Most of us use our smartphones every day for emailing, messaging, shopping, social media and much more. It is now our go-to-device for everything, and sometimes it’s easy to forget that it’s also a machine that needs maintenance. Similar to a computer, smartphones become overwhelmed with continuous use, app downloads, data storage, and it could end up making your phone slow down or freeze.

One common issue we all experience is when our applications stop responding, the phone keyboard starts typing incorrectly, or the screen becomes unresponsive. These issues give an impression of a hardware failure, need not be always. If you ever face this kind of issue, then perhaps the easiest and quickest solution is to restart your phone, which will solve most common issues.

Here’s why restarting your phone makes it perform better and fixes common issues.

1. Clear Cache Memory:

Generally, the apps that you open on your mobile device save your data in your device’s cache memory. Cache memory is used to access the app more quickly the next time you open it. But after a while, that memory can get piled up, which can make your device slower. It can also cause apps to crash or become unresponsive. Restarting your phone clears that cache memory, and it frees up the storage.

2. Kill the Background Processes:

When you use your smartphone, it runs so many processes and applications simultaneously. At some point, it will slow down your phone because those applications use phone memory and processing power, even when they are closed. Restarting your phone terminates those background processes and clears the cache memory, giving a fresh start to your phone.

3. Resolve Network Issues:

Sometimes, even when you have a full network signal, your phone may fail to connect to the internet. If you try to troubleshoot the issue and find no solution, then restarting the phone may solve the problem. It clears the cache memory and potentially reestablishes the network connection.

4. Update Installs:

When you install app updates on your phone, you may need to restart your phone for those updates to install correctly. If you try to launch an updated app without restarting your phone, it may produce unpredictable results or may not work at all.