10 Things You are Doing Wrong on Your Android Device

Sep. 16, 2020

Whether its textingfriends on WhatsApp,clicking selfieswith the camera,jotting down notesor preparing for a board presentation, we do so much with ourAndroid smartphonesand thus, it’s important to keep track of things you might be doing wrong on your device. These days, everyone tends to give out tips to increase your Android device’s performance, battery, etc. but chances are, those tips are doing more harm than good. Well, we are here to let you know about the 10 things you might be doing wrong unintentionally on your Android smartphone.

What You Should Not Do on Your Android Device

Using3rd party task killer appsand killing apps through the recent apps button is something most of us do or have done in the past, without realizing that itmight be worseningyour Android device’s performance.

Actually, these apps were useful for the Android versions of the past like Lollipop or KitKat. However,Android has evolveda lot and it’s now much more efficient when it comes to handling tasks running in the background.

So, the bottom line is, only kill apps whenthey are misbehaving or drainingtoo much battery and also, completely avoid the various task killer apps on the Play Store. This will ensure that your Android device performs much better.

If you ask me honestly, I feel Android antivirus apps are not needed at all. These appstake a lot of resourceson the phone and they keep running in the background which eats up considerable battery juice. The fact is, if you are installing apps from Play Store and no third party apps are side-loaded on your device, Google has you covered against any malware or viruses.

Using app cleaners once in a while is a good practice, butonly if you have an older devicerunning a dated version of Android and you have no space left on your internal storage.

However, if you are using a modern Android device (Android 8 and above) with ample storage then you are better off leaving the cache as it’s. Cache data helps apps and services to run without any hiccups as the app data arelocally fetched for quick access.

For instance, WhatsApp caches data like the profile picture of contacts and the media shared to make sure you don’t have to load it up every time you open the app. Therefore, to keep the apps on your smartphone snappy,stop deleting cache data. Also, the apps start rebuilding the cache again after you delete it, so you will be back to square one.

I have encountered many Android users who keep the battery saver mode turned on all the time to save the juice, even when there is 90% battery left. This is not a good practice as it significantly hinders the proper working of Android. For instance, when battery saver mode is turned on, Androidnatively disables high-performing cores of the CPU.

Now when you do something intensive on your smartphone, your phone will only use the less-powerful cores which will result in slow performance, battery drain, andheating issue. Basically, the battery saver mode is doing more harm than good when you have ample juice left.

So the bottom line is, only enable battery saver mode when you aredown to 15% or 20%battery. Sure, when you are traveling and want to limit the background processes then you can turn on battery saving mode.

There’s still a lot of speculation behind this, but if you ask me, I think it’s a good idea to reboot your Android phone once in a while. Samsung has this feature since the S7 days and you can evenschedule auto-restarton the latest One UI build. Clearly, there is something about Android that slows it down over time.

This will clear up unnecessary processes holding on to your memory and willgive your device a fresh start. It is recommended that a reboot should be done once every week or once in a fortnight.

Many Android users grant all kinds of sensitive permissions to any app without diligently checking if the permission is needed by the app. For example,a photo-editing app does not need your contact or message permission. There are many such apps that abuse Android permissions mainly due to user’s lack of knowledge and what it can lead to.

So my recommendation would be to diligently check prompts before granting permissions. Apart from that, you can use anapp called Bouncer($0.99) which revokes permissions after you are done using the app. These kinds of healthy practices will make your Android experience more secure and private and you must inculcate these habits.

There are many instances where people use the default Android apps and most are either from Google or the device manufacturer’s Android skin. In my opinion, these default appsdon’t necessarily offer the best experienceand you should customize your Android smartphone to your own liking.

For instance,SMS Organizer(Free) is abetter text-messaging appthan Google Messages. Similarly, there aremany Android Launchersthat offer endless customization. Also, you can find many useful Android apps from our video below.

It has been two years since Google introduced the gesture system on Android, but users are still sticking to the old-school button navigation system. Sure, for some users, it works really well and they areaccustomed to it.However, the new gesture system is really fun to use and you can get things done in a swipe.

Google hasimproved the gesture systemeven more in Android 10 and the latest Android 11 so there are more reasons for you to try the new way to navigation Android OS. I am hoping that you will give the gesture system a try.

Among the many apps on Android, file-sharing apps are pretty popular for sharing files and media across devices. To name a few,ShareIt, Xender et al rule this spaceand it seems users are not aware ofbetter alternatives.

These apps show you all kinds of ads and have aclunky user experience. I would recommend you touse the new Nearby Share feature(works on Android 6 and above) or simply install the Files by Google app (Free). These are much better alternatives and you will have a seamless file sharing experience.

The ability to sideload an app on Android devices is what makes it an open OS that can be tinkered with. It can prove to be abane for many and boon for some. If you have the requisite knowledge and understanding of how Android works then you can go ahead and sideload apps from unknown sources.

However, if you are unaware of the complexities behind the Android ecosystem then stay away from sideloading apps. It can prove to be more fatal than you can imagine, especially onolder versions on Android.

So, make sure youonly install apps from trusted sources(Like the Play Store) and don’t run towards apps that guarantee you unlimited lives or money in a game, as it is understood that these apps are the ones that carry malicious code.

IfPlay Store is not available on your devicethen take a look at thetop Play Store alternatives. We have mentioned only those sources which are secure and have stringent APK verification mechanism so you are safe to sideload apps from these sources.

As I have mentioned above, you should begin with changing default apps and then you can install a launcher of your choice. I have mentioned the link above so go through the article for more information.

When you compare Android phones with iPhones, you get a clear picture that privacy is the front where Android lags behind. It can bring much better and tighter privacy controls to protect the user. Apart from that, Android is quite fragmented even after Project Treble so on the updates front, it’s again miles behind iOS. If you buy an Android device other than Pixel then you are not going to get day-one updates.

Nowadays, most Android phones come with a boatload of bloatware which is a major reason behind the stuttering and slow performance. If you are running MIUI then I would highly recommend you touninstall bloatware from Xiaomi devices.As for other Android devices, go through ourgeneral guideto make your Android phone run smoother.

If you are using an old Android device then make sure to uninstall unused apps so that you get ample storage. Next, you should limit the background process from Settings -> About -> Developer Options -> Background process limit -> Choose At most 1.

Your Android device will run only one process at a time but keep in mind, this solution is only meant for older Android devices. Also, insert an SD card and offload the apps to the external storage.

So these are some of the things that people tend to do wrong on their Android device and it reflects badly on the performance front. Currently, Android has improved by leaps and bounds and has matured as a modern OS. Simply put, these Android habits are a relic of the past and it would be better if you forget them. Anyway, that is all from us. If you think that we might have missed out on anything, please let us know in the comments section below and help us perfect the list of things we are doing wrong on Android.