Freezing apps allows you to disable apps you don‘t use often to speed up your Samsung device and save battery life. Frozen apps won‘t run in the background, send notifications or show up in your app drawer. Your app data remains intact so you can reverse the freeze anytime.
It‘s an easy way to clean up your app clutter for better performance! Here‘s exactly how to freeze and disable apps on your Samsung Galaxy.
How Does Freezing Apps Help Your Samsung Device?
Having too many active apps, especially ones running unchecked in the background, can really slow down your Samsung and drain battery faster. Here are some of the benefits you‘ll see by freezing unnecessary apps:
Frees up storage space – The average Android device has over 90 pre-installed apps using up storage. Freezing apps you don‘t need can recover gigabytes of space.
Speeds up performance – Your device has limited RAM and processor resources. Freezing apps gives more memory and CPU power to the apps you actually use.
Extends battery life – Background apps you‘re not actively using can account for over 30% of battery drain. Freezing unused apps means longer time between charges.
Disables bloatware – Pre-loaded carrier and device maker apps often run passively in the background by default. Freezing them gives system resources back to you.
According to Samsung, disabling just three unwanted apps resulted in up to 20% faster app load times. Meanwhile, tech site AnandTech found that an optimized Samsung phone with frozen bloatware apps gave an extra hour of web browsing compared to out of the box.
Freezing isn‘t the only way to optimize your device – we‘ll compare it to other options later. But it‘s one of the simplest ways to noticeably faster performance and battery life from your Galaxy.
Step-By-Step Guide to Freezing Apps on Samsung
Ready to freeze some apps and speed up your Samsung device? Here are two easy methods:
Using Samsung‘s Device Care
Samsung‘s built-in device maintenance feature makes it easy to freeze apps you don‘t use often:
Open the Settings app and tap Device care.
Select Battery.
Choose App power management.
Tap Put unused apps to sleep.
Check the apps you want to freeze. Recent and frequent apps won‘t appear.
Tap Done when finished selecting apps.
The selected apps are now frozen and disabled. To unfreeze apps, just return to the same menu and uncheck them to re-enable.
Using a Third Party App Freezer
For more control, a third party app freezing utility lets you freeze almost any app. Here are some top choices:
Package Disabler Pro – Simple app freezer with free trial.
CCleaner – Popular cleaning app with app freezing tools.
These apps make freezing any app easy:
Install and open the app freezing utility.
Browse or search for the apps to freeze.
Select the apps you want to disable.
Tap the freeze or disable button.
Confirm the apps to freeze them.
Now those apps won‘t launch or run in the background until unfrozen. Uncheck them in the app to reverse the freezing.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Freeze any app | Requires third party app |
| Manually select apps | Potential cost |
| Bulk freezing | Some apps can‘t be frozen |
| Temporarily disable |
Samsung‘s built-in option is the easiest for casual freezing. But app specialists like Package Disabler give you full control over disabling apps.
Should I Disable, Force Stop, or Freeze Apps?
In addition to freezing apps, you also have the option to disable or force stop apps on your Samsung. Here‘s how each compare:
- Disable – Turns off the app but doesn‘t free up resources until a device restart. App data remains intact. Good for apps you won‘t use for a long time.
- Force stop – Stops an app that‘s currently running in the background. Used to stop misbehaving apps in the moment.
- Freeze – Fully disables an app so it can‘t run in the background or be launched. Frees up resources immediately. Best for temporarily disabling unused apps.
In most cases, freezing is the preferable option for apps you don‘t need regularly on your device. But force stopping is useful for misbehaving apps, while disabling is better for apps you want to keep but won‘t use anytime soon.
How Experts Choose Which Apps to Freeze
Wondering which apps make the best candidates for freezing? Here are tips from tech experts:
Pre-installed bloatware – Apps pre-loaded by carriers, device makers and third parties. Samsung phones are packed with apps you likely won‘t use but eat up space and RAM by default.
Duplicate apps – For example, keeping both Gmail and Samsung Email, or Google Calendar alongside Samsung Calendar. Eliminate redundancies.
