How to

Slow Android TV: causes and solutions

A new Android TV feels fast, but after a year or two everything takes longer: the home screen loads slowly, the remote seems to lag and apps take a while to start. There are almost always the same few causes.

The causes

• Little memory. Many TVs have 1.5 to 2 GB of memory. That is tight for the home screen, a streaming app and everything running in the background.
• Background apps. Streaming apps and manufacturer components stay active, even when you do not use them.
• A heavy home screen. The standard home screen keeps loading new recommendations, images and previews.
• Full storage. Updates and caches fill the storage; with little free space the TV becomes noticeably slower (see Storage full on your TV).
• Weak Wi-Fi. A poor connection feels like a slow TV: menus with online content load slowly and video stutters (see Android TV buffering while streaming).
• Animations. Every transition costs time and processing power.

What you can do yourself

• Remove apps you do not use.
• Clear the cache of large apps in the TV's settings.
• Turn off autoplay of previews if your TV has that option.
• Use a network cable if you can.
• Turn the TV properly off and on now and then, not just standby.

That helps a little, but the heavy home screen and the background apps remain.

What VYS TV does

With Optimise TV speed in the VYS TV app it happens in one go: VYS TV becomes the home screen, unnecessary apps and recommendations are turned off, streaming apps no longer run silently in the background, VPN apps may keep running and animations go to 0.5x. Before and after, the app measures free memory, storage, the number of processes, disabled apps, the home screen, animations, the connection, the Wi-Fi signal and whether the VPN is active. So you can see for yourself what it does on your TV.

Before every change the app makes a backup, and with Back to original the TV is as it was again (see Restoring the original home screen).

What you need

An Android TV or Google TV, an iPhone on the same Wi-Fi network and, once, the developer options and USB debugging turned on on the TV (see Enable developer options on your TV). How it continues is explained under How it works.

Questions

Further reading