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What can I do if my device is slow or laggy?
Marissa Agno avatar
Written by Marissa Agno
Updated over a week ago

How can I tell if my device is slow?

Devices slow down when Spaces or another application is consuming the bulk of your device's memory or processing power.

You might notice if you're experiencing system resource issues if:

  • You receive a notification on Pencil Spaces that your device is "struggling", if it is low on memory, or if it has high CPU usage

  • Incoming audio appears crackly and incoming video appears grainy

  • Actions in Spaces (e.g., sending a message, typing text) take noticeably longer than expected, or take a considerably longer time to load

  • Events are missed or your local state becomes out of sync with the state of others in the Space

What to do if your device is slow or laggy

If you’re experiencing a system resource issue, there are a few methods you can try to alleviate the problem.

Close unnecessary tabs and apps

If you have multiple tabs and apps open within your device, it can slow it down. By closing unnecessary tabs and apps, your device can dedicate more resources to ensuring that Pencil Spaces runs smoothly

Turn off your camera, and all incoming video

To turn off your own video along with your participants' video feed, go to your audio and video settings.

From there you can check off the “Turn off your video and participant video to improve performance” box. As the name implies, this is intended to improve the performance of your device.

Unplug high-definition displays or extra monitors

Having several devices plugged into your monitor can slow down the performance of your device. By unplugging any high-definition or extra monitors, your computer can focus more on the performance of Pencil Spaces rather than an external device.

Upgrade to the latest browser or system software

In rare cases, performance issues can come up when your system software is not updated, and is thus struggling to support the latest version of Pencil Spaces. Please make sure your browser or system software is updated to the latest version in order to ensure it can support Pencil Spaces.

Restart your device

If all the steps above do not work, please restart your device and rejoin the call on Pencil Spaces. This ensures that no other large programs are running in the background while you are using Pencil Spaces.

Need more support?

If you have any further questions, our support team is always happy to help!

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