It might be difficult to switch between an Android phone and an iPhone, especially for novice users. App settings seldom ever survive the changeover, half of your logins are lost, and saved game data is erased. However, Apple may be changing that at last.
Developers discovered a new framework called AppMigrationKit in the iOS 26.1 beta. It is intended to assist apps in moving data from the iPhone to other platforms, such as Android. Although it isn’t currently available to the public, it suggests that Apple is covertly creating a more adaptable migration system that doesn’t totally entail you in its ecosystem.
Developers that choose to support the toolkit can utilize it to enable the transfer of offline files, saved preferences, and game progress while configuring a new phone. It expands on Apple’s Move to iOS functionality, but it does it in reverse this time, possibly enabling Android users to transfer their data back to iOS.
According to reports, a “Transfer to iPhone” feature will be included in Android’s upcoming version, beginning with eSIM data. When taken as a whole, they imply that both digital behemoths are at last embracing the concept of seamless cross-platform switching, something consumers have long desired.
AppMigrationKit is currently only in early testing, and how quickly developers accept it will determine how widely it is used. Support will probably be released update by update and app by app. However, if Apple continues on its current path, switching phones may soon no longer feel like a fresh start in the digital world.
AppMigrationKit may be the first step toward a more transparent Apple, one that acknowledges that users may come and go. Additionally, it allows developers to maintain privacy while controlling what data is transferred and how. If it performs as advertised, you may finally be able to stop losing your digital footprint whenever you change phones.
Now, the question is whether Apple’s competitors and app developers will act quickly enough to make switching ecosystems as simple as switching devices.
I have six computers of different sizes and specs, but lately I’ve noticed that I use my Chromebook more frequently. It has one amazing feature that I can’t live without, despite its obviously poor performance and small 11-inch footprint: full-fledged Android app support. I’m not just saying this because I write for Android Authority; having access to smartphone apps that don’t have a true PC equivalent is revolutionary.
Unfortunately, earlier this year Microsoft ended the Windows Subsystem for Android (WSA) experiment, which enabled the use of Android apps on Windows 11. Additionally, Phone Link is still in use, although it just lets you mirror the screen of your smartphone. Furthermore, the Pixel and the great majority of other devices still do not have screen sharing enabled by Microsoft. Therefore, I have to decide between using an emulator or a Chrome OS device if I want the finest Android experience on my PC.
The sole issue? At best, Android emulators on PC provide a mediocre experience. Performance is lost due to emulation costs, and even the best Android emulators, such as BlueStacks, have crowded interfaces and advertisements designed for particular applications, like gaming. On Chrome OS, however, the experience is far more seamless: you may open individual Android apps, and they coexist peacefully with native apps.
Waydroid
Waydroid brings all the apps you love, right to your desktop, working side by side your Linux applications.
Is it possible to accomplish this Android-PC harmony without installing Chrome OS and forfeiting the ability to use a conventional desktop environment? Yes, but the only catch is that Linux is needed. Nevertheless, I believe it’s totally worth it, and Microsoft’s growing hostility against Windows privacy is just one more reason to think about switching.
Why running Android apps on PC matters more than ever
I enjoy having access to Android’s extensive app store on my PC for a number of reasons, including my investing portfolio tracker and other smart home apps. I frequently think that Android services are simply superior to their web or PC versions. For instance, WhatsApp for PC keeps me from scaling the window to my preferred size. In particular, it feels like a needless waste of screen space because it won’t shrink any smaller than a quarter of my screen.
Apps for smartphones, on the other hand, are made to fit on almost any screen size. Therefore, the window size should be much more adjustable if you can figure out how to run them on a computer. Additionally, you may already understand the appeal if you have ever tried multitasking on a computer with a single display.
Try using a web browser to launch Google Maps and minimizing the window size (see below). As soon as you click on a business, the sidebar will occupy all of the available space, leaving you with nothing except the search box. Without ignoring this sidebar, you are unable to move about the map.
You can see how much smaller the windows for the Android versions of WhatsApp and Google Maps can get on the right. This discrepancy is not the fault of Meta or any other developer; desktop applications are made to work on reasonable screen sizes, and my smaller windows don’t precisely meet that requirement.
