For the past 15 years, we’ve had a habit of waiting to buy technology a few years after it’s released and using it a few years longer than it’s officially supported. Not only has this made us richer, but it’s had a positive impact on the environment — keeping e-waste out of landfills longer.
Doing this with smartphones can be tricky though, because it almost feels as if companies like Apple and Samsung slow down older phones and reduce battery life on purpose to drive sales of new ones. Fortunately, there are some ways you can fight back.
These timeless Android tricks worked all the way back in 2012 to boost my Motorola Droid Pro, and they’re still doing work in 2025 to speed up my Samsung Galaxy S10e and improve its battery life — six years after its release date!
Here’s how to make your phone battery last longer and speed up any Android phone.
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Android Developer Options
Some of the most powerful ways to make Android phones faster are hidden in a secret settings menu called “Developer Options.” So, the first step to speed up your phone is to enable Developer Options on Android.
How To Get Developer Options on Android
Here’s how to enable Developer Options on Android and gain access to the hidden settings menu:
- Open the Settings app.
- Tap “About Phone” (typically at the bottom).
- Locate “Build number” or “Build version” (you may need to tap another option, such as “Software information,” to find it).
- Tap on “Build number” or “Build version” seven times quickly, and enter your password if prompted. A message should appear saying “You are now a developer,” or “Developer mode has been turned on.”
- Reboot your phone, if necessary (only some devices require this step).
Once you’ve enabled Developer Options, you should see it appear in your Settings app (typically at the very bottom). If it doesn’t appear, try using the search function inside of the Settings app to locate it.
Turn Off Android Animations to Speed Up Your Phone
If you’re wondering, “why is my phone so slow?!” — the answer may be that its processor is working overtime to load fancy animations you didn’t even want in the first place. With Developer Options turned on, you can fix that.
By flipping a few switches to disable Android animations, you’ll improve performance and make your cell phone battery last longer, too. This is the first thing I do on every Android phone I buy.
How To Adjust Android Animation Scale
Here’s how to disable Android animations and speed up your smartphone:
- Open the Settings app.
- Tap “Developer Options” (make sure to enable Developer Options first)
- Tap “Window animation scale,” and set it to “Animation off.”
- Tap “Transition animation scale,” and set it to “Animation off.”
- Tap “Animator duration scale,” and set it to “Animation off.”
- Reboot your phone, if necessary (only some devices require this step).
If disabling animations causes any glitches on your Android phone, you can repeat the steps above and try “Animation scale .5x” instead of “Animation off.”
If you had a slow Android phone before, you should immediately notice a speed improvement! This hack is a battery saver too, so you can expect a (small) improvement of battery life.
How To Increase Battery Life of Android Phones
While disabling animations will definitely extend Android battery life a little, its main purpose is to improve speed. Here’s a higher-impact list of how to make your phone battery last longer on Android:
- Disable Location Services and GPS when you’re not using it.
(Settings ➡ Location) - Reduce screen brightness.
(Settings ➡ Display ➡ Brightness) - Reduce screen timeout period.
(Settings ➡ Display ➡ Screen timeout) - Disable WiFi when you’re not using it.
(Settings ➡ Connections ➡ Wi-Fi) - Disable Bluetooth when you’re not using it.
(Settings ➡ Connections ➡ Bluetooth)
Aside from reducing battery drain, it’s also important to take care of your battery’s health so you can get more years of life out of it. You should never let your battery get very hot, nor should you let it drain all the way down to 0%. Doing so can cause permanent damage.
Getting the Most Out of Your Smartphone
By tweaking Android settings, your phone can last years longer with no sacrifice in performance. That means you can buy older models at steep discounts and keep them past their intended end of life.
Instead of buying the latest phones for $1,200 each, we typically buy our smartphones for around $250 – $300 renewed on Amazon — or sometimes we’ll find an older model brand new on eBay for about that same price.
With cheap phones in our pockets, we’re less stressed about damaging them, which saves us even more money. We skip insurance altogether, and we opt for cheap cell phone cases — or none at all! Since our current phones only have a resale value of about $100 at this point, the idea of dropping them on concrete just isn’t that scary.
When it’s time to move on to the next one, we perform a factory reset on our old devices and sell them online — recouping some cash instead of letting them rot in a closet or tossing them in the trash.
All of the money we save on this sort of stuff gets invested in index funds and grows exponentially over the decades, giving us more freedom to travel the world instead of working to pay for things we don’t need. 📈
— Steven
Cutting back on small expenses one by one can add up to a life-changing effect. Check out Step 2 of our Financial Roadmap for more money-saving tips.
