If you’re a heavy smartphone user (and because you’re reading Android and Me, I’m going to assume your usage is just as heavy as ours), you’ve probably experienced a general slowing down of your device at some point.
The more apps you load up and use, the more junk files and caches store up on your device and the more background processes end up running at the same time, slowing down the app you are actually trying to use.
Fortunately, there are a number of apps on Google Play than can help you return your Android phone to optimal performance. One such app is DU Speed Booster. It describes itself as a “total Android phone optimization solution†and comprises of tools to boost the performance of your apps and games, clean out unnecessary junk files, and help keep your device virus free.
As the name suggests, boosting speed is the name of the game for DU Speed Booster. This function is essentially split into two — Speed Booster and Game Booster — the former for apps and phone process and the latter specifically for gaming performance.
Speed Booster can be used with one tap — simply hit the big button at the top and the app will clean out any trash and stop apps running in the background. There’s also a widget on the home screen which, when dragged, becomes a little spaceship that launches off your screen in order to quickly speed up your device. This widget can be removed in the app’s settings but it has other functions that might make you want to keep it — when tapped instead of dragged, it gives you quick access to device settings like Wi-Fi, screen brightness, and volume, as well as quick access to your installed games that launch using Game Booster (more on that shortly).
You can do more than a basic cleanup though. In the Speed Booster menu you can run a Phone Boost that releases memory currently used by other apps, select Trash Cleaner to manually clear out system files and app caches, check the speed of your internet connection, see whether there are any malicious apps installed on your device and bulk uninstall apps. There’s also a privacy monitor which shows you which apps have which permissions (before Android M comes along and adds this in, DU Speed Booster is a great alternative for this). The feature set is indeed comprehensive, and you can dive into the setting to fine tune each and every element to your needs.
Having so many features does impact poorly on the app’s interface, though. While I like the futuristic, space theme, all of the screens look the same, use similar labels, and many complete the same functions, making using the app confusing at times. While this won’t be a major deal breaker to many, it did make me feel like I might end up deleting files I shouldn’t be doing by mistake. The app is also littered with ads for other apps and games, making the whole thing visually stressful at times.
Onto Game Booster, which has its own dedicated screen within DU Speed Booster. This screen shows you your installed games and allows you to launch them in the most efficient manner. It works by automatically turning off any background apps and processes that aren’t related to your game, clears any junk files and memory usage, and monitors RAM usage to ensure the game runs as smoothly as possible. You can also add a DU games folder to your home screen which will launch your games via DU Speed Booster to run the same pre-launch optimization processes.
So, does it work? Well, it’s hard to say. My apps and games run smoothly enough on a normal day, so any gains were hard to measure. However, a couple of times when my phone has been lagging, I’ve fired up Speed Booster and it has closed several background processes and help ease the load. I imagine on older and more RAM constrained devices, the boost will be much more substantial. Unfortunately, on non-rooted devices, any auto-start apps that are closed will just open again in the background which means you often see the same offenders popping up with every scan. As a collection of app maintenance and management tools, it’s hard to beat.
If you’re after a comprehensive way to clean and speed up your Android phone, quickly close background tasks, optimize games, manage your apps and more, DU Speed Booster is certainly worth checking out. Its UI and feature set is a little overwhelming — it takes some getting used to and fiddling with — but it can be used at a basic level by anyone. The best part is it is free to download, so you can test its performance for yourself at no cost.
Download DU Speed Booster on Google Play now for free.