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3 ways to speed up your Android phone

By Sean Riley published 20 October 2022 Here's how to breathe life back into your older phone (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

(Image credit: Tom's Guide) 1. Navigate to Settings. 2. Tap About phone. (Image credit: Tom's Guide) 3. Tap Build number 7 steps until you see a little toast message that you've enabled Developer Settings. (Image credit: Tom's Guide) 4. Go back to Settings, then go to System. (Image credit: Tom's Guide) 5. Scroll down to the Drawing section, then tap Window animation scale. Set it to Off. (Image credit: Tom's Guide) 6. Repeat Step 5 with Transition animation scale and Animator duration scale.

Remove disable bloatware and unused apps

(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. (Image credit: Tom's Guide) 3. Select See all X apps. (Image credit: Tom's Guide) 4. Select the app you want to manage from the list. (Image credit: Tom's Guide) 5. If the app is uninstallable, you'll see an Uninstall option below the app icon. Tap that. (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. (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. (Image credit: Tom's Guide) 3. Tap Settings. (Image credit: Tom's Guide) 4. Go to Privacy and security. (Image credit: Tom's Guide) 5. Find Preload pages. (Image credit: Tom's Guide) 6. Select the option for Extended preloading. (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.Today's best pixel 7 pro deals (opens in new tab) (opens in new tab) (opens in new tab)$891.49 (opens in new tab)View Deal (opens in new tab) (opens in new tab) (opens in new tab)$899 (opens in new tab)View Deal (opens in new tab) (opens in new tab) (opens in new tab)$939.99 (opens in new tab)View Deal (opens in new tab)Show More DealsWe check over 250 million products every day for the best prices

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Get instant access to breaking news, the hottest reviews, great deals and helpful tips. Sean Riley 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. More about smartphones iPhone 15 Ultra - everything we know so far iPhone 15 Ultra could be the toughest Apple phone everLatest The best tablets in 2022See more latest ► Topics Smartphones See all comments (1) 1 Comment Comment from the forums PhilipMichaels Archived comments are found here: http://www.tomsguide.com/forum/id-2703574/ways-speed-android-phone-minutes.html Reply View All 1 Comment MOST READMOST SHARED1New on Netflix: New movies and shows week of October 242The best tablets in 20223Apple iPad (10th gen) review: Amazing and awkward4The best iPads in 20225Today's Heardle answer - Monday, October 24, #2421The best tablets in 20222Apple iPad (10th gen) review: Amazing and awkward3The best iPads in 20224Today's Heardle answer - Monday, October 24, #2425iPad Pro (12.9-inch, 2022) review in progress