7 Causes of Poor Mobile App Performance and the Best Ways to Fix It

In today’s rapidly changing world, mobile apps have become an essential part of the user experience for anyone with a smartphone. Downloading apps from the store, users expect them to be fast, responsive, and easy to use. And there's nothing more frustrating than a poorly performing app that crashes or takes forever to load. There are numerous reasons why your app may run slowly or perform poorly, ranging from coding issues to network problems or hardware limitations. This is why choosing reliable mobile app development services is critical to building high-performance applications that meet modern user expectations. Let's dive deep into the top 10 causes of why your apps may be running slow and explore ways to fix these issues to optimize your app for better performance.

Read also: Is Code Review a Waste or a Time Saver for Your Digital Product?

7 Possible Reasons Why Apps Are Running Slow

No one likes it when an app loading slowly. That's why Google searches for 'why are my apps loading so slow' are so popular. On the search page, you can find dozens of articles with tips on improving your smartphone's performance and fixing app performance. However, it's only sometimes the smartphone's problem. Sometimes poor app performance results from a chaotic development process, poor code, etc. Let's look in detail.

1. Poor coding.

One of the most common causes of why apps loading is slow is poor coding. This can include inefficient algorithms, poorly optimized databases, or excessive CPU, GPU, and memory use. The code not optimized for good performance can lead to slow load times, laggy animations, or crashes.

2. Server issues.

Applications that rely heavily on server-side processing can be affected by unreliable servers, causing slow load times or crashes. The server is running application code, accessing files from disk, completing multiple tasks, and handling interactions with thousands of other users. With bad backend development and poorly written code, your server may become overloaded, running out of memory and slowing down request processing times.

3. Poorly optimized SSL & TLS.

SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) and TLS (Transport Security Layer) are crucial application security components and are nearly impossible to avoid. They encrypt data during transit from the origin to the server.

The presence of SSL/TLS, if it needs to be optimized properly, can slow down your app's performance considerably, mainly due to two reasons. First, every time a new connection is established, an initial handshake is required, which can slow down your app. Second, encrypting the data on the server and decrypting it on the client side can affect app performance.

4. Outdated software.

App performance can decrease over time if it needs to be updated regularly. Regular updates to newer versions allow your app to use the latest frameworks or operating systems versions. Developers need to keep up with these changes to ensure optimal performance, bug fixes, and implementation of new features.

5. Large app size.

Apps that are too large can be slow to download, install, and load. Users may quickly lose interest and delete the app if it takes up too much space on their device. Large apps can also use more system resources, such as memory and CPU, causing slow performance and battery drain.

6. Poor device compatibility.

Apps not optimized for different operating systems and hardware configurations may run poorly on specific devices. This can lead to crashes, slow users' phones, frustration, and tons of bad reviews.

7. SDKs and third-party libraries.

While SDKs (Software Development Kits) and libraries are essential components of the app development process, their safety cannot be taken for granted. Checking thoroughly before using a third-party library can cause a lack in your app performance.

Read also: Guide for App Owners: How to Submit Your App to the App Store in 2023

How to Make Your App Performance Strong

You're downloading the app from the store; it has an incredible design and is super user-friendly, but it runs slow. How can it be that a good app not working? Of course, apps can also lag because the user's phone is prolonged, but that's only part of the problem. So instead of searching on how to make your phone less laggy, let's find out how to increase your app performance.

1. Optimize your slow code.

You might ask: what is a slow code? It needs to be better-written, overloaded, and optimized code, which can be the main problem why your app is freezing. To fix this issue, ensure your code is clean, efficient, and well-organized. Before pushing your code live, compress it to remove any extra spacing and comments that could increase the app's loading time.

2. Optimize client-server communication.

One effective way to reduce data load time is to utilize a content delivery network (CDN), which minimizes the distance between the user and the data source. CDNs leverage servers distributed globally to speed up API communication due to the decreased distance to the user.

3. Optimize media files.

Media files, particularly images, can significantly slow down your app if they need to be optimized more. Compressing, resizing, and caching images will help speed up mobile app loading time and provide a better user experience.

4. Make an offline mode.

Your application's offline mode will help solve problems with unstable network connections. For apps without it, sudden disconnection may result in losing all data the app uses. Implementing an offline mode allows users to save their data and retrieve it later when the network is available.

5. Make a native app.

It's always recommended to go native. Such apps are developed explicitly for the user's operating system and allow you to utilize the device's full features such as GPS or others. They're installed locally, providing better performance. Native development will significantly speed up your Android or iOS apps' performance.

Read also: How App Development Team Augmentation Supercharges Your Business

How TopDevs Ensures the Highest App Performance from Scratch

At TopDevs, we understand that the success of a mobile app is closely tied to its performance. That's why we prioritize the highest level of app performance in every project. Our team comprises high-level specialists with a technology stack with all the necessary tools for native iOS and Android development.

Our iOS developers cover the entire app development cycle for all Apple platforms, including iPhone apps, iPad apps, Apple TV apps, and watchOS apps. The technology stack we use includes the following:

• Objective-C
• Realm
• RxSwift
• Swift UI
• Apollo
• SwiftMessage
• Automatic Layout
• Mix Swift
• UI Kit
• Map Kit
• MVVM
• Swift
• XCode
• Custom UI

Our team of native Android app developers creates applications compatible with all Android-based devices. This includes smartphone apps, tablet apps, wearable apps, Smart TV apps, and more. For the development process, we use:

• Java
• Kotlin
• And other modern technologies to ensure optimal performance across all devices.

Our clients are companies from Australia, the USA, Germany, Norway, and Finland. We are committed to providing our clients with efficient mobile solutions that exceed their expectations and meet the needs of their users. And if you want to develop a high-quality, clean mobile app with good performance, we will be happy to help you.

App Performance: Final Thoughts

Mobile apps are a great tool to reach your target audience. They can help you communicate with your customers, automate business processes, and collect all the data you need to improve your business. But then, good app performance can lead to satisfied users, negative reviews, and increased engagement. It is essential to understand that a successful app is the simplest and cleanest since the mobile app market is highly competitive nowadays. To make your app faster and more user-friendly, you should hire an experienced development team to help you design it from scratch or fix its performance.