Nevertheless, the difference is clearly noticeable on a 24-inch screen, such as the monitor on my gaming PC. I’ve considered purchasing a second monitor, but my desk isn’t large enough to fit one. I must therefore use every available inch of screen real estate for the time being. Aside from density considerations, I occasionally like mobile apps because of their simple user interfaces. For instance, AI mobile apps respond far more quickly than the web version, which is useful when I only need a brief response to a small query.
Because of my propensity for multitasking, I usually find myself using two chat apps (WhatsApp and Telegram) in addition to a full-featured web browser and possibly one other program, such as Maps or a social media app like X/Twitter. Normally, switching between the different full-screen windows would require a lot of Alt+Tab. However, with top-notch Android app support, I can use many windows simultaneously.
Android apps on PC without emulation
I came found Waydroid, an open source project that lets you run Android apps on a PC. Waydroid doesn’t simulate a whole Android device in a virtual machine, in contrast to Android emulators like BlueStacks or Genymotion, which you may already be familiar with. Rather, it shares the host OS’s kernel and makes use of Linux namespaces. In summary, it runs an entire Android system directly on Linux using a container-based methodology. This results in near-native performance with no overhead or performance penalty associated with virtualization.
Admittedly, installing Waydroid is more complicated than just downloading the installer for an emulator and repeatedly selecting Next, as is the case with Windows. However, it merely required entering two simple commands into the terminal, and Waydroid is available in the app stores of many distributions. It wasn’t a problem for me because I already use Linux on a daily basis, but I would advise you to give the operating system a try if you haven’t used it recently. Stable versions, such as Ubuntu, are largely similar to Windows and require no tweaking.
Returning to the topic of Waydroid, there are two builds available: one with Google apps (GApps) and one without. I chose the former, which included a minimum build of Android 13 based on LineageOS along with the Play Store and Google Play Services framework.
After installation, Waydroid displays installed Android apps in the application menu of your computer, complete with taskbar entries and unique icons, just like native programs. Additionally, you may enable multi-window mode, which lets each program open in a separate window, by changing one setting.
Is using Waydroid pleasant?
Waydroid
Waydroid brings all the apps you love, right to your desktop, working side by side your Linux applications.
Despite being an open-source, community-built program, Waydroid feels quite well-designed. With the exception of a few configurable configuration changes (such as turning off the on-screen keyboard), the main experience is identical to that of an Android tablet. I can use my monitor without even using my keyboard and mouse because it allows touch input.
I was pleasantly happy to discover that practically every software I wanted to run on Waydroid worked without any issues, despite my initial concerns about compatibility. You must first take a moment to register your Waydroid installation with Google Play Protect, but I could download everything from the Play Store. Of course, you may also utilize other app stores like F-Droid or sideload apps. Compared to Windows Subsystem for Android, which was formally restricted to the Amazon App Store, this is already a significant improvement.
We tested all of my favorite apps, including Telegram, YouTube, and Google Maps, and they all functioned perfectly without a single frame loss. Even my Chromebook, which runs Android apps less effectively, stands in sharp contrast to this. You see, with the release of Chrome OS 109 in 2023, Google shifted to a virtualization-based strategy for running Android. Since then, a lot of Chromebooks with lower specs have had trouble running Android apps.
The term “way” alludes to Waydroid, a crucial part of the graphics infrastructure of contemporary Linux that enables even hardware acceleration and fluid input. Even though I have AMD hardware, as the project suggests, I tested a few simple games and they ran perfectly. Allowing Waydroid to utilize your PC’s built-in graphics or switching to software rendering are two workarounds for NVIDIA’s lack of official support.
That’s not to imply that Waydroid doesn’t have drawbacks. You’ll soon discover that you can’t view incoming notifications when you run programs in multi-window mode. Apps lack the ability to send notifications outside of the container they reside in, in contrast to Chrome OS. If you install the appropriate desktop application and use a forwarding app, such as KDE Connect, you can easily get around this.
Additionally, Waydroid shields a large portion of your device’s hardware from Android apps. For example, the camera input is broken, which is really important if you care about video calls. Similarly, apps are inherently unable to directly access Bluetooth or GPS. However, this only truly matters in ancillary use scenarios, such as when attempting to configure a smart home device straight from Waydroid.
Overall, Waydroid fills the void better than anything else available at the moment, although it doesn’t completely replace my Pixel or even my detachable Chromebook. I can highly recommend Waydroid if you’re among the numerous folks who either use an emulator or wish that Windows Subsystem for Android would come back.
