternatives to Clean Master and
CCleaner is one of them. This is a popular tool from Piriform among Windows OS users. Another alternative is All in One Toolbox. Make sure you turn off all the useless features from settings.
Alternatives for ES File Explorer
Although you may not find an exact replacement for the ES file explorer with all the features and services intact, but there are many well known alternatives. One of them is the File Manager from ASUS (ZenUI).
Remove apps from Device Administrator Access
Some apps need Devices Administrator access in order to function. These apps include Android Device Manager from Google, Greenify, etc. which is quite normal for apps like these. Greenify and Android Device Manager are trustworthy and safe apps.
However, be careful to what apps you provide device administrator access. If a simple cache cleaner asks for administrator rights, then it’s fishy. This may prove to be a very vulnerable situation for your device’s security and privacy as well. It can take over your phone by asking Device Administrator right which is simply not acceptable.
Remove or delete Battery saver apps
As explained in our previous guide about saving battery life on your phone, the problem with these apps is that they simply don’t work. It is not a permanent solution just a temporary one. All the app does is clear the background running apps. Some of these apps may show wrong battery stats in order for you to keep using them.
Even though some of the battery saver apps incorporate feature similar to Doze Mode, but that feature comes inbuilt and pre-enabled with Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow, 7.0 Nougat or later.
If you need more convincing then you will find many blogs and tech websites featuring promoted or sponsored posts about these battery saving apps. Even the well-known web blogs are associated with affiliate marketing from these app makers.
Alternative to Battery saver apps
Greenify is the only app you will need to improve performance and save battery. Using Greenify you can add almost all the apps to a hibernation list. This will hibernate all the included apps and stop them from running in the background. As the apps won’t run in the background, you will have more RAM available all the time. Not to worry though, the apps will still be functional but only when you use them. This is actually a very effective and permanent solution to improve performance and significantly save battery on Android.
Delete or hibernate apps using too much memory
The famous social network app – Facebook is too heavy for Android. If you have limited RAM like 1 GB or 512 KB then you may most likely be suffering from lag or performance issues. Nowadays, phones with even 2 GB of RAM is struggling to keep up with the growing needs of these resource hungry apps.
Facebook framework has become so heavy that it needs separate apps to manage different services like Messenger, Groups, Moments, etc. Facebook continuously runs in the background and consumes a lot of memory.
You can find similar memory hungry apps from Settings> Battery stats. Hibernate or uninstall the most battery using apps.
Remove bloatware, unused apps or stock apps
Manufacturers like Samsung, LG, Sony, etc. build theire own framework over the stock Android sources. This framework includes the manufacturer’s stock apps, UI, services, functions, options, etc. which may sometimes prove to be bloatware. Meaning, the features or app, that a normal user may never use.
Bloatware most likely comes with a carrier phone like that from AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, etc. These telecommunication services install too much bloatware and force users to use their stock apps for internet usage, hotspot, etc.
If you have a rooted Android device, you can uninstall the unused stock or system apps that you never use.
Tips and tricks to improve performance, security, and battery on Android devices
- Perform a factory reset if the device gets too laggy.
- Keep your Android system updated. Install Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow or Android 7.1.1 Nougat.
- Hibernate the less frequently used apps like news apps, shopping apps, games, etc. using Greenify.
- Do not install apps from unknown sources.
- Disable all the connectivity options when not in use. Turn off Bluetooth, NFC, Cellular Data, Hotspot, GPS etc.