Is your Android’s RAM working well? Checking your performance is as easy as that

He the good performance of a mobile phone depends on three factors Fundamentals: the processor it has integrated, how system resources and RAM memory are optimized. And while in the first two we can hardly intervene, we can try to manage the RAM on our own.

In fact, you may not have known it, but memories tend to degrade over time. Therefore, it is extremely important to know how it performs and how you can slow down this degradation process.

Developer options hide the secret of RAM

As we mentioned before, in any Android mobile there is a settings panel where you can check the RAM consumption in detail. However, it is a slightly hidden panelbecause it requires developer options to be enabled.

So, the first thing to do is to enable these options by going to the settings and the ‘Device Information’ panel. Here you must click seven times on ‘Build number’ for them to activate.

Already entering “Developer options”, which is usually in the “System” section, you will see that ‘Memory’ appears as the first option

there you can view RAM consumption by time periods and applications. Information is also displayed indicating whether the memory performance is normal or not, the average usage in percentage, as well as the amount of free memory remaining.

If degradation is unavoidable, it can be slowed down

It happens with the battery, it happens with the RAM and with practically any component of the mobile. Degradation with use is completely normal. With this in mind, the best way for a mobile phone not to be damaged by it is to turn it off and thus completely reduce its use.

However, seeing as even being put in a drawer something would eventually degrade, even minimally, and that’s also not the most sensible option, there’s ways to “fight” the passage of time the same way it happens when we want to extend the useful life of the battery. For RAM, we can apply these tips:

• Turn it off once in a while, which isn’t the same as always turning it off, but something helps. And it is that this action provides multiple benefits such as restarting processes and therefore improving performance. And according to what we discussed, it’s a good way to make the components “rest” without being active all the time. And more RAM, which empties when the terminal is turned off.
• Reduce the use of the most “demanding” applications thanks to the information panel that we were talking about earlier. Although in some cases it will be impossible for you to stop using the applications that consume the most, you can limit their use in some way.
• Focus the efforts of RAM based on what we have seen previously. In other words, if you have to use one of those applications that consumes a lot of RAM, try to have only this one running and no other applications in order to concentrate the consumption on this one and not to have others that, even in small parts, produce more consumption. Technically, there will never be a single process consuming RAM, but this can be reduced considerably.
• Close apps you don’t use. Although it seems contradictory because keeping apps open improves their performance and even saves battery life, in the end it overloads your RAM.
• Control which applications are activated when you turn on the mobile, something that, if you neglect it, can end up consuming RAM unnecessarily. Controlling which apps are active from startup and disabling them is something that can be done natively in some layers of customization from settings by looking for options like “automatic start” and the like. For models without this native option, there are applications like Autostarts or Startup Manager.

So while you’ll never get zero RAM degradation, you can at least extend its useful life. If, if applicable, you notice that consumption is still excessive and the performance has deteriorated, it may be time to go to technical support or buy a new mobile. As long as the one you have is not under warranty, because in this case it could be a manufacturing defect which, of course, the manufacturer should cover for you.

And the latter is particularly noteworthy, given that the time it takes for RAM to degrade isn’t exactly short. Although there is no rule written here and it also depends on the qualities of the component and the use that is made of it, as a general rule it should work well for at least five years.

After this time, we can begin to see degradation symptoms in performance, the slowness being the main and most noticeable. Although, again, as we said at the beginning, the type of processor and its corresponding degradation also influence here, as well as the management of the resources that the operating system itself exerts.

In Xataka Android | If your Android mobile is slow, check if you have a memory-hungry app: here’s how you can do it