Waydroid
Waydroid brings all the apps you love, right to your desktop, working side by side your Linux applications.
From background controls to looks, Xiaomi’s HyperOS offers consumers a great deal of customization options for their phones. Nevertheless, one tiny switch among all of these choices could stealthily drain battery life without your knowledge. Owners have recently complained of unexpected power consumption in user forums and on Reddit, even while their phones are just sitting on a desk.
“App Autostart” is one feature that frequently appears. Its original purpose was to speed up the delivery of notifications in older MIUI systems. However, Xiaomi has already made improvements to HyperOS‘s notification system, so this choice is no longer as important.
Apps can operate automatically in the background when Autostart is enabled. Those apps continue to use memory and power even while you are not accessing your device. According to several users, turning off unnecessary autostart permissions can extend the standby duration of their phones by up to ten times.
How to Fix It in a Few Steps
You don’t need to be a tech expert to save battery life. Here’s the simple way to manage it:
Open Settings on your Xiaomi phone.
Tap Apps, then Permissions.
Select Background Autostart.
Check which apps are allowed to start automatically.
Turn off Autostart for any that aren’t essential.
It makes sense to limit the use of this feature to essential messaging apps like Telegram and WhatsApp. You can safely leave off tools you don’t use often, games, and shopping apps.
Other Easy Ways to Get More Battery Life
Turning off Autostart is a big help, but you can stretch your power even further by combining a few other habits:
Limit or disable Always-On Display to cut screen power use.
Use Dark Mode, especially on AMOLED screens.
Review notification permissions and mute apps that alert too often.
Shorten screen timeout so the display turns off faster.
Activate Battery Saver mode for less important apps.
A HyperOS developer recently explained on Xiaomi’s forum that small tweaks like these often have the biggest effect: “You don’t need deep settings knowledge—just consistency. Tiny adjustments add up to big savings.”
Key Points
“App Autostart” can drain battery silently in HyperOS.
Turning it off saves power and improves standby time.
Only key messaging apps should keep it active.
Combine small changes for longer daily use.
Xiaomi keeps battery controls simple but powerful.
Ultimately, practical flexibility is what Xiaomi strives for. Deep control is available when you want it, but the default settings are still user-friendly enough for everyone. A phone that drains quickly can be made to last from morning to night with a few well-considered adjustments.
This OneUI feature is perfect for fans of Samsung’s everything-but-the-kitchen-sink software strategy. Was one of the Samsung Galaxy phones’ best-kept secrets just revealed by a Reddit user? The most well-known aspect of OneUI, the software launcher that runs Samsung phones, is how many functions it has. Some of them are so buried or too many that you won’t utilize them at all.
The best hidden feature award can go to a new discovery. The function, known as “Connectivity Labs,” can only be accessed by a hidden gesture in the Wi-Fi settings on your phone. That’s cool, isn’t it?
Even more amazing are the features offered by Connectivity Labs, which include developer options, AI-powered mobile data switching, a home Wi-Fi assessment tool, and more. Here are some of the greatest features you should start utilizing, how to access them, and which Samsung models are compatible.
Opening Intelligent Wi-Fi settings
In order to access your Intelligent Wi-Fi settings, you must first launch the Settings app, hit the Connections tab, select Wi-Fi, then tap the three dots in the upper-right corner (to expand options), and then select Intelligent Wi-Fi.
You will then get a list of Wi-Fi alternatives that are adaptable.
Turning on Connectivity Labs
Scroll to the bottom of the Intelligent Wi-Fi page, then tap the software version (now known as Intelligent Wi-Fi 7.0.0) seven times to enable Connectivity Labs.
You should see a pop-up message indicating the number of taps required to activate Connectivity Labs as you continue to tap. The secret menu will then show up at the bottom of the site after that.
Connectivity Labs
A column of graphs showing the different bands, types, and networks your phone is linked to appears when you first launch Connectivity Labs. Additionally, there is a “Daily Average” ticker that shows how long your phone spends on Wi-Fi each day.
But the bottom half of this page has the main content. A list of helpful internet connection toggles, such as Wi-Fi 7 mode, Wi-Fi handover, network quality information, and more, can be found as you read down.
