This actually has to do with how Android is designed in general, which I’ll get to in just a bit. Since the problem here is Android itself, there isn’t a single fix, as much as there are workarounds for the issue. After I explain what Android is doing to your browser, and why, I’ll cover how you can work around it.
Why Does Android Force Your Browser to Reload?
Android is an operating system that is always learning, and always reallocating resources as it sees fit according to your usage habits. This means that if your Android sees what you’re spending most of your processing power to accomplish, it’ll move all of the power it can over to that task. For example, let’s say you’re playing a game on Android, but at the same time, you’ve got Chrome open to look at a walkthrough. You look up what you’re supposed to do for your game, switch back to it and start playing until you need help again. When you switch back to your browser, you see a flash of the page you were on, and then suddenly a white screen. The page is reloading, even though you were just on it minutes ago. While your Android kept your browser open in the background, it actually closed the page you were on to give you as much power as you possibly could for the game you’re playing. Something that makes this problem show up frequently is when a user plays with how Android systems work when allocating powers and resources. The easiest, and most common way to do that is with task killers and cache cleaners. Killing a process to free up RAM hurts your Android in the long run, even though it gives you a short term boost, so i can’t recommend using them.
How do You Stop Your Browser from Reloading?
So you know why your browser is constantly reloading when you’re away from it, but how can you stop that if it’s a problem with Android itself? The short answer is that you can’t, but you can change a few habits here and there to work around the issue. Since what usually makes your browser reload is RAM being allocated elsewhere, avoiding RAM intensive activities should keep your tabs loaded as long as you don’t have too many of them. You’ve probably noticed that even if you’re only on your browser tabs can reload, and that’s usually because you have a few running at once that Android decides to “close” without telling you. The operating system itself takes an “Android knows best” approach to the whole thing, and leaves user decisions out of it. Now let’s say you’ve only got one tab open at all times, and your page starts to reload at certain intervals during the day even while you’re just in your browser. Since you’re only in one place, and Android won’t reallocate RAM you’re actively using there’s another problem at work here. Here are a few steps to take to get to the root of the problem.
1. Clear Your Cache
Besides a soft reset, wiping your cache is one of the first things you can do to get to the heart of a problem, or at least stop it from showing up again. If you’ve never cleared your cache before, then you can learn how to here.
2. Reset Browser Preferences
Have you changed any of your browser settings recently, or gone through an update that changed things around? If you haven’t had this reloading problem before this, then your settings are probably to blame. Restoring your default settings is different for every browser, but for the most part how to get to your settings is the same. In most browsers there’s a series of either vertical dots, or a hamburger menu that opens up different options, in there you’ll find your settings. Here you’re free to tweak anything you have access to, but unless you have a “Restore to default” option, you need to toggle and switch setting individually. If you don’t notice anything out of place, try another step.
3. Uninstall and Reinstall
One of the next steps to fixing any app is uninstalling it, and then reinstalling it again. It’s basically a more severe version of turning it off and on again where it takes a little more time. This usually fixes most common issues with an app if you’re running into problems you haven’t before.
4. Try a Different Browser
Unfortunately, if one browser isn’t working, then switching to another one is less of a fix, and more of a workaround. If you’re using Chrome, try giving Firefox a shot, or vice versa to see if you run into the same problems.
5. Close Other Apps
How many different apps do you have up and running while you’re going through your browser? While I don’t recommend using task killers, closing out of an app you’re keeping in standby might make your browser less likely to reload when switching through tabs, or browsing.
Conclusion
In most cases when your browser is reloading when you’re looking away from it it’s because of Android itself. Android reallocates what you were using to browse for whatever else you’re looking at now, making you need to reload what you were looking at before when you come back. The best way to deal with this is with proper RAM management, an understanding of how Android learns to adapt to your habits, and a little patience. If your browser is still reloading constantly, please describe the problem and we’ll do our best to help. Featured Image Credit
