Fix slow Google Chrome and Google Now on Android

Martin Brinkmann
Sep 27, 2013
Google Chrome
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12

If you have noticed that the Google Chrome browser or Google Now are very slow on your Android device, while other browsers that you have installed on it are not, then you may be able to fix this with a quick change of the preferences.

Open Google Chrome on your Android device. It does not really matter which version of Chrome you are using, as all can be fixed by this.

Once you have opened the web browser, tap on the menu button of the device and select Settings from it. This opens the preferences that are separated into various menus.

Locate the Developer Tools menu here and tap on it. You find three items here. If either of the first is enabled, uncheck them to disable the feature.

fix slow chrome for android browser

  1. Enable Tilt Scrolling - Allow scrolling of the stack view by flinging the device. Changes won't take effect until Chrome is restarted.
  2. Enable USB Web debugging - Debug web pages from Chrome Desktop via USB.

This works only if you do not need one of the settings. Since it is possible to re-enable the features again at a later point in time, I'd suggest you disable them even if you need them just to see if it resolves the issue and speeds up Chrome in the process. (via Josh)

The second tip may help you if you experience lag or slow downs when you are using Google Now on your phone or tablet. This works only if you do not need the phone search feature of Google Now.

Open the app on your device, tap on the menu button and select settings from the menu. Locate the phone search menu here and tap on it.

Disable any search option that you do not need including apps which just searches for the names of apps that are installed on the phone or tablet.

speed up google now

Once you have done so test the change by using Google Now as usual. (via Caschy)

Closing Words

The preferences in Chrome and Google Now that are responsible for the speed drop are not what I would call essential for the majority of users. Especially the developer options in Chrome should be turned off by default in my opinion, and only turned on by the user.

If you are making the changes, let me know if you notice a speed boost or if the fix did not help resolve it at all.

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Comments

  1. Olaf said on July 13, 2022 at 8:42 am
    Reply

    Or you switch to another browser, for example firefox, opera, brave and vivaldi.

  2. Franco said on February 12, 2014 at 3:52 pm
    Reply

    Sorry, it doesn’t work! Still excruciatingly slow! Chrome was fine until a few days ago. I am using a D2-912 Android tablet.

    Thanks

    Franco Vivona

    Montreal, Canada

  3. hmmm said on January 14, 2014 at 10:16 pm
    Reply

    Too bad these developer settings are nowhere to be found in the newest version. Methinks google needs to streamline things a bit more.

  4. Rolf said on December 20, 2013 at 7:32 pm
    Reply

    Thanks. Was wondering why my phone got so slow. Unchecked in google now, now phone works fast again. Was gonna trash phone if it did not respond soon.

    at&t galaxy note 1 (i717)

  5. Zach said on November 11, 2013 at 10:38 pm
    Reply

    Thanks for the tips. Unfortunately, even with these options turned off, it’s still quite a bit slower than Dolphin.

  6. Keith said on November 10, 2013 at 5:33 pm
    Reply

    Remarkable boost. That really sped up Chrome and fixed hangs that were sometimes going on so long that the phone would crash.

  7. wendy said on November 3, 2013 at 7:43 pm
    Reply

    Thanks so much! Tried with Firefox too-that is the slowest one for me. Good job.

  8. florin said on October 27, 2013 at 4:25 pm
    Reply

    Thanks, both apps are now faster

  9. dandy said on October 1, 2013 at 1:59 pm
    Reply

    thanks. id never looked at the settings!

  10. Stuart said on September 29, 2013 at 11:55 pm
    Reply

    Being a google enhanced smartphone I keep getting crash messages from b plus and the chrome browser tried ro update and somehow contain invalid files during download so it was not updated .I tried manually, again”invalid files” I have removed it from phone and still get pc crashes on it despite upgrade .

  11. Clem said on September 27, 2013 at 10:22 pm
    Reply

    Thanks martin,it works nice

  12. thu ya said on September 27, 2013 at 8:04 pm
    Reply

    Thanks Martin, It works .

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