3 Proven Ways to Increase RAM in Android Phones in 2023
Is your phone so slow that you can’t even watch YouTube? Yeah, it happens. As your phone gets older, many more bloatware and unneeded apps are stored on your device. A big reason for the slowdown is that these apps have background processes running even when you’re not using the app.
Your phone lags, stutters, and ultimately crashes. When this happens, it usually means that you don’t have enough RAM. You can increase RAM in Android phones using a micro SD card, but you need to have a rooted phone. Otherwise, you can maximize your phone’s performance by optimizing the device. I’ll show you how to do both.
Note: RAM is short for Random Access Memory. Basically, it’s where your device stores the information that it needs and will need. Simply put, the memory lets you run apps on your device. The more RAM you have, the faster your device performs.
For easy, safe, and guaranteed rooting of Android Devices with 24/7 Support, you can try using One Click Root
- Increase RAM in Android phones using a micro SD card
- Maximize your Phone’s Performance using Smart Booster
- Optimize your Phone’s RAM Usage
Related: Slow Android phone fixes
Increase RAM in Android phones using a micro SD card (for rooted devices only)
This method is free and is designed for rooted Android smartphones and devices–although it does have its risks.
Before I proceed, let’s make a checklist of what you’ll need:
- A class 4 or higher class micro SD Card
- An SD card reader
- A rooted Android phone/tablet
- A Windows-operated PC
If you’re prepared, let’s proceed.
Warning: This is not a sponsored post. We are not responsible for any micro SD card malfunctions that may occur if the process instructions have not been precisely followed.
1. Check If Your Android Device Supports Swapping
This is very crucial. It’s highly important that you check if your Android smartphone or device supports swapping.
To do this, you can install the “RAM Truth” app.
2. Partition Your Micro SD Card
The micro SD card will be used as secondary memory storage. To partition the card, you’ll need an app or a tool. You can use the Mini Tool Partition Wizard for this.
To start making partitions, insert your micro SD card into the card reader and connect it to your PC. From there, you can make partitions in the card. Open the Mini Tool Partition Wizard and format the SD card you’ve inserted.
Now you can make partitions by right-clicking on the SD card. Select the partition as primary for a card with more than 4GB. Select FAT32 before formatting. For the next partition, allot at least 1GB. Click “Done.”
Again, right-click on it to make a partition. Select primary partition. But this time, change the file system. Instead of FAT32, make it EXT2, EXT3, or EXT4, accordingly.
To complete the partition, click “Apply all the changes.”
3. Link Your Micro SD Card With Your Android Device
Once you’ve partitioned your micro SD Card, the next step is to link it with your rooted smartphone or device. To do this, you’ll need to download Link2SD.
Once you’ve downloaded the app, launch it and give root permission. Choose “.ext” partition and link your Android device to the micro SD Card.
4. Increase RAM in Android Phone
For the final step, you’ll need to download another app. This time, a root swapper.
Download (Root) Swapper and select the increase you need. This will create a .swp file, which increases the RAM of your phone. You can also use this app to track SWAP memory usage and change storage preferences.
Maximizing Your Phone’s Performance (rooted and unrooted devices)
If you want to boost your phone’s performance and accelerate its RAM without root access, the Smart Booster will help you do the trick. It’s a very light third-party app that does a decent job at speeding up your device.
1. Download And Install Smart Booster
Download and install the Smart Booster app on your Android device.
This light optimization tool allows you to boost your device in 5 ways:
- Auto-boost (automatic and in timing conditions)
- Overlay widget (on by default)
- Home screen widget (one tap to boost from the home screen)
- Notification bar (one tap to boost from a toggle notification bar)
- Boost Now (tap from the app’s main screen)
You can get the app through the Google Play button below.
2. Select the Boost Level
The app features 4 auto-boost levels, depending on how much you’ll want to speed up your device. They are as follows:
- Aggressive- this level effectively kills most low-priority apps.
- Strong- this kills apps marked as low-priority and some that are slightly below “average”.
- Medium- this kills apps that consume above “average” memory.
- Gentle- this only kills apps that use a considerable amount of memory.
If you want to really boost your phone’s performance, choose the aggressive level. However, this will also kill most of the apps that you cycle.
3. Use The Advanced Application Manager
With this feature, you’ll be able to manage your apps accordingly. You can use this to do the following:
- Disable system apps
- Hibernate rarely-used apps.
- Recommend which apps to move to your SD card.
- Easily backup or uninstall apps.
- Manage .apk files.
- Scan auto-start apps.
4. Manually increase RAM
If you want to manually increase RAM in Android phone devices, click on “Boost Now” or use the “Boost” button on your notifications bar. This will kill unneeded processes, and will increase your phone’s performance.
