Xiaomi Redmi 8, released in late 2019, was once considered the king of the budget segment, offering great autonomy and acceptable performance at an affordable price.However, over time, owners increasingly notice that the device starts to run slower, applications open longer, and the interface has delays when scrolling.
It’s a natural process for any electronics, but in the case of budget models, it happens faster due to limited hardware resources. RAM of 3 or 4 GB, which was the norm a few years ago, today is difficult to cope with the “heavy” versions of social networks and instant messengers. In this article, we will discuss in detail why the Redmi 8 begins to slow down, and how to prolong its life without buying a new gadget.
Before we go to radical measures, we need to diagnose the current state of the system. Often the problem is not the physical wear of the processor, but software conflicts or overflow of storage. Understanding the root of the problem will avoid unnecessary actions and save your personal data from accidental deletion.
Lack of free RAM
One of the main reasons why the Xiaomi Redmi 8 is starting to hang is the critical lack of free RAM (RAM).The MIUI shell itself consumes a significant amount of resources for the background work of system services, which leaves applications with little space.
When you open a lot of tabs in your browser or switch between heavy applications, the system has to constantly unload old processes from memory to run new ones, which creates a stuttering effect of the interface and delays when you start programs, visually manifesting as a long response to touch.
⚠️ Warning: Don’t rely on the built-in Clean button in recent apps’ menus, which often only frees up memory for a few minutes, after which the system loads the background processes again, putting even more strain on the processor.
To temporarily solve the problem, you can use the memory extension feature, if it's available in your firmware version, which takes a portion of the internal memory and uses it as a virtual RAM, which helps the system keep more applications open without having to reboot them.
Overflow of the built-in storage
The internal memory of the smartphone works on a principle similar to that of SSD-When it's almost full, the speed of writing and reading data drops dramatically. 8 less 10-15% From the total volume, lags are almost guaranteed.
The system needs free space to create temporary files, cache and swap files. When there is no space, the processor starts idling, waiting for the release of memory cells, this is especially noticeable when installing updates or downloading large files.
To check the status of the storage, go to Settings → About Phone → Memory. Here you will see a detailed diagram of the space allocation, it is recommended to remove unnecessary videos, duplicate photos and cache of messengers such as Telegram and WhatsApp, which tend to accumulate gigabytes of data.
- 🗑️ Remove downloads in the Download folder that you no longer need.
- 📸 Transfer photos and videos to a cloud service or computer.
- 🧹 Clear the app cache through the storage settings.
Also worth paying attention to the Android/data folder, where the remnants of remote games and programs often accumulate. Using third-party file managers, such as Total Commander or Files by Google, will help you find hidden bulk files that are not visible in the standard Explorer.
Background processes and bloated app cache
Modern apps, especially social networks like VK, Instagram and TikTok, are notoriously unoptimized, and they continue to run in the background even after closing, consuming processor and battery resources, which directly affects the performance of the Redmi 8.
And these apps also accumulate cache for years, temporary files that should speed things up, but eventually turn into digital garbage, which takes up space and slows the system's search for the data it needs, and cleaning the cache regularly helps to bring the interface back to speed.
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Use App Limits in your battery settings to prevent unnecessary programs from running in the background, which will significantly reduce the load on the processor.
For deep cleaning, you can use Xiaomi's built-in Security tool. Go to Cleanup and start scanning. The system will suggest removing temporary files and residuary data. However, don't do this too often, as the system takes time to recreate the necessary caches.
| Type of data | Impact on speed | Recommended action |
|---|---|---|
| Cash app. | Medium (slows launch) | Clean once every 2 weeks |
| Residual files | Low (takes up space) | Remove boldly |
| Background processes | High (loads CPU) | Limit in settings |
| System log | Low. | Automatic rotation |
The Impact of MIUI Animations and Visual Effects
MIUI is known for its beautiful yet resource-intensive animations. On powerful flagships, they're invisible, but on the Redmi 8's Snapdragon 439 processor, every extra millisecond of rendering can feel like a slowdown.
Decreasing graphics and animation speed is one of the most effective ways to visually speed up a smartphone, which doesn't add power to the processor, but creates a more responsive system, and makes the interface seem dry, but fast.
To access hidden settings, you need to activate the developer mode. Click seven times in a row on the MIUI version in the About Phone menu, and then a new Developer section will appear in the advanced settings.
- 🔍 Find the items “Window animation”, “transition animation” and “Duration of animation».
- ⚙️ Change the meaning of c «1x» on «0.5x» or shut it down completely.
- 🚀 Turn off the “Tap Surface Search” option to reduce the load on the sensor.
⚠️ Attention: Completely disabling animations can make control less intuitive, as the visual connection between actions will disappear. 0.5x.
An outdated version of the firmware and system
Often the cause of problems is software. If your Xiaomi Redmi 8 has not received updates in a long time or, conversely, has updated to a version of Android that is poorly optimized for the old hardware, brakes are inevitable. New versions of Android require more resources.
On the other hand, older versions may contain bugs that have been patched in more recent security patches. You need to check the relevance of the software. Go to Settings → About Phone → System Update and press the check button.
☑️ Verification of updates
If the official update doesn’t come, it could mean that the manufacturer has stopped supporting the model for your region, in which case it’s worth considering manually installing the current global firmware through Recovery, but it requires caution and an unlocked bootloader.
Hardware wear and overheating
The Redmi 8 is not new, and its battery may have degraded, and although the battery does not directly affect the speed of the processor, the system can artificially reduce the frequencies (trottle) if the voltage controller detects unstable power from the worn battery.
Also, lags are often caused by overheating, and the dust stuffed into the case or the dried thermal paste between the processor and the radiator causes the phone to heat up quickly even on simple tasks. When it reaches a critical temperature, the processor resets the frequencies to avoid burning, and the phone begins to brake terribly.
You can check the temperature with utilities like CPU-Z or AIDA64. If the temperature is above 35-40 degrees in simple temperature, and when the load instantly flies away over 50, you should think about cleaning the device or replacing the thermal interface in the service center.
How to check battery wear without PC?
Radical measures: Resetting to factory settings
If software methods fail, the last and most effective way is to completely reset to the factory settings (Hard Reset), which removes all user data, applications and accumulated over the years of garbage, returning the system to the “out of the box” state.
Before the procedure, make sure to back up important contacts, photos and documents. Reset will destroy everything irrevocably. Go to Settings → Advanced Settings → Restore and Reset → Reset.
After the reset, don't rush to install all the apps at once. Put only the essentials and watch the phone work. Often, it's one particular culprit application that causes the load. If the phone is flying on a clean system, the problem was the software.
⚠️ Warning: After reset, the system will re-index files and update applications in the background. 30-60 The phone can run slowly and warm up - that's okay, give it time.
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A complete reset is not a panacea if the problem is physical wear and tear on the memory or processor, but in 90% of software failures, it puts the smartphone back on its own.