Although the most of the alternatives are specialized, I’ve been trying with all of them, and three are generally helpful:
Home Wi-Fi inspection: This feature tests your Wi-Fi signal in real time, displaying connection strength fluctuations as you move around your house. I needed a convenient location for the monitoring hub after I recently placed new video security cameras across my property. After using the Wi-Fi inspection tool, I located a strong signal spot in my office and configured it.
Switching to mobile data faster: Have you ever had slow internet because your phone was switching between Wi-Fi and mobile data while you were outside of a cafe or office building, for example, and you were on the edge of a public connection? If you select this option, the phone will immediately switch to mobile data if it senses that your Wi-Fi signal is waning. If you have an unlimited data plan, this is a fantastic alternative.
Wi-Fi Developer Options: One of the most useful settings on this menu is “Nearby Wi-Fi information,” which provides a list of the signal strengths of your nearby networks. When there are several public Wi-Fi networks available, such as at an airport, and you want to know which one will provide the quickest surfing speeds, this can be helpful.
Although I have only touched the surface of Connectivity Labs’ potential, it is evident that there are many helpful tools available to make more exploration worthwhile. I strongly advise spending some time looking into these settings, experimenting with them, and figuring out which ones best suit your unique need for internet connectivity. The amount of control and optimization you may attain without spending any money may surprise you.
Let’s say you just got a brand-new, sparkling TV. Like a child at Christmas, you open the box and get ready to enjoy all of its aesthetic splendor. It’s 2025,” you think to yourself. TV technology is booming, and it will always look fantastic. Thus, you plug it in without even checking the default settings. A huge error.
I’ve done it myself. And because it’s generally acknowledged that most customers forget to change the most fundamental settings when configuring their televisions, I’m fine with it. You may have never changed the default settings on your TV, even if it’s a few years old.
You may adjust a few settings on Samsung TVs in particular to enhance your viewing experience and add even more appeal to a dystopian survival thriller. Here are six suggestions to help you do that.
Turn off Brightness Optimization
Go ahead and turn off Brightness Optimization by turning it off as you’ve already reached Power and Energy Saving.
Nowadays, a lot of TVs have optical sensors that can determine the brightness of your room and its potential temperature. The TV then makes adjustments on its own, ostensibly optimizing color temperature and brightness based on that information. This isn’t always accurate, and the feature may end up producing worse results, particularly in a space where lighting conditions can fluctuate, such as on a sunny day when the sky is obscured by large clouds.
Adjust Brightness levels to suit your eyes
The type of content you’re viewing will determine the optimal brightness level. Even if HDR (high dynamic range) is gradually gaining popularity, SDR (standard dynamic range) has been the only option for decades of movies. You can readily change the brightness levels for both situations, though.
Open any software, like Prime, for SDR, but don’t start watching a video just yet. Proceed to All Settings > Picture > Expert Settings > Brightness (keep in mind that this is located under Picture Setup on some Samsung models). Adjust the sliders to determine the SDR brightness sweet spot, in your opinion.
Finding a video that is shown in high dynamic range is the first step in adjusting HDR brightness. Since many of its movies are tagged with brief descriptions identifying their genre, visiting YouTube TV is a quick way to make sure you are watching HDR content. Another option is to just search for “HDR video.”
You will notice a difference when viewing both technologies (SDR/HDR), however the brightness level you select depends on your personal preferences. I think HDR looks its best when the brightness is at its highest. You may discover that SDR appears best at a lower level.
Turn off Motion Smoothing for cinematic viewing
The majority of films are (and have always been) shot at 24 frames per second. Motion smoothing reduces juddering and blur by interpolating images in footage captured at 24 frames per second. Given that live television is filmed at 30 frames per second, this can be useful when watching sports.
However, Motion Smoothing—another popular default feature—has a reputation for giving televisions a “soap opera appearance.” Just from that description, you’ll likely understand. In photographic prints, I conceive of it as glossy versus matte, where glossy refers to the look of a soap opera that mimics a live broadcast. Even though I always strive for an immersive viewing experience, I don’t have to see the actors and crew filming the scene on the set.
Browse to Picture Clarity Settings under All Settings > Picture > Expert Settings.(Note that Motion Smoothing is referred to as Picture Clarity or Auto Motion Plus on Samsung TVs.)
From here, you can select Custom Settings or completely disable Picture Clarity (Motion Smoothing). You may want to increase the Blur Reduction and Judder Reduction sliders there if you’re playing a video game or watching a soccer match. Turning off Motion Smoothing, however, is the best option for traditional (filmic) aesthetics.
