I very often come across user questions Android about which application is the best to choose for cleaning a smartphone. Moreover, everyone is persistently looking for some special application that would work wonders. I understand why the owners of old smartphones are doing this. Their devices have already ceased to correspond to modern realities, to pull the current software from Google Play, and therefore these people think that the slowdown was due to the overload of phantom files and cache. But when the cleaning is carried out simply 'for prophylaxis', I am truly perplexed, because I myself have never used cleaning utilities and I am not going to.
Cleaning your smartphone from unnecessary files is optional
I'll start by debunking the main cleansing myth. Here you need to understand that such a phenomenon as clogging of the operating system or smartphone, in principle, does not exist. In any case, in the form in which many imagine it. By default, smartphones are not clogged with 'extra files' and do not start to work slower because of them.
Why the smartphone began to work slower
Maybe I'll tell you a terrible secret, but old smartphones start to work slower than new ones, simply because they are old. Yes, this is a fact that many find it very difficult to accept, but there is no escape from it. Old hardware begins to hardly pull fresh software, the latest updates with new functions, and our requests also change over time, and the speed with which the smartphone performed this or that task a couple of years ago, today we are no longer satisfied.
No, of course, if you download any software junk from the Internet to your smartphone, such as non-working APK files, miner applications or Trojans, of course, your device will become worse. But removing all this trash with the help of cleaning programs will no longer work, and even a new smartphone for a thousand dollars can be 'killed' in this way. In this case, it will not differ from the cheap one Xiaomi or Meizu.
How the smartphone memory is clogged
So what, then, does everyone clean? Well, in the process of use, some files really accumulate on the device. However, in my case, there is nothing to delete. Take a look at the screenshot. From what seems to be unnecessary, I have here application data, unused applications, residual files and duplicate files.
I have almost no extra files, and what Android called superfluous is not
But if you open each tab and see what is hidden in it, it becomes clear – at least for me – that there is practically nothing unnecessary here. The section “Unnecessary files” stores a cache, which, as I have already said, not only does not slow down the device, but, on the contrary, allows it to work faster. In 'Unused Applications' there really is software that I rarely use, but, whatever one may say, I use and delete it so that I can download it again later, I see no reason. Application data speaks for itself.
There are also tabs with videos that I recorded myself and photos, but, of course, I don't want to delete them. Only 'Residual files' and 'Duplicate files' remain. But, as you can see, their weight is so insignificant that you don't even need to remember about them, let alone download a special application to clear 15 MB of memory. Yes, it will take up more space than it frees!
Why Google Photos is needed
Sometimes memory cleaning applications themselves weigh more than the garbage they remove.
But what about duplicate photos and other bad shots that cleaning apps find and delete? Well, I have a solution for this too. I have been using 'Google Photos' for a long time, where all photos and videos are uploaded automatically. Then, if the service finds the same or unsuccessful frames, it just prompts me to delete them. That is, in essence, the only cleaning function I need is in the app, which I at least use and works in semi-automatic mode. And even then – due to the fact that I have unlimited storage in Google Photos, duplicates can not be deleted.
And as for any trash from the Internet that ruins people's lives, I don't delete it. Do you know why? Because I just don't download it, I only use legal software from Google Play. After all, why should I look for problems on my own head if I can find the applications I need in the official catalog?