Fix slow Google Chrome and Google Now on Android
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.
- Enable Tilt Scrolling - Allow scrolling of the stack view by flinging the device. Changes won't take effect until Chrome is restarted.
- 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.
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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Or you switch to another browser, for example firefox, opera, brave and vivaldi.
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
Too bad these developer settings are nowhere to be found in the newest version. Methinks google needs to streamline things a bit more.
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)
Thanks for the tips. Unfortunately, even with these options turned off, it’s still quite a bit slower than Dolphin.
Remarkable boost. That really sped up Chrome and fixed hangs that were sometimes going on so long that the phone would crash.
Thanks so much! Tried with Firefox too-that is the slowest one for me. Good job.
Thanks, both apps are now faster
thanks. id never looked at the settings!
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 .
Thanks martin,it works nice
Thanks Martin, It works .