Big games – Large 3D games take up storage space. Freeze when not playing to recover space and RAM. Unfreeze to pick up where you left off.
Subscription apps – Music, cloud storage or other subscription apps can be frozen if you need to cut back on costs or storage space. Re-enable them anytime.
Rarely used utilities – Flashlight apps, file managers and other functional apps that aren‘t everyday necessities.
Data hungry apps – Video streaming, music streaming, social media apps are common battery drain culprits perfect to freeze when not in use.
Addicting time wasters – We all have those apps we compulsively check even when we shouldn‘t. Temporarily freeze addictive apps for a break.
AppAdvice suggests constantly monitoring your battery usage and freezing apps that show up draining power even in the background. Popular options are Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram, and email apps.
But experts caution against freezing critical apps or dependencies. For example, disabling Samsung Push Services could break important app notifications. When in doubt, freeze apps individually rather than in bulk.
Best Practices For Freezing Apps
Follow these tips when deciding which apps to freeze and disable:
Check pre-installed apps – Scan for unnecessary carrier, device and third party bloatware eating up resources.
Assess app usage – Monitor which apps you actually use daily vs those you won‘t miss.
Review battery/RAM usage – See which apps consume the most resources even in the background.
Freeze individually at first – Disable one app at a time to check for problems before bulk freezing.
Avoid system apps – Don‘t freeze apps with ‘Android‘ or ‘Galaxy‘ in the name or critical services.
Test extensively – Use your device normally for a few days after freezing apps to spot any instability.
Unfreeze apps causing issues – If you notice problems, unfreeze apps individually to isolate the culprit.
Take it slow, only freeze what you need to, and monitor device performance. Done properly, freezing should make your Samsung phone or tablet faster and more responsive without issue.
The Effects of Freezing Apps on Your Device
When you freeze an app, here‘s what happens under the hood:
The app no longer appears in your app drawer with other installed apps.
The app cannot launch and cannot run or process data in the background.
Notifications from the app will cease since it cannot run any tasks or processes.
The app remains installed on your device storage but enters a dormant disabled state.
All app data including settings, permissions and caches remain untouched.
Basically freezing puts apps into a deep freeze where they sit idle in storage but cannot actively run in any way. When unfrozen, apps thaw out and return to their normal state just as if they were never frozen.
This gives you all the benefits of removing clutter and stopping battery drain without losing your apps and their data forever.
Are There Risks to Freezing Apps?
Generally freezing apps is safe, but here are a few risks to be aware of:
System instability – Freezing core system apps can sometimes cause crashes. Only freeze non-essential apps and observe performance.
Loss of notifications – With frozen apps unable to run, you may miss important notifications and updates depending on the app.
App corruption – In rare cases, frozen apps may become corrupted and require reinstallation if unfrozen.
No cache clearing – Storage space isn‘t recovered from frozen apps until you uninstall them and clear cached data.
App syncing issues – When unfreezing, some apps may have trouble syncing data from the cloud if they‘ve been disabled for a while.
The risks mainly come from overzealously freezing apps essential to the system or losing functionality from important apps. As long as you carefully choose apps to freeze and monitor your device after doing so, you shouldn‘t have issues.
Remember to Unfreeze Apps When Needed
Don‘t forget to unfreeze apps when you need them! With frozen apps totally disabled, you won‘t receive notifications or be able to open the app normally.
To unfreeze apps:
On Samsung Device Care, uncheck the apps to re-enable.
In third party apps, tap to uncheck the apps you want to unfreeze.
Unfrozen apps will function normally again as if they were never disabled in the first place.
Be sure to unfreeze gaming apps before playing, music apps when going for a run, and productivity apps when you need to get work done. With great power comes great responsibility!
Get More from Your Samsung with Frozen Apps
Declutter your app drawer, speed up your Galaxy device and extend battery life by freezing unused apps. Make use of Samsung‘s built-in tools or powerful third party app freezers.
Target bloatware, data hungry online apps and addictive time wasters first. But avoid critical system apps or dependencies. Freeze thoughtfully, unfreeze purposefully, and optimize your Samsung!
