Android: 7 settings to change if your smartphone starts to slow down

An Android smartphone can run slowly for various reasons. Luckily, there are some tricks in the software.

If you don’t have a Google Pixel, you probably don’t qualify for Android 13 yet. And even if you did, you can still get better performance with whatever version you have. Whether it’s Samsung Galaxy, Motorola, OnePlus, or something else, you can do better by changing some settings.

Please note that not all Android smartphones are the same, some manufacturers add their own software layer to Android, which breaks the display of certain parameters that are on different pages or with different names.

How to increase battery life

Living with a smartphone that does not have autonomy can be very frustrating, but it can be optimized. Do it:

• Turn off auto brightness and set the intensity to less than 50%. The brighter the screen, the more battery it uses. Brightness is adjusted in the settings, either directly from the quick settings or in the phone’s settings.
• Use adaptive battery and battery optimization. These features let the system know how you use your phone to optimize apps and how much battery they use. Some phones have a special battery section in the settings, others hide it.

Why Use Dark Mode More Often

Another way to improve battery life and save your eyes is to use dark mode. Smartphones running Android 10 or later have this option. According to Google, dark mode reduces the power consumption of OLED screens (compared to a white background) and requires less eye strain.

Depending on the version of Android and the overlay, the dark mode is not in the same place. On Android 10 or later, it can be activated at the system level. On earlier versions, you need to go through the application settings, if they offer it.

To turn it on, go to Settings and look for Dark Mode, Dark Theme, or Night Mode. You can use it absolutely all day or activate it only from 19:00 to 7:00, for example. You can even set it to sunrise and sunset.

Keep your home screen clean

When you install an app on your Android, an icon is placed on the home screen. Every time. If you don’t want this, press and hold on an empty area on the home screen and then tap Settings. Find the option “Add icon to home screen”or “Add new apps to home screen”and disable it. You can still add a shortcut by dragging an app from the drawer, but the shortcut won’t be automatically created on every install.

Do not disturb mode for better concentration

Android offers a Do Not Disturb mode that makes the phone a little quieter when activated. This may have a different name depending on the manufacturer.

Go to Settings > Sounds (or Notifications) and find Do Not Disturb. You can use the search in the settings if you can’t find it. This mode allows you to block the display of notifications, but they will be presented to you when the mode is deactivated. You can also define exceptions (for apps or contacts).

Prepare for theft or loss of your phone

What could be worse than losing your phone or having it stolen? Anroi smartphones can be tracked using the Google Find My Device feature. You must activate it. To do this, go to “Settings”and find “Find my device”. Most often in the Security section. On Samsung, it’s Tracing u Mobile.

After activation, go to android.com/find, then on any computer or mobile phone, sign in to your account. Samsung users can go to findmymobile.samsung.com.

If your phone is turned on and connected, you should see its location. You can then call, block it, set a word on the lock screen to bring it back, or in the worst case, erase it completely.

Always update your smartphone

Sometimes a slowdown in an Android device can be fixed with a software update. Before downloading and installing the latest OS version, make sure you are connected to a Wi-Fi network. Go to Settings and click Update. Then you will see “Software Update”or “System Update”. Download and install. Your smartphone will reboot when the process is complete.