3 ways to speed up your Android phone

Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra vs Google Pixel 6 Pro design — (Image credit: Future)

The best Android phones all start off running smoothly and responding instantly to every tap, but over time, even the fastest device will start to show its age. And with something you use as much as your smartphone, every missed swipe or extra moment waiting for an app to load can feel like an eternity.

Before you decide that it’s time to start shopping for a new smartphone, give these three tips a try. In less than 5 minutes, your phone could be back up to speed. With most modern Android phones, you don't need to do these things, but it might help if you're rocking an older handset.

Disable animations

Google Pixel 7 Pro display view — (Image credit: Tom's Guide)

1. Navigate to Settings.

2. Tap About phone.

how to speed up android: animations step 1 — (Image credit: Tom's Guide)

3. Tap Build number 7 steps until you see a little toast message that you've enabled Developer Settings.

how to speed up android: animations step 2 — (Image credit: Tom's Guide)

4. Go back to Settings, then go to System.

how to speed up android: animations step 3 — (Image credit: Tom's Guide)

5. Scroll down to the Drawing section, then tap Window animation scale. Set it to Off.

how to speed up android: animations step 5 — (Image credit: Tom's Guide)

6. Repeat Step 5 with Transition animation scale and Animator duration scale.

Remove/disable bloatware and unused apps

Google Pixel 7 Pro back view — (Image credit: Tom's Guide)

Right out of the box, your Android phone probably had a number of apps pre-installed by your carrier or the phone manufacturer that have gone completely unused. It’s even more likely that over months or years, you’ve added some unused apps of your own that are still taking up precious space on your phone. Here’s how to free up space.

1. Navigate to Settings.

2. Tap Apps.

how to speed up android: apps step 1 — (Image credit: Tom's Guide)

3. Select See all X apps.

how to speed up android: apps step 2 — (Image credit: Tom's Guide)

4. Select the app you want to manage from the list.

how to speed up android: apps step 3 — (Image credit: Tom's Guide)

5. If the app is uninstallable, you'll see an Uninstall option below the app icon. Tap that.

how to speed up android: apps step 4 — (Image credit: Tom's Guide)

6. If the app is not uninstallable, you'll instead see a Disable option. Use that, but beware that it might interfere with your phone's functionality.

This is useful for bloatware that you can't uninstall, like OneDrive on Samsung devices.

how to speed up android: apps step 5 — (Image credit: Tom's Guide)

7. Repeat as needed.

Extended preloading in Chrome

With about 90 percent of Android users sticking with the Chrome browser, you might want to know how to speed up browsing. While Google has done away with the Data Saver/Lite Mode option, there's still an option to speed things up a little.

Upgrade Chrome to Extended Preloading and it'll preload web pages faster. It tries to predict what you're going to use and preloads it. Turning it on is simple, but it might use more background data than the default settings.

1. Open Chrome.

2. Tap the overflow menu button in the upper-right corner.

how to speed up android: chrome step 1 — (Image credit: Tom's Guide)

3. Tap Settings.

how to speed up android: chrome step 2 — (Image credit: Tom's Guide)

4. Go to Privacy and security.

how to speed up android: chrome step 3 — (Image credit: Tom's Guide)

5. Find Preload pages.

how to speed up android: chrome step 4 — (Image credit: Tom's Guide)

6. Select the option for Extended preloading.

how to speed up android: chrome step 5 — (Image credit: Tom's Guide)

Your mileage may vary with this step, but even the latest Android devices might benefit from enabling this option. Try it out and give it a few days.

Looking for more Android guides? Get started with how to use finger sensor gestures on Samsung phones. New Android phone? Make sure you read our guide on how to transfer data from Android to Android so you can move everything over safely.

Now you've got the extra speed, why not try something to push your phone's performance like how to create AI-generated art.

TOPICS

A self-professed "wearer of wearables," Sean Riley is a Senior Writer for Laptop Mag who has been covering tech for more than a decade. He specializes in covering phones and, of course, wearable tech, but has also written about tablets, VR, laptops, and smart home devices, to name but a few. His articles have also appeared in Tom's Guide, TechTarget, Phandroid, and more.