You may have noticed that with time, your phone seems to slow down. You’ve probably heard rumors that software upgrades are to blame. Or you may have heard that software companies deliberately slow down phones before they announce a new device in hopes that it will encourage more people to buy the latest and greatest option. Do software upgrades slow phones down? While that’s certainly not the case, upgrades could still be the culprit. Continue reading to find out.
Background Programs Can Slow Things Down:
There are several ways in which software updates can slow your phone. First of all, as you continue to install new applications or new updates on existing applications, these programs may open automatically and start running in the background.
This is especially true of Android phones that allow multitasking, so each program is still taking up memory and performing functions without you realizing it. Live wallpapers and home page widgets can also take up CPU resources and memory.
You can speed things up by slimming down your home screen, ending running applications via your task manager, or ending background processes in your settings menu.
App Updates Don’t Work Well on Outdated Phones
Another way that applications slow your phone is because software updates may not be compatible with your device. App developers like to keep up with the latest software, so when a new version of your operating system comes out, the developer will update the app so that it works best with this new operating system.
Since most apps update automatically, you could have the newer version of the app on your phone without realizing it. Now that you have the version that’s optimized for a newer operating system, it won’t run as efficiently on your phone if it has an old operating system.
Furthermore, as technology advances, we’re able to develop applications that demand more RAM simply because newer devices are capable of it. But if your phone is a few years old already, it may not be able to handle the demands of newer apps that are trying to work at faster speeds than your device is capable of. Your best bet is to upgrade to one of the newer 4G phones to keep up with technology upgrades.
OS Upgrades Can Slow Things Down
Application updates aren’t the only updates that can slow your phone down. As new operating systems come out, you might think that if you download the new operating system, your phone will speed up because your applications will run more efficiently on it. That seems pretty logical given the information above, but that’s not always the case.
That’s because newer devices and new operating systems are built to go hand-in-hand. Take iOS 8 and the iPhone 6, for example. The iPhone 6 is developed with faster components and can therefore handle iOS 8’s demands. While the operating system technically works on phones as old as the iPhone 4S, installing it on older devices can actually slow the phones down because it’s too much for them to handle. They just don’t have the hardware to accommodate the software.
One report showed that iOS 8 on the iPhone 4S slowed applications down by seconds across the board. The report showed that it took 0.91 extra seconds to open Safari with iOS 8 than iOS 7.1.2. Furthermore, it’s noted that iPhone 4S users can’t even enjoy all the features of iOS 8.
In a world of fast-paced technology, full seconds of wait time can become quite disappointing when you’re expecting faster speeds, not to mention all the features that you can’t access because your phone can’t handle them. Among these unavailable features mentioned in the report, users won’t have access to AirDrop. The report also mentions that “the modern graphics frameworks introduced at WWDC, OpenGL ES 3.0 and Metal, are also not available as the GPU is too old.”
The Bottom Line
In short, it’s not so much the upgrades that slow a phone down but rather the phone’s own outdated technology. Simply put, application and operating system upgrades just aren’t as efficient on older devices. To keep up with faster speeds, it’s worth updating your phone often.
Are you not ready for an upgrade yet? Check out these tips on how to speed up your iPhone now.
