Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
IF YOUR PHONE is an older Android device and a bit slow, disabling animations entirely can be a handy way of speeding it up a little.
While it’s easy to do, it’s hidden away in developer options which isn’t activated for regular users.
To activate it, you will need to go into settings and find the About section. Then look for the build number and start tapping on it.
(On certain versions like HTC, you will have an extra step to take. When you’re in the About section, go into Software Information and then look for the build number).
Continue tapping until it tells you developer mode is unlocked. Now you can go back into the main settings screen and find developer options.
As the name suggests, it’s more for developers with debugging apps, testing out custom ROMs or loading software from one device to another (called sideloading). The majority of these options are only useful if you are using a phone for development purposes, but that’s not what we’re here for.
Note: Before you change anything, it’s recommended you take screenshots of the current developer settings first in case you mess something up. As always, if you’re in any way unsure about something, don’t touch it.
Scroll down a little bit and you will find the animations option. Disabling Windows, Transition and Animator duration animations will speed up your phone, but you do have the option of increasing animation duration to up to 10x if you wish (it will make the transition between apps incredibly slow for those wondering).
Once you’ve that done, you will need to restart your device for it to take effect.
Animations are there to buy time for an app to boot up or exit and to make the process between opening and loading more seamless.
On slower devices, this is more important as it prevents the user from getting impatient, but it isn’t as necessary on high-end devices. How much it speeds up actions depends on the type of phone you have, but for this option alone, it doesn’t hurt to find out.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Slow? Anyone else remember waiting 35 minutes for an Atari game to load in the 80′s?
You’re mixing your Atari up with your Commodore 64
Can’t even remember now but I do know for sure that I had to plug a cassette player into the yoke and the game loaded from a tape. Took ages while the TV flashed red & blue and made the sound of a fax machine, The bonus was an error with 5 mins to go and you had to start loading from scratch.
The Amstrad too
Atari 65XE . Nothing like that sinking feeling with 2 minutes to go when your sister accidentally kicks the cassette player on the ground and you have to rewind the tape and start again.
I had a Sinclair Spectrum and went through hours of pain
@Shane Carroll – Start again and batter your sister!
ZX81…… I can still hear those tapes.
Speaking of Atari Games.. The Sega Mega Drive is 25 years old today
Try playing strip poker on an Amiga 500 as a kid, I was 18 before she downloaded her top off
Get an iPhone. Sorted.
Brainwashed
Have to say i went from an iPhone 5 to an Xperia Z3. Worst move ever, the phone is as buggy as hell. And slower than the iPhone. Has all these weird little quirks like switching itself off randomly, making hundreds of entries on one day in my calendar to remind me of birthdays that aren’t happening any time soon.. The keyboard goes mad and types things all by itself and it’s really slow despite having sweet F.A stored on it and a cleared cache..
Steer clear!!
I’ve a z3 and it’s perfect
i made to move to a Z3 as well last year, and likewise it’s been perfect. Loved my iPhones before that, and they worked extremely well too. But it would take a lot to move back to Apple now.
Shanti, maybe your astral aura is interfering with it :)
Nah William, that’s a bit on the ridiculous side now you have to admit.. Besides, if that were the case you’d imagine it would have affected the iPhone too!
Shanti, the iPhone was sold by Steve Jobs and he was a new age hippy nut so maybe he had a way to protect the iPhone from auras and other negative vibes man. :) Crystals probably. I know a weird friend of mine has a crystal stuck to this phone to protect him from electromagnetic radiation :))) FFS!
AND on a more serious note, there’s that poor girl who committed suicide because she thought she was allergic to WiFi signals. Nuttiness kills people. It killed Jobs.
Ok, whatever you’re having there yourself William.. I’ll leave you to it, sounds like a load of nonsense to me..
It’s a Sunday morning. I can’t even remember last night. I need to be factory reset
Did you wipe your cache last night?
Only way to speed up an android phone is to throw it away and buy an iPhone.
Iphones are 5% of the world market, yet they make 95% of the market’s profit. Does that not clearly slow you that they are ripping you off? Enslaving you into their system of buying everything Apple so that they can function. Why anyone would pay into enslaving themselves is beyond me.
To have the best tech of course. Simples!!!
The only thing Apple is a genius at, is marketing.
15% vs 79% if you want actual figures not made up ones and IOS is outselling Android not. Forbes est. 23% increase per year. Even with their inflated premium pricing..
*Outselling now..
that is a load of b0ll!x. reboot into recovery, clear the cache. that is the true way to speed up android.
You can oy do that if you’re rooted tommieb. Not everyone is.
Don’t need root some boot to recovery using key combinations, you can use adb to boot to recovery on non rooted devices.
Thanks TommieB, I did that earlier and it’s made a huge improvement :)
Just download CCleaner and let it do it all for you…
Any advice for a Nokia 3310??
Works for me. Galaxy S5 seems a bit more snappy now. Thanks for the tip.
Get a lightweight launcher is another way to speed it up.
Uninstall apps that load themselves automatically. They’re the ones that slow you down. See Applications. .. running ….
My LG G2 Mini is as slow as the hills. Just typing this took three hours.
have your say