Did you know you can tweak some options on your Android phone to make your games run even smoother? These are some easy-to-make changes, and you don't even need root access for most of these gaming optimization tips for Android.
Let's take a look at some of the best ways to make your Android phone more game-friendly.
1. Increase the Screen Refresh Rate
The higher the screen refresh rate, the better visual feel you get out of your games, with much smoother animations. Switching to a high refresh rate is one of the easiest options for how to increase gaming performance on Android without root.
Many Android devices—including flagship and mid-range models from the likes of Samsung and OnePlus, as well as Google's Pixel phones—allow you to change your screen refresh rate. If you change this to whatever the highest that your phone offers, you can greatly improve the visuals of your games.
On the phones that support this feature (not all the phones do), here's how you can increase the refresh rate:
- Launch the Settings app on your phone and tap Display.
- Select Advanced on the resulting screen.
- Tap Refresh rate.
- Select the highest possible refresh rate from the options on your screen.
Since there are different flavors of Android, the precise steps will vary from one device to another. Check your exact phone model online if you can't find the option and are sure your device has a high display refresh rate.
2. Switch to a Fast Internet Connection
If you play online games on your Android phone, the speed of your internet connection affects your gaming performance. This is because your games need to send and receive data constantly. If your internet connection is poor, this data transfer takes longer. In turn, your gaming experience gets spoiled.
Therefore, to ensure your online games play as smoothly and lag-free as your offline games, try to use a faster internet connection when you play your games.
You can use any connection that's fast enough. It could be a Wi-Fi connection or even a mobile data connection, especially if you have access to 5G. But if you play multiplayer games, note that you will get a much lower ping on your home Wi-Fi network than cellular data.
If you're on a limited data plan, using cellular data to play Android games online will make your allowance run out quicker.
3. Turn Off Force 4x
Force 4x MSAA (multisample anti-aliasing) is an option found on some Android phones that greatly enhances the visual quality of your games. It's by far the best Developer options setting for improving how your games look, so we don't blame you if you had it turned on all along.
Unfortunately, this setting significantly worsens gaming performance. If your smartphone's processor isn't powerful enough, you will experience frame drops while playing graphically demanding games like PUBG Mobile, Fortnite, Apex Legends, Call of Duty: Mobile, and more. Plus, it drains the battery pretty quickly.
So, try turning it off and see how much smoother your games run on your phone. More importantly, you will be able to game longer without worrying about charging it.
Keep in mind not all the phones out there support Force 4x. But you can check if you have the option by following the steps below:
- Open the Settings app, tap About phone, and tap Build number seven times. Your phone should say you're a developer. Some devices may ask you to enter your device password first before enabling the feature.
- Head back to the main settings menu and tap System.
- Tap Developer options.
- Find the option that says Force 4x MSAA and toggle it off.
If these steps don't work for you, quickly search for Force 4x using the top search bar in the Settings app. Remember that you must enable the developer options first.
4. Limit Background Processes
Background processes can take a toll on your Android phone's gaming performance since they reduce the amount of memory available for your game. As such, you can improve your phone's gaming performance by limiting how many processes can run in the background.
This option is, however, only available if you enable Developer Options (see #3 above to do that). If you have, follow these steps to you can limit background processes running on your device:
- Open Settings and go to System.
- Tap Developer options and scroll down to Apps.
- Tap Background process limit and select your preferred maximum number of background processes.
5. Remove the Junk From Your Phone
The more files you store on your phone, the slower it gets. And this is especially the case if your phone is getting low on storage space.
If you've saved any files on your phone that you don't intend to use anymore, you should get rid of those files to improve your phone's performance. This improved performance will positively affect your gaming sessions.
Your Android phone collects junk content from many sources. Your uninstalled apps' leftovers, old media files, and other unused documents are all part of this junk.
You can actually use a built-in feature on many Android phones, including Samsung devices, to find the unused files and safely delete them from the phone. Here's how you find and use this feature:
- Access Settings on your phone, and tap Storage.
- Tap the Free Up Space button.
- Select the items that you don't use anymore, and tap Free Up in the bottom right.
Alternatively, take a look at the apps that will clean up junk files on your Android device.
6. Enable Dolby Atmos Sound
Audio fidelity is an often overlooked factor in mobile gaming. But competitive gamers understand how important audio cues are in multiplayer games.
Dolby Atmos surround sound greatly enhances the audio quality of your games. So, if you have an Android phone that supports this, you can turn this feature on and enjoy better-quality sounds in your games.
Most Samsung Galaxy phones have this feature, and you can turn this on and off from the Settings menu. Here's how:
- Open the Settings app on your phone, and tap Sounds and vibration.
- Tap Sound quality and effects on the following screen.
- Turn Dolby Atmos for gaming on.
Now, you'll get to know the difference the technology makes whether you're using headphones or your phone's built-in stereo speakers.
7. Disable Power-Saving Mode or Battery Saver
Power-saving mode (also called Battery Saver on some devices) prioritizes longer battery life over device performance. It limits device and app performance, negatively impacting your Android phone gaming experience. Therefore, before you start playing a game, ensure you disable the feature first.
You can turn it off from the Quick Settings menu by swiping down your screen from the top, or via the Settings app by going to Battery > Battery Saver and toggling off Use Battery Saver. Your device UI might differ, but the general instruction is the same on all phones.
8. Use a Game Booster App
With more and more people playing games on their Android phones, there are now apps to optimize your Android device for gaming.
These game booster apps tweak various options to ensure your phone can play games smoothly, and they'll also shut off notifications, so you don't get interrupted while playing. You don't need to manually optimize each option, as the app does that for you with a single tap.
Game Booster is a free game optimization app you can use to make your Android device game-friendly. There are a few other game launchers for Android as well that you can use. And if your Android phone has a gaming mode, ensure you have it enabled every time you want to play.
9. Use a Phone Gaming Accessory
In addition to the software, you can make changes to your hardware to improve gaming on your Android device.
For example, you can get an external game controller to play games on your phone. This controller will help you better control your moves in your games. For instance, you can connect your Xbox Series X or PlayStation 5 controller to your Android phone over Bluetooth.
Additionally, you can purchase a smartphone clip mount for your controller for the best handheld gaming experience. Most of these gaming accessory items are easy to install. You simply plug them into your phone, and they start working.
10. Overclock the Phone CPU
Finally, something more hands-on for the real mobile gaming enthusiast. Overclocking the CPU of your phone lets you extract more power out of the same processor. This lets your games process more items at once, and this results in an improved gaming environment.
You can overclock the CPU on most Android phones out there. However, keep in mind you'll need to root your phone before you can overclock it. If you aren't sure what root it is, it might be best that you don't do this, or you risk bricking your device.
To overclock an Android phone, you need to first install a custom kernel. Then you can use an app like the popular Franco Kernel Manager to overclock your CPU. Overclocking will make your phone run hotter and shorten your battery life, but it can squeeze every drop of power out of your device.
Optimize Android for Gaming
If your Android device is your primary gaming machine, the tips above will help you improve the performance of your games on your phone. A few tweaks here and there will make your device better handle all your favorite games.
Android has loads of games to choose from, and there are even games that don't require an internet connection at all.
