Best ways to speed up mobile browsing [2015]

After using a mobile browser for some time, you may notice a slight drop in speed and performance, particularly due due to cache, cookies, and history. It can get even worse if you don’t have the luxury of HSPA+ or even LTE speeds, as 3G and 4G networks can be subject to a lot of hang ups and sometimes even disconnects.

No one wants to deal with slow Internet speeds, though. When trying to access information quickly, it can get severely frustrating, especially when you’re trying to share a video with a friend, only to be met with the annoying loading indicator. Fortunately, there are a couple of handy ways to speed up your mobile browsing, regardless of what type of network you’re on.

JavaScript

The number one thing that is going to tremendously speed up your mobile browsing is disabling JavaScript. Many of the websites you visit will feel lifeless by doing this, but if all you care about is the information on those pages regardless of functionality, turning off JavaScript is your best bet.

Here's a quick rundown on what JavaScript does:

It doesn’t have to be a permanent solution either. If you decide you don’t like the lack of functionality from disabling JavaScript, you can always go back and reactivate it to get the functional and interactive web pages you’re used.

To disable JavaScript, open up your browser, tap the three-dot menu icon in the top right corner, select Settings, and then Advanced. Under Advanced, there should be a ‘Enable JavaScript’ option. Disable it, and then restart your browser.

JavaScript should now be disabled.

This process only works for your native browser and a select few other browsers on the Play Store. Chrome doesn’t seem to support it.

Cache and Site Data

Your cache is your friend: it’s actually out to help you speed up your web browsing by remembering certain elements and pieces of pages you’ve visited in the past. Cache really does not need to remember these websites but eventually you’ll see a hit to your performance.

That said, it’s always good to clear your cache once in a great while, especially if you find yourself having issues with your mobile browser. To clear the cache in your browser, hit the three-bar menu in the top right corner, and select Settings > Privacy > Clear Cache.

Your cache is now cleared, and you should notice a drop in performance while you’re hitting all of your regular websites, but eventually it’ll smooth out. Additionally, in that same Privacy menu, you can clear your cookies, site data, and browsing history all at the same time, which should increase overall performance.

The process works similarly for various browsers.

Cookies

Clearing your cookies doesn’t stop your web browser from collecting them. Cookies are useful, but they aren’t totally necessary to browsing the web. You can disable them by opening up Chrome, selecting the three-bar menu in the top right corner, going to Settings, and under “Advanced” select Content Settings. From there, you can turn cookies off by simply tapping it.

If you’re interesting, you can read a little more about cookies here.

Pop-ups

Pop-ups are one of the biggest contributors to slowing down your web browsing. They’re annoying, get in the way, and take up unnecessary data, RAM, processing speed, and most of the time they don’t offer anything even remotely helpful.

To disable pop-ups in your Chrome browser, hit the three-bar menu button on the top right corner, and go to Settings > Advanced > Content Settings. Select Pop-ups, and turn them off. Again, this process should work similarly with most browsers.

Browsers

A major way to speed up your browsing experience is to make sure you're using a quality web browser. The browser that comes with your smartphone or tablet isn't always the best solution when there are better options like Google Chrome, Firefox, and even Opera in recent years.

Another way third-party browsers speed up your web experience is by managing tabs better, allowing you to quickly switch to or save the information you need.

Closing

In our fast-paced world, slow browsing speeds can get infuriating due to being used to getting information instantaneously. While that's not necessarily a bad thing (after all, it's 2015, what gives?), performing these steps combined with a little patience should speed up your browsing astronomically.

What are some things you do to speed up your browsing or access to information?