How I fixed the UMIDIGI A5 Pro Multitasking Problem

I have been using the UMIDIGI A5 Pro for a little over 7 months now, and for the price, it offers awesome value for the money money. I had shared my experience with it five months ago. Recently a problem showed up that made me consider replacing it with a phone from a different brand like Redmi.

Since buying this phone, it has received two OTA updates till date. I had already installed the latest of these updates before reading online that there are many bugs in it and people should not update. Too late; I was stuck with bugs and no other update in sight for months.

For a while, I didn’t notice anything amiss in the operations of the phone. But eventually, I got bitten by one.

UMIDIGI A5 Pro Multitasking Problem Shows Up

Recently, something had been bothering me about the phone.. to the extent that I was actually considering selling it and getting a different brand.

The A5 Pro smartphone packs 3 GB of RAM and runs almost stock Android 9 Pie. Performance should not be an issue; right?

Now, however, when I switch from one app to another and then attempt to switch back to the former application, or even any from the Recents List, I discovered that the original application is reloaded afresh. Apparently, it got shut down within such a short period of time.

The implication of this is quite significant if you have to multitask on your smartphone. Let me paint a scenario.

Supposing you have to credit about five people with funds. You have your digital banking app open, and you’re on the right page to make those transfers.

You then switch to your Whatsapp to pick an account number from a an existing conversation, or you launch your calculator app to calculate something quickly, or you load your spreadsheet app to  check some other information.

You then switch back to your banking application and find that the app refreshes  and you are having to log in afresh! Chei!!

Or, you have been composing a fairly lengthy article (like this one), you get interrupted by an urgent email, which you quickly answer, and then switch back to the document you have been composing, only to find the note app is reloaded, obliterating  everything you have been typing for fifteen hours.

Wahala! Clearly, this would cramp anybody’s productivity. Those were the kind of scenarios I was facing.

So, I dived into the phone Settings, meticulously looking for what could rectify this undesirable behaviour. I searched and searched and tweaked everything that remotely sounds like it had a connection to the problem, but the behavior persisted.

To make matters worse, there was some added mystification in that the behaviour is not consistent. It happens sometimes; some other time, apps don’t reload.

For a 3 GB RAM smartphone with only essential apps installed, a paucity of RAM surely couldn’t be the problem..especialy, since this was not happening originally. Surely, it has to do with memory management, with a view to conserve battery.

So, I went on tweaking battery optimization settings unendingly.. and the situation persisted… albeit randomly.

Fix for UMIDIGI A5 Pro Multitasking Problem

I was already contemplating getting a Redmi 9C until I happened on the solution, by accident.

There is a little option under Settings called DuraSpeed. This is the key to solving the problem.  Why anybody would give such an unimaginative name to something so critical  is beyond.me.

Here is what to do:

1. Open the UMIDIGI A5 Pro phone Settings
2. Find DuraSpeed in there
3. Ensure DuraSpeed is ticked on.
4. Select all the apps listed and tick the check boxes ON.
5. Next, tick off apps that you would not mind if they get reloaded when you switch back to them.

After you have done the above, reboot the phone. You would find that the selected apps don’t reload anymore when you switch away and back, and are no longer crippling your style. And the world is at peace again.

Before discovering the solution, I woild not have dared to leave this long document unsaved and switch to another app. But, while composing this article, I have switched multiple times, and the editor didn’t get reloaded, wasting my minutes of effort.

I imagine that this solution will also work for any other UMIDIGI phones experiencing the same problem with switching between apps. If you own a UMIDIGI device with similar behaviour, you now know how to fix the problem. Use DuraSpeed.

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Author: Ibukun Olaoya