Other features include a one-tap cache cleaner and a quick SD card cleaner.
Optimize your phone’s RAM
Unfortunately, for non-rooted devices, you can’t simply add more RAM memory. In this method, you’re not really increasing your phone’s RAM. It’s more about preserving your RAM’s memory and making the most of what you have.
To reiterate, the more your Android smartphone or device is doing, the more RAM it’s using. So if you want to make the most of your RAM, make sure that you free up memory by reducing what’s running to prioritize more important tasks.
Here are some of the things you can do to maximize your phone’s RAM.
Related: Best Phone Cleaner Apps for Android in 2020
1. Limit Widgets
Widgets actually take more RAM space than you think. They occupy bandwidth and many often refresh. Some of them are continuously active, which means that they’re always occupying a portion of your RAM. The same is true with live wallpapers.
Not only do live wallpapers and widgets take up RAM space, they also drain your battery faster.
Reassess if you need the widgets and live wallpapers you’re currently using. Make sure that you’re keeping just the important ones. That way, you’ll free up space and optimize your phone’s RAM.
2. Force Stop Apps
If closing apps and limiting widgets or live wallpapers still doesn’t significantly improve your phone’s performance, you might need to take it to the next step and manually close the apps.
To do this, first you need to go to “Settings>Apps.” Tap on a particular app to check how much RAM it’s using. If it’s taking up too much space, you can force stop it. Tap “Force Stop” and confirm your action.
3. Uninstall Apps
However, if you feel like you’re not using an app that much, then you can just uninstall it to make space for more important ones.
For apps that can’t be deleted, you will need to remove their “advanced rights.” To do this, go to “Settings>Security>Device” admin apps. Just uncheck the box that appears next to a particular app. Then uninstall.
Note: Some Android devices, like Samsung smartphones, allow their users to see an overview of RAM usage. With this, you can see which apps are taking up too much RAM. To check, just go to “Settings>Device maintenance>Memory.“
Frequently Asked Questions
How to check how much RAM your Android phone is using?
Go to Settings and open System Settings. Tap “About phone.” Enable the Developer Options and look for “Memory/Running processes.” Tap this. You should see your phone’s RAM usage in real-time.
How to increase RAM in Android?
You can increase your phone’s RAM by using a third-party app or by linking a partitioned micro SD Card. You can also optimize your phone’s RAM using a RAM booster app.
How much RAM does Android use?
The Android OS alone takes up to 1G of RAM.
Speed Up Your Device
The best way to increase the speed of your Android phone without risk is by deleting your unnecessary apps and processes. These background apps can take up the memory that other apps need, thus decreasing the performance of your device.
Make sure that you follow all the steps properly, and make sure that you don’t delete any system apps that your phone needs.
If you’re still having trouble with any of the processes above, let me know in the comments section below!
Which of these methods worked for you?
how to increase ram in chinese android phones with spreadtrum SC6820 chipset?
Tnx for ur suggestions but if we use method 1, so can we undo it????
Yes Karan. You can always do that by disabling the app.
can i increase ram from512mb to 1gb without root acess on phone using sd card class 10
Hi Dillip, unfortunately you can’t increase RAM to 1GB without root access, but you can use other apps mentioned in the post to free up RAM and speed up your phone.
How to root samsung j1 ace because i actually using a lot of method but still fail.
Please help me
Hi there,
I have a 32GB SD Card Class 10 on Samsung Galaxy S III, and I wanna know:
1. what is the safe/simple way to increase the RAM of my device, by using SD Card as a RAM without formatting or life-decreasing SD Card!?
2. aren’t Ram Manager and Ram control pretty much the same as Clean Master in terms of app killing!? cause this particular feature has actually made my phone really slow!
Thanks
1. Yes they are safe and will not decrease notably the SD card life. Simplest way is to use a RAM manager.
2. By killing apps and freeing up space, you’re actually freeing up your RAM. Its a way to boost phone speed, but not necessary it will work on all devices effectively as phone speed depends on lot of factors.
Bruh most app killers like “Clean Master” have been proven to slow your phone down. In most cases the are counterproductive, because they keep killing apps that the system requires and will keep restarting after it is killed. Some apps cause this process to be looped and cause the phone to process much slower than if it were just left alone, or only non-essential apps were killed.
Agreed. we wrote an article about Junk file cleaners and how they aren’t all that great.
I m using micromax canvas a105 I will increase Ram my phone Ram is 512mb. I will increase to 1GB is it possible to without any root ………….
Varun Dev,
Not possible to my knowledge. But you can optimize your RAM.
