How to reduce animations to make Android feel faster

A three-year-old Galaxy A-series phone can feel slower than it really is because every tap waits for a little animation to finish. Open an app, go back, switch screens, pull down quick settings. Small delays stack up.

Reducing animations does not make the CPU faster. It does not improve signal, storage speed, or battery health. It just removes some of the waiting between actions, and that is often enough to make an older phone feel better.

This is one of the few Android speed tweaks I actually like. It is simple, reversible, and honest about what it does.

What reducing animations changes

Android has separate animation controls for windows, transitions, and in-app motion effects. Lower values make those animations play faster. Turning them off removes many of them completely.

The phone still needs the same time to load a heavy app. But if the system used to spend part of a second showing a transition before the app content appeared, reducing that transition makes the phone feel more responsive.

That distinction matters. If Chrome is slow because you have 70 tabs open, animation settings will not fix Chrome. If the phone feels sluggish because every system movement takes too long, they help immediately.

Method 1: use Developer Options

First, unlock Developer Options.

Go to Settings > About phone and tap Build Number seven times. On Samsung, the path is Settings > About phone > Software information > Build number. On Xiaomi, Redmi, and POCO, the unlock path may use OS version, HyperOS version, or MIUI version instead.

Now open Developer Options. It is usually under Settings > System, Settings > Additional settings, or the main Settings list.

Scroll to the Drawing section and change these three settings:

• Window animation scale
• Transition animation scale
• Animator duration scale

Set each one to 0.5x.

That is the best starting point. You keep enough movement to understand where screens are going, but the system stops feeling so slow between taps.

If you want the fastest possible feel, set all three to Animation off. Try it for a day before deciding. Some people love it. Others find it harsh because screens appear with no visual cue.

Method 2: use Accessibility settings

The Accessibility route is easier and does not require Developer Options.

On stock Android and Pixel phones, go to Settings > Accessibility > Color and motion > Remove animations. The wording may vary slightly by Android version.

On Samsung Galaxy phones, look under Settings > Accessibility, then the vision or visibility menu, then Reduce animations or Remove animations, depending on the One UI version and region.

This is less granular than Developer Options. You usually get on or off, not 0.5x. But it is a good choice if you do not want Developer Options enabled, or if a banking, payment, work-profile, or device-security app complains about developer settings.

Use Accessibility if you want the simple switch. Use Developer Options if you want the 0.5x middle ground.

Xiaomi has another shortcut

Some Xiaomi, Redmi, and POCO phones include a separate animation speed setting outside Developer Options.

Go to Settings > Home screen > Animation speed and choose Fast if the option exists. Xiaomi’s own support pages describe this route on devices such as the Xiaomi 14T, but availability still varies by model and HyperOS or MIUI version.

If your Xiaomi phone does not show that option, use the Developer Options method instead.

Should you use 0.5x or off?

Use 0.5x first.

It is the better default because it preserves motion cues. You still see apps open, screens slide, and menus expand, just faster. On most phones, it feels like Android woke up.

Use Animation off if you want every transition to be as short as possible and you do not mind the abrupt feel. It can be useful on very old phones, or for people who prefer function over polish.

There is no permanent commitment here. Change it, use the phone, and change it back if it feels wrong.

What this will not fix

Reducing animations will not solve low storage. It will not stop an app from draining battery. It will not repair overheating, poor signal, or weak battery health.

It also will not make a cheap storage chip behave like UFS storage in a flagship phone. If an app takes five seconds to load because the phone is busy reading data, the animation tweak only trims the visual part around that wait.

That said, perception matters. A phone you use hundreds of times a day should not waste motion on every tap if you do not enjoy it.

Small warnings

A few apps look odd when animations are fully disabled. Loading indicators, popups, bottom sheets, and certain in-app effects may feel abrupt. If one app behaves strangely, set Animator duration scale back to 1x and leave the other two at 0.5x.

Do not assume the Developer Options trick survives every update. Major Android upgrades, including Android 17 updates arriving first on Pixels and later on other manufacturers’ phones, can reset developer settings. Check them again after a large update.

Also, do not turn the Developer Options master switch off expecting every changed value to stay active on every device. Behavior varies. If you want to avoid Developer Options entirely, use the Accessibility setting instead.

The best quick setup

For most people, the answer is simple: set all three Developer Options animation scales to 0.5x.

If you dislike Developer Options or your phone is managed by work software, use Remove animations in Accessibility. If you use Xiaomi and the Home screen animation speed option is available, set it to Fast first.

That is enough. The rest of Android performance work is less glamorous: keep storage under control, remove bad apps, update the system, and watch for heat or battery drain that points to a deeper issue.