Android boost – The hidden Google feature that will improve your smartphone revealed

If you use a device with Google’s Android operating system installed then there’s a very simple tip that could help boost your smartphone.

Those accessing the web via the popular pre-installed Chrome app could find that vast amounts of data are being consumed by certain websites that have been visited on the device.

As spotted by Android Police founder Artem Russakovskii, Chrome can end up munching through gigabytes of your phone’s storage via cached files.

Posting a message on Twitter, Russakovskii said, “Went to check on the cache files in Chrome for Android and found this…”

The message included a screenshot showing some websites had ploughed through over 1GB of on-device storage.

Luckily, if your Android phone is suffering from the same issue, this can be easily cleared and could be especially useful for anyone with a device that is running low on disk space.

To check how your phone is performing simply launch Chrome and tap the three dots at the top right of the screen.

From this menu, press Settings and Site Settings.

You’ll then see the option for Storage. Tap this and all of the sites that have been visited on your phone will appear along with how much data they are using.

If you spot a site that’s clogging up your device you can remove things by tapping on the name and pressing the blue “Clear & Reset” button.

As shown by the recent Tweet, this tip could clear vast amounts of data from your phone.

Google reminds users what happens after this data is removed with some settings on sites getting deleted. For example, if you were signed in, you’ll need to sign in again.

Some sites can seem slower because content, like images, needs to load again.

However, if you spot a site that you rarely visit, it’s worth considering performing this reset and give your device a memory boost.

There are plenty more new features arriving on your Android phone in the coming months.

Google has just begun releasing Android 10 to users with this upgrade featuring a dark theme that will be applied to most native apps when enabled.

Moreover, Google’s latest and greatest software also totes improved notifications that will allow users to quickly navigate to relevant applications.

Dubbed Smart Reply, the new functionality means if a friend sends over an address in a text message, the notification showing the message will contain a button allowing the user to quickly view it in Google Maps for instance.

Discussing the new features present in Android 10, Google said: “Android 10 is here! With this release, we focused on making your everyday life easier with features powered by on-device machine learning, as well as supporting new technologies like Foldables and 5G.

“At the same time, with almost 50 changes related to privacy and security, Android 10 gives you greater protection, transparency, and control over your data.

“This builds on top of our ongoing commitment to provide industry-leading security and privacy protections on Android.

“We also built new tools that empower people of all abilities, and help you find the right balance with technology.”

Android Q is available to download for all Google Pixel owners right now.

Those that want to obtain it should head to their phone’s Settings app and press System > Advanced > System Update.

source: express.co.uk