Why Apps Alone Can’t Boost Cell Signal

Search the Google Play or Apple iTunes store, and you can find plenty of apps with names that make you think they’ll boost cell signal. But the truth is the apps you have on your device have nothing to do with the signal you receive from a cell phone tower. Find out more about what these apps do (and don’t do) and your actual options for boosting cell phone signal.

What are cell phone signal boosting apps?

Any app that says it boosts cell signal is misleading in its marketing. Most apps claiming to boost your signal actually offer performance enhancements for your mobile device.

Some of these apps do provide useful services for your mobile device, and those services can positively impact how your device works and how fast you’re able to do things. But it isn’t because they boosted cell signal. Here’s a quick rundown on the three major categories for these types of apps and what they actually do.

Cleaner apps

When you download these types of apps, you set them up to be the digital housekeeper for your mobile device. They work in the background to remove cached data on your phone and eliminate junk or unused files.

The result is that the storage space on your phone is freed up. That can lead to better performance and speed as you click through apps or use other phone functions. However, that increased performance isn’t related to the quality of your cell phone signal, and all the storage space in the world can’t speed up downloads on a terrible connection.

Speed-up apps

These apps offer a similar type of support. They manage the data stored on your device, cleaning up unused files and caches. But they also help reduce the amount of RAM in use on your device at any given time by closing unused apps that might otherwise run in the background.

In some cases, speed-up apps let you overclock your phone’s processor, which just means you can override the way the processor was designed to make it faster. That can actually have some potentially negative consequences and may not be advisable on your device.

Speed-up apps may be able to increase performance, including how fast it can run apps and other functions. But like cleaners, these applications don’t do anything for your cell phone signal or issues with dropped calls and slow streaming.

Security and anti-malware apps

These apps work the same way security programs work on your computer. They help protect your mobile device from viruses and malware by running scheduled scans, scanning items you choose to download, and providing you with regular security reports so you can investigate anything questionable.

These apps may also include functionality to help you find your phone and manage passwords and logins. Keeping malware and viruses off your phone does help it work better, but it doesn’t enhance your cell signal.

You can see that these types of apps may be helpful, though. You can also download apps to help you find the nearest cell phone tower, and those can help you figure out why your signal is weak. If you’re far away from the nearest tower, you’re not going to get a great signal.

Why don’t apps boost your cell signal?

Cell signal isn’t something that happens in your phone. Cell signals come from a tower, and they’re something your phone receives. Because the signal is outside of your phone, it can’t be controlled by an app in your phone.

What can you do to improve cell signal?

To boost the signal your phone receives, you can invest in a device that’s outside of your phone. It’s called a cell phone signal booster, and you can buy one to enhance the signal in one room, multiple rooms, or an entire home. You can also find models designed to work in cars, trucks, RVs, and even small businesses.

If cell phone boosting apps don’t really work, though, how can you be sure cell phone signal boosters do? Read up on how they work below.

How cell phone signal boosters work

The signal that connects your cell phone to the carrier network comes from a cell phone tower. The strength of the signal when it reaches you depends on a variety of factors:

• The distance to the tower. These frequencies degrade over distance. The further you are from the tower, the weaker the signal becomes until it doesn’t exist at all.
• Barriers to the signal. When the signal has to pass through land masses, such as hills or mountains, trees, or man-made barriers like walls, it weakens. If it has to pass through too many barriers or an especially tough barrier, it may be too weak at your location to provide a quality connection.
• Interference with signal. Other signals, such as those from electronic devices, can interfere with cell signals and weaken them in your location.

Any or all of these factors can combine to cause the signal in your home or location to be weak. It may be strong enough to get a call but not strong enough to support quality call clarity. You might be able to get on the internet with your cell phone, but it seems to take ages to download a simple web page.

Cell phone signal boosters work by capturing whatever weak signal is in the area and amplifying it. That means when the signal reaches your phone, it is stronger than it would be without the booster. The results include better call quality, faster uploads and downloads, and fewer dropped calls.

The only time a cell phone booster won’t work to improve your connection is when no signal is present at all. Boosters can’t create their own connection.

Invest in better cell phone signal

Whether you want a more reliable cell phone signal in your home or like to stay connected on the road, weBoost has cell phone signal boosters to meet your needs. Check out our guide to cell phone boosters to learn more before choosing a booster that’s right for you.