RAM optimizers have often been touted as the go to application in terms of having a smooth performing mobile, however in this article I bust the myth in how these apps works.
The Google Play Store has an array of applications promising to deliver some magical results on our phones if installed. One such category of apps is ram optimisers and boosters. These apps make bold claims of helping us use our smartphones without hiccups by freeing up ram space for more apps to run well, albeit they barely perform the said function. Let’s carefully analyse why these apps are even built in the first place and what they seek to achieve and also ascertain if they truly serve their purpose
Myths surrounding how android memory management works have been held by quite a several people. In this article, it is my sole aim to help make the entire process simple and understandable to primary users.
WHY RAM OPTIMISERS?
The RAM is that part of the phone’s memory where data is held in a short term and accessed anytime and whenever it is needed. Before the Android operating system became very advanced, we all had to settle for phones with low RAMs. More often than not, they proved inefficient, especially in running multiple applications whereas upgrades offered by these apps often rendered these phones almost useless. As mentioned earlier, Android, from its inception was not as advanced as we have it today. However, a not-so-fine-tuned OS in the past has now grown into a clutter-free and minimalist ecosystem(android as designed originally by google). In older android versions, they were generally characterized by low RAM and as a result, one needed to clear apps existing in its RAM to make space for current apps being interacted with by the user. Interestingly this worked well because the fewer apps that were in the ram the more efficient it was to run other apps seamlessly.
THE PRESENT
This was true in the day and age when android had not developed to a stage where it was optimized for better app handling, these apps (RAM Optimisers) were beneficial and one could see a boost in performance after hitting that kill all apps button. Remember those days when your phone used to sport Gingerbread and Froyo(earlier versions of android) on those mid-range handsets? Good times! From whence devices started adopting an appreciable level of ram alongside well-optimized versions of android, these apps had come to the end of their reign (My referral to android becoming better is in the context that, generally android smartphones had become quite affordable) Most budget-friendly phones now come with some reasonable specifications like 3 to 4 gigs of ram which were the reserve of flagships some time ago. It’s quite unfortunate that people are still made to believe we are in that era where android was not on top of its affairs in memory management.
WHAT TASK KILLERS ARE MEANT TO DO
What these RAM optimizers and task-killers seek to do is to terminate processes and apps in the background of your android phone, thereby freeing ram to make space for more apps to run smoothly. Relatively, this action “increases battery life and overall health of your smartphone”, basically the core objective of these apps. In this modern era when technology has made a massive quantum leap, this philosophy will not apply to our smartphones. This is mainly because Android is now able to intelligently manage apps on its own even to the point where the user opens several apps. It does this by putting apps that have not been used for a while in the background to a temporary sleep while making space for current apps that the user is readily interacting with. It does this(putting apps to sleep and /or standby) in a way that does not take a toll on system resources. Unlike in the past when we thought of having lots of apps in the RAM as a bad thing, this is good with the current generation of smartphones. This is because it makes revisiting opened apps very easy and faster than having them killed by these task killers.
DISADVANTAGES OF RAM OPTIMISERS
From my research, I found out that ram boosters may end up seeking some sensitive permissions which one may not be so comfortable with per the specified functions of the application
Due to the aggressive task-killing nature, they can distort the normal functioning of your phone in general and also delay push notifications from instant messaging apps and emails.
Edited by: Kwabena Budu Annor
Source:detechboi.com
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