I have Lenovo i369A with 512 RAM and I wanted to increase the RAM , for that I have purchase Roehsoft RAM Extender application and when I tried to use the application it displayed a message that my phone is not rooted , So, can you help me how to root my mobile in detail
Khalid,
Try this https://techsamaritan.com/root-android-without-computer/
is there any way to increase my RAM without purchasing any app in my phone. I want my ram to expand from 512mb to at least 700 mb. is it possible??
Hi, the apps and methods mentioned in this article are the best available to my knowledge. Other than these, I won’t be able to help you further.
As an IT guy, this entire page makes a cringe, let alone the comments.
Just a couple points before I leave in good conscience!
1: when using your SD card as “ram”, firstly it will decrease the lifespan considerably, and also it will severely slow down your device if you make the sappiness high. RAM is very different to the SD cards you use. It is normally around 1000 times faster, so by using your SD card as vRAM (Virtual RAM, NOT RAM!!!) you are going to be using some really really slow “RAM”
This being said, there are situations where it is useful. I’m addition, you will HAVE to be rooted, and you will HAVE to format your SD card, and it will drastically reduce it’s lifespan.
2. Killing applications which are cached is not a good idea if you are wanting to have a fast device.
What android does, is it preempts what applications you are going to use, so it preloads some of the data into RAM, that RAM space is very flexible and applications are often being cached and uncached depending on what you do.When you kill all apps with a task manager, you destroy this cache, thereby slowing down the next load of that application.
Again, there are situations where it is useful to kill applications, notably when you are running out of RAM, which is why Android uncaches some of the data. Not all of it is allowed to be removed from memory though, due to individual app permissions. So it can be useful to clear applications once every blur moon to free up RAM that was used by the application which is used once every month… Otherwise please stay away.
3. If you don’t know the differences between RAM and VRAM, and you don’t what root is, or why it is required, please do not root your device! You are opening yourself up to serious damages and security risks if you don’t know what you are doing!
I thought this was very informative. Especially your points #3. I’ve soft bricked my phone and somehow got stock ROM back. However I somehow managed to recover my phone after a week, but I’m on a completely different IMEI and a stock rom that didn’t come with my phone.
Hi Andrew,
I am glad that you liked the information. How did you manage to do that? Do you need help with anything? =-)
Agreed 100%. The best thing I’ve read all day.
Hello,how to upgrade ram in s90…it dont have sd card slot.please I realy want to to know
I m using samsung galaxy grand duos.it shows 803mb ram. I will increase to 2GB is it possible to without any root
I m using samsung galaxy grand duos.it shows 803mb ram. I will increase to 2GB is it possible to without any root
can i use external sd card as ram
I a using Samsung galaxy star advance with RAM 512 MB. Can I increase my ram without rooting by using 4 GB SD card.
Hi ,
Thanks to share great information.
Hi Rahul,
You are most welcome.
Hi sir my android ram is 250 can i boost it into 512? what is the min for this
Hi John,
Have you tried any of the methods mentioned here?
Hey I rooted my phone Intex Aqua 3g and then tried ram expander but i am shown “swapon invalid argument…………..” pls help
Hi Snehashis Sarkar,
“Swap” is “virtual memory” – copying files from ram to storage when ram space is needed and then back to ram when they are needed. So it sounds like the app was trying to turn swap on and failing to do so (probably because you’d need root at least). Are you having performance problems?
Hey I rooted my phone Intex
Aqua 3g and then tried ram expander but i
am shown “swapon invalid argument…………..”
pls help
Hi Azhar,
Android does not have a swap partition as it’s delivered. RAM expander just tries to create one. Somehow it failed in the process. It may or may not have actually created the swap partition. Please check to see if it did. Have you tried repeating the process? =-)
Hi,
Can I increse ram from 1 Gb to 2 Gb on my rooted micromax a120 colours? Pls help
Hi Aryak,
When it comes to hardware, if you phone only has 1GB of Ram, no app that will make your phone have 2GB. What RAM expander apps do is that they create a virtual memory that is similar to what Windows OS does when it has little memory. You will notice that the performance will be slower than actually having 2GB of RAM, but the good thing is that it allows for more memory usage that the current RAM allows. Hope this helps. =-)
will removing sd card decrease the ram to original amount ?
Hi Akash,
I don´t think it should have any impact. Thanks for commenting. =-)
Hey there, I’m using Symphony Xplorer W72 which is also rooted. It has a RAM of 512 MB. Now, I’m using a custom ROM in it. I’ve 16 GB microSD class 10 in this phone. Can I increase my RAM to 1 GB using any of the above method you mentioned?
