Supercharge your Samsung tablet or phone with our top tips for solving a slow Samsung Galaxy tablet. From getting rid of Samsung bloatware to updating your Samsung tablet, we have advice to help speed up your Galaxy tablet.
We also have more general advice on speeding up an Android tablet, as well as the Samsung-specific advice below. We recommend checking out both articles.
Update a Samsung Galaxy tablet
Make sure your Samsung tablet is up to date and running the latest available version of Android. This can help it to deal with bugs or security issues. Check for System updates by tapping Settings > About Device. Then tap Software update and check for updates.
Delete apps and data from a Samsung tablet
With too many installed apps, your tablet’s performance can suffer, so get rid of all the ones you no longer use. Removing apps frees up storage space and – importantly – cache memory, helping your tablet to run faster. To uninstall an app in Android 6 Marshmallow, tap Apps on your Home screen to see all your apps. Tap and hold the app icon that you wish to remove, then drag it to the top of the screen over the word Uninstall and then tap Uninstall to confirm.
You can help to speed things up further by offloading large files from your tablet. You could move your photos, videos, or music to your computer, a cloud server or a microSD card, if your tablet has an SD memory card slot.
Disable unwanted Samsung apps
One of the biggest bugbears with Samsung tablets is the overabundance of pre-installed apps – known as bloatware. In most cases, you’ll never use these apps, yet they can slow down your tablet’s boot times and overall performance. You can’t always remove bloatware, but you can disable apps to stop them running. Go to Settings > Applications > Applications Manager, select the app, then tap Disable.
Clear the cache on a Samsung tablet
The cache on your Samsung tablet is designed to make things run smoothly. But over time, it can become bloated and cause slowdown. Clear out the cache of individual apps in the App Menu or click Settings > Storage > Cached data to clean all app caches with one tap.
Third-party app launchers
Most of Samsung’s tablets use TouchWiz – a proprietary interface that sits on top of the Android operating system. However, some people find it slow and clunky. Consider installing a simpler, faster ‘launcher’ from the Google Play Store – this will give you a leaner tablet interface. Popular launchers include Nova Launcher, Apex, ADW and the Google Now Launcher. Once the new launcher is installed, press the Home button. You’ll be prompted to choose a new default home screen app. Select the new launcher from the list and tap Always.