Choose a Picture Mode that suits you
The Movie, Cinema, or Filmmaker modes, in my opinion, are typically the best since they seek to offer the most genuine and accurate depiction of the content creator’s vision. These settings also lessen the possibility of introducing artifacts and other problems with image quality by cutting down on superfluous image processing.
Select Picture Mode from the All Settings menu. Then browse between these three selections (Movie, Cinema, or Filmmaker) to find your favorite.
The color temperature is typically cooler or bluer when using the standard mode by default. Vivid mode, which Samsung refers to as Dynamic mode, is frequently included with TVs. Both the Dynamic and Sports modes can make colors appear overly bright, giving the entire image a harsh shine, therefore I would suggest avoiding that. Because the colors will stand out more in storefronts, businesses are more likely to employ these modes when setting up display TVs.
Turn off Eco Mode
Nowadays, almost every TV has some sort of “Eco Mode” on by default. By lowering the contrast and dimming the TV’s brightness, Eco Mode is intended to conserve power. According to a recent research, turning on Eco Mode can reduce your annual electric cost by as low as $7. (That is a daily amount of less than two cents.) There are other ways to more efficiently lower your carbon footprint, therefore it doesn’t make a big difference whether “eco” stands for economics or ecology.
To disable Eco Mode, click the gear button on your Samsung remote to access the settings. Then follow this path: All Settings > General and Privacy > Power and Energy Saving > Energy Saving Solution. Lastly, toggle Energy Saving Solution off.
Check Local Dimming
There are three settings for Local Dimming on Samsung TVs, which is another control that affects brightness levels. Select Local Dimming under All Settings > Picture > Expert Settings.
To find the one that works best for you, try sampling Low, Standard, and High. When Local Dimming is set to Low, bright objects on dark backgrounds see reduced halo and blooming. My favorite setting on Samsung TVs is High since it maintains maximum brightness without haloing surrounding images.
After making changes to Local Dimming, you may wish to go back and evaluate if the brightness levels on both SDR and HDR content are adequate.
The Pixels are even more feature-rich than Android. You find more the deeper you go. Given that he finds more features than Google even promotes, our own Mishaal Rahman may likely attest to that. And that speaks volumes about a platform that the majority of us use on a regular basis on our phones, which are our main devices.
Having spent years immersed in the vibrant and colorful world of Android, I have created certain personal favorites—features that are really essential yet still go unappreciated. Although you may be aware of them all, I’m willing to wager that many of us are unaware of them until we come across them in a random Reddit comment.
I now use these functions on a regular basis; some are exclusive to the Pixel, while others are available on all Android devices.
Quick tap
Double-tapping the back of a Pixel phone activates shortcuts, which is a great gesture. I have my Quick Tap in Settings app set to pull down the notification shade, which I probably do a thousand times a day, whether it’s to ignore a barrage of Instagram direct messages or obsessively check for a message.
Particularly when utilizing an app, it’s far simpler than reaching your thumb all the way to the top of the screen. I just need to lightly tap my index finger, which is where it naturally sits, to check who has ping-ed me, and then I can immediately resume my job while ignoring them. Easy.
Clipboard manager on Gboard
Sincerely, I’m not sure how I’ll manage without this anymore. I’m always storing text snippets, URLs, package tracking numbers, and even Instagram captions that I’m still working on using Gboard’s clipboard manager. Additionally, it is located beneath Gboard‘s menu selections and is only a tap away.
It’s an underappreciated talent to be able to pin things so they don’t disappear after an hour. Additionally, it helps me fill out those nagging forms that always reload when I switch between apps. My sanity has been rescued numerous times by having lengthy responses stored in the clipboard.
Smart text selection in overview
Who knew it could feel like such a victory to save one more tap? Long-pressing text in the app overview screen on Pixel phones allows you to copy it without having to return to the app.
At first, it might not seem like a significant deal. However, those saved taps add up if you’re copying information one by one, for example, from WhatsApp to fill out a form somewhere else while making sure everything is correct. It’s a minor detail that helps me avoid a lot of conflict and irritation.
Multitasking with split-screen
I believe this function to be equally useful on smaller devices, even though it’s frequently marketed for phones with giant screens and foldables. To avoid continually switching between apps, I regularly utilize it to run utilities like the calculator alongside other programs, again from the Overview page.