Hi Showmin,
If you device has 512 MB, no matter what you do it will always have that amount and can´t be upgraded to 1GB. What the methods do is that they show you what you can do so you feel that you have more RAM that what you actually have since your device will run a lot smoother. The only way to actually get more RAM is to buy a device with 1GB or the amount you want. I suggest you give the methods a try, I´m sure they will help speed up your device. =-) Thanks for commenting.
I want to need to increase my ram
Hi There,
None of the above methods worked for you? =-)
Hi, I’ve been trying to download the ROEHSOFT RAM Expander (SWAP),but to no avail, it’s telling me master card error, please how can I go about this?
Hi Aystar,
Have you tried some basic fixes first and if those dont work we can try other possible solutions? Try clearing the phone cache and then restarting your phone. Where are you downloading the app from? =-)
I have an Oppo A51W and have RAM storage of 2 GB. When I close all apps, why is it only 1 GB? Well that was before but now it got down to 800 MB. Can I have tips on how to get my RAM back?
there is always something running in the background. It could be the OS is taking up a lot of the RAM, or Facebook, or any number of apps. You can put it in safe mode to see if the apps installed on it are causing the problems. if they are, you can decide if you want more RAM or whatever app is hogging the resources of the phone.
Maybe you have mistaken the free space with the used space..
If your ram usage is getting lower, it’s a good thing. But if it’s the free space which is getting low, then it’s an issue. Just recheck if it is the free space which is going down. 🙂
If we do Method 1 once should we do it again
most of the ram boosters will kill apps to free up resources. the version in method 1 is for previously rooted phones and uses your sd card as part of the process. If you want to use more space, you could, but it’s your call. once you set it up, you should have more space for RAM. If you need more and more, you might want to look into a different phone that better meets your needs.
Will you plz tell me how to root Samsung galaxy s dous 3(SM-G316HU/DD)
I have a 360 degree digital camera and videos MUST be transferred through the android app. Transferring by USB gives an unusable file. The file in question is a little over 2Gb. When I try and transfer the file it tells me that I don’t have enough free space. If I want to view the file at all it must be downloaded completely. I spent hours and uninstalled almost every app on my phone. I also went and disabled everything I could. I had over 8Gb free, but the app still says I don’t have enough free memory. The app developer (LG Electronics) says it’s my problem to fix. Any suggestions on how to trick the phone or the app into thinking the SD card is ram? The developers said it’s too hard to make the app download to the SD card. The Phone is a Samsung Galaxy S5 (SM-G900V) running Android 6.0.1 with a 128Gb micro SD (13G free on SD). The Camera is an LG-R105 360 degree camera and the app is called 360 CAM Manager. The devs are useless.
can you make a 2GB phone into a 3GB ????
Sorry, Zane, but that’s not possible.
i have phone with 1gb RAM new bought it new then once started using it its so slow barely handle 2 normal apps but i checked there is one android app related to system take 600mb itself how can i do in this case plz just wanna run it faster???
That 2 app ..to be honest ..dont install..got lot ads..always popup…fuck
My device version 6.0 marshmallow name Magnus bravoz551 lte. How can I root this device please reply…..
If your not sure how to gain root access to your device, it is not something you should even attempt. .. Unless you know precisely what you wish to change in your devices operating system, you are far, far, more likely to BRICK your device ,than you are to perform the necessary alterations that may ,or may not, speed up your device… ie: removing bloat ware is always a good start, but if you don’t know what apps & services are required & which are not, you can do more harm than good very quickly…
As far as i know.. Rooting is not a joke or something just for fun or because you want to increase your RAM…. Seriously.. Rooting is Iike gambling.. likely you failed twice to root up your phone. Don’t ever try to root your phone on the 3rd time or you may get lucky brick. You can still recover it after Bricking up your phone.. It requires a laptop or a desktop (of course that runs administor). But before Rooting your phone you need to unlock your bootloader. Forgot to mention… ARM & Mediatek are the only SoC that able to recover after bricked. If your phone is Snapdragon it can’t recover after bricked. Likely you can google it and download your custom rom (must be official). Patience is always.. This would take you a long process if your not an experienced. LOL JKA…
How to increase RAM? Buy a new phone with higher RAM period.
Please how can i root Tecno pop2 power without pc
Actually, I have achieved 1 GB free by going into the developer section and under processes, close all unnecessary apps. If you don’t have a developer section, you need to tap About Phone 5 times and it will appear.
Thank you for sharing this!
Hi sir I like Your suggestions and use he really work but you make A Video to this suggestion
Hi Shiva! Thanks for the suggestion, glad you liked the article!