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How to speed up the LG G3

lg g3 root teaser
© nextpit

The LG G3 is a great phone with a huge screen, stacks of memory and a fast Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 processor, but some owners have found that it doesn’t feel as quick as a quad-core smartphone should. It turns out that some of the system settings can make the LG G3 feel slower than it is, and there are a number of changes you can make to make your G3 feel much faster. Here’s how to speed up the LG G3.

lg g3 root teaser
Rooting your LG can improve performance, but try these tips first. / © ANDROIDPIT

Clear the app cache and system cache

In Android, there are two places where your device stores temporary data: the app cache - where individual apps store things for fast access - and the system cache - where Android itself stores data for fast access. Both kinds of cache usually do their job without complaints, but from time to time they get messed up. If your LG G3 is prone to slowdowns, crashes, freezes or resets. the app or system cache could be the culprit. If the problem tends to happen with a single app, try clearing the app cache first. To do that:

  • Go to Apps > Settings > Application manager
  • From the All tab, find the app whose cache you want to clear, then tap it.
  • Tap Clear Cache

If the problem is system-wide rather than app-specific, the next step is to clear the system cache. To do that:

  • Go to Apps > Settings > General > Storage
  • Wait for the menu options to stop doing their sums
  • Tap Cached Data
  • Tap OK

Clearing the cache may take a second or two, but once it’s finished the screen will refresh and you should see that the listing for Cached Data is missing. That’s because right now, there isn’t any cached data.

AndroidPIT Nexus 5 Android 5 0 Lollipop clear app cache
Clearing any device's app cache can solve app-specific issues. / © ANDROIDPIT

Speed up system animations

Animated transitions in operating systems are often there to distract you while the system loads something, but there’s no need for that on a fast device such as the LG G3.

  • Go to Settings > Developer Options then turn it on.
  • Scroll down until you see Window animation scaleTransition animation scale and Animator duration scale. Tap each of these options, then select Animation scale .5x to get a speed boost while still keep some animation.
  • If you don’t notice any difference after making the changes, restart your G3.
androidpit developer options animations
Android's animations look nice but can make your device feel slow. / © ANDROIDPIT

Disable and uninstall your apps

Android offers genuine multitasking, which means that apps can continue to work even when you’re in a completely different app. That’s good, but if you’ve got loads of things running in the background then that could hit your LG’s performance. You can uninstall or disable unwanted apps in Settings > Apps > All.

AndroidPIT Nexus 5 Lollipop Factory Reset
Android's factory reset is the nuclear option, but it can make a big difference. / © ANDROIDPIT

Rip it up and start again with a factory reset

As the name suggests, a factory reset takes your LG G3 back to factory-fresh condition. It doesn’t remove any Android updates you might have installed, but it does remove your apps and personal data. We’re sure you backup important stuff regularly and sync your Google Account to ensure everything’s up to date, but there’s no harm in doing it again before you reset. Better safe than sorry. Make sure your phone’s charged, too.

There are two ways to reset your LG G3: via software, or via hardware. Let’s look at the software method first.

  • Go to Settings > Backup & Reset > Factory Data Reset
  • If you suspect your problems are being caused by a rogue app, uncheck the Automatic Restore option
  • Tap Reset Phone
  • Enter your lock pattern or passcode if required
  • Tap Erase Everything

The whole process takes a few minutes.

If your software’s locked up, you can reset your LG G3 this way:

  • Turn your phone off if it isn’t already
  • Press and hold the Volume Down button and then press and hold Power. Wait for the system recovery screen to appear before releasing the buttons
  • Select Factory Data Reset by navigating with the volume buttons. Use Power to confirm your selection
  • Select Yes

Once again it’ll take a couple of minutes to reset your G3.

ignore no more teaser
Performance problems might not be your G3's fault. Have you kicked your router lately? / © shutterstock/Guryanov Andrey

Reboot your router

Whenever you encounter performance problems it’s worth trying to identify the real culprit, so for example you might think “man, my phone’s slow today” when the problem is with your wireless router. One day scientists will invent a router that doesn’t need a swift kick from time to time, but until that day it’s worth rebooting your router if you’re encountering sluggish performance over Wi-Fi.

Have you found any tricks for speeding up your LG G3, or have you found particular apps causing your entire system to slow down? Let us know in the comments!

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Gary Marshall

Gary Marshall
Freelance writer

Former lion tamer, Girls Aloud backing dancer and habitual liar Gary Marshall has been writing about technology since Google was two guys in a garage. He's written for many fine magazines, newspapers and websites, written a range of how-to-books and a novel, co-written a BBC documentary series and dishes out weekly tech advice on BBC Radio Scotland.

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5 comments
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All changes will be saved. No drafts are saved when editing

  • derick y. 2
    derick y. Apr 2, 2015 Link to comment

    Are you supposed to put. .5 on all three animations?


    • derick y. 2
      derick y. Apr 2, 2015 Link to comment

      Yea I'm sorry for the Lg S3


  • 1
    diders Mar 31, 2015 Link to comment

    Lame. This is old news. The only way to truly speed it up is run a custom ROM like cyanogenmod. But then you lose the excellent lg camera app (not sure if someone has ported it over yet) and other features like radio. Custom LG roms are better but not as snappy as the AOSP ones.


  • Sema 4
    Sema Mar 30, 2015 Link to comment

    useless and copied over and over

    diders


  • 3
    yassine fathi Mar 30, 2015 Link to comment

    shit article

    didersBillyPaul Werner

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