I’ll admit that I occasionally forget it’s there, but I spare myself the hassle by arranging my programs into split-screen the instant I see myself switching between them too frequently.
App pinning
It’s simple but incredibly underappreciated. I pin the app by choosing the Pin option from the Overview screen whenever I give my phone to someone, such as to pick up a contact or scan a QR code at a movie theater (you must first enable app pinning in your phone’s Security and privacy settings). This prevents them from inadvertently or purposely swiping into another app.
When I show friends and family a single picture, I can’t stop them from idly browsing around my gallery, but I can stop them from switching to Messages or Keep. It comes in particularly handy when my young niece or nephew borrows my phone to play games and I don’t want them to change applications or erase random notes.
Notification history if you dismissed one by mistake
It would be an understatement to say that this is a lifesaver. I vividly recall how taken aback I was to discover that Android even possessed this capability.
I occasionally unconsciously swipe away notifications from a particular app out of habit, only to discover later that I truly needed that particular app. Even if accessing notification history through the Notifications area of the Settings app isn’t the most user-friendly method, knowing that those messages aren’t permanently erased calms my racing thoughts.
Screen recording has built-in audio
In addition to recording the screen, Android’s built-in screen recorder also records internal audio, not simply microphone input. Every time you choose the option from the Quick Settings menu, it allows you to choose the audio source.
I utilize the functionality for more enjoyable (and practical) purposes, but it’s also useful for sending how-tos to friends and relatives. When a song strikes, you can save synced lyrics from music applications to share with someone, record buggy app behavior to report bugs (and collect huge bug bounties, just saying), or record clear audio broadcast parts from YouTube.
The microphone does not pick up any noise during any of this. Furthermore, you definitely don’t need any dubious third-party tools for this.
Quick Share
Fast file transfers between devices are a feature of Quick Share, however I use it more for myself than for other people.
I frequently have to transfer screenshots and images from my Pixel to my Mac for work. I can share files as quickly and smoothly as AirDrop if I have a third-party app installed on macOS. Even better, Google’s first-party Quick Share software functions flawlessly on Windows, so you’re in luck.
Google Pixel 10 Pro XL
Google Pixel 10 Pro XL is the ultimate Pixel experience, featuring advanced AI – Gemini, unbelievable camera quality, impeccable design, and the next-gen Google Tensor G5 chip
I’m confident that there are a dozen more hidden gems like this in the UIs of Android and Pixel if I look more closely. However, I use these on my Pixel every single day. My flow and my sanity would be totally disrupted if I were to lose even one of them.
The Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra and iPhone 17 Pro are two of the greatest phones available right now because of their incredible cameras and powerful processors. Even though these high-end flagships could be the best mobile devices available right now, getting them will cost you a fortune. Even phones that are affordable, like the Google Pixel 9A, are still expensive, and since people’s budgets are getting tighter everywhere, it’s more crucial than ever to get the most out of your purchases. Instead of updating more frequently, the simplest approach to achieve that is to just stay using your phone longer, spreading out that expensive purchase across the years.
Not only is it better for your wallet, but it’s also much better for the environment. If you upgrade your phone less frequently, fewer phones will be made and distributed, and fewer old phones will wind up in landfills. The good news is that manufacturers such as Apple, Google, Samsung, and others are extending the support period for their phones’ software updates, so the phone you purchase today will continue to be safe to use for many years to come.
You are responsible for the remainder. It takes some work, a lot of attention, and a few crucial tactics to keep your phone in good operating order for the seven or eight years of software support it may receive.
Therefore, these are the best ways to extend the life of your phone.
Update the software
Avoid using a phone that isn’t receiving security upgrades since it’s just not safe. Phones like the Google Pixel 9 series now come with seven years of software support, whereas before it was typical for many Android manufacturers to support new phones for only two to three years. Unfortunately, some less expensive phones, such as the recently released OnePlus Nord CE4 Lite, only get upgrades for a few years. When purchasing a new phone, be sure to inquire about its support duration since this will provide you with greater value during the phone’s lifetime.
Keeping your phone up to date with the most recent security update will help prevent hackers and remove any dangerous software that might infiltrate and cause your phone to lag. If you have an older phone, go to the settings menu, scroll down to Software Update, and click to see if there is an update available. Most phones will automatically ask you to install the most recent upgrades, and you sh
This also applies to your apps, which must be updated to stay compatible with the iOS or Android version you’re using. Allowing apps to update automatically in the background is a good idea, but if you don’t, make sure you’re running the most recent versions by going into your preferred app store.
Protect it with a case
If you recently purchased a brand-new iPhone, installing a case right away is the best way to preserve it physically. In addition to protecting it in the event that you drop it, it will also assist prevent it from absorbing tiny scratches from your pocket’s coins or keys.
Since there isn’t much you can do to repair your phone’s screen after it becomes damaged, a screen protector is also a smart option. You can easily change a screen protector if it gets a severe scratch, keeping the phone itself looking brand new for many years to come. When it’s time to update, keeping your phone looking new could help you sell it for more money on the used market, even if you don’t intend to keep it for many years.
Replace the battery
Over time, the battery in your phone will progressively degrade, giving it less life between charges than it did when it was brand-new. All phones are like this. Batteries in certain older phones might only provide 50% of their previous capacity. Your phone may even alert you when it senses that your battery isn’t providing enough power, in which case it may limit your processor to make up for it.
Don’t worry; most phones have a battery that is rather simple to change on your own to give it a fresh lease on life. If your battery is about to die, it could be worth trying to repair it yourself. iFixit offers a wide range of kits and third-party replacement batteries to fit a large number of phones.
If you’re not very confident with your screwdriver skills, this might be a nice alternative to think about. There are a number of places you can take your phone to have your battery replaced, or even other components like a broken screen. However, not all of them are really legitimate.
Remove old apps that you are not using anymore
Your phone is probably cluttered with thousands of pictures of your friends, pets, or the plates of food you’ve consumed over the years if you’ve owned it for a long time. You probably have a number of outdated apps and games that you downloaded on the spur of the moment, played for a few bus rides, and then switched to the newest mobile gaming craze.
In addition to negatively impacting your phone’s general performance, a shortage of storage may also make it more difficult to install important software updates. It’s worthwhile to look through your archives, remove anything from your phone that is wasting space, and backup any pictures and movies you wish to store to the cloud.
It might even be worth backing up all of your crucial data and performing a complete factory reset, starting over, and only installing the necessary apps if your phone has been slow for a long period.
Clean out your ports
Last but not least, cleaning your phone can offer unexpected benefits. Your phone may suffer greatly from pocket fluff, especially when it comes to the charging connector, which frequently becomes clogged with bits of junk. As a result, your phone won’t charge when you plug in your charger because it can’t connect completely.
It’s tempting to assume that something has broken, like the cable or the charging port itself, but it could just be that the port is overflowing with lint. To make sure your charger fits without requiring forceful wriggling, occasionally insert a wooden toothpick into the area and try to ease out any dirt or debris you notice.
To make sure you can clearly hear—and be heard—during your phone calls, it’s also worthwhile to carefully brush away any debris you may discover near the speakers and microphones with an old toothbrush that has been cleaned and dried.
The first thing you should do if your Android phone has become sluggish is to wipe off its storage. Here are some tips for speeding up your outdated Android phone if you’re not sure where to start.
Delete unused apps
Phones can accumulate a large number of unused apps over time, leaving your device looking crowded. You may have used an outdated photo editing app or a QR scanner app from a restaurant on your previous trip. Uninstalling these apps is the best way to free up space on your Android phone.
Because your Android phone won’t have to spend resources on apps that aren’t being used, decluttering it can speed it up. Removing these APKs will improve resource management and make your phone quicker. To view the list of installed apps and remove those you no longer require, navigate to Settings > Storage > Apps. You may also long-press on these forgotten apps on the app screen to get App Info > Uninstall.
Clear storage
Files and long-forgotten pictures of school notes are just two examples of the trash that accumulates on old Android phones. Following the removal of unnecessary apps, you should try to free up space on your Android phone by browsing through the stored files and images.
To see what’s saved, open the File app on your phone. The majority of garbage, including long-forgotten PDF files, images, etc., is frequently found in the Downloads folder. You should check two more areas to make sure the storage is clear.
Offload photos from your phone and save them to an external drive or the cloud. This helps create a backup of your memories and clear space on your old Android phone.
Clear the app cache. For the unaware, cache is bits of data that an app saves so it is quicker to operate the next time you open it. I recommend clearing the cache for less-used apps with no saved login information. You can go to Settings > Storage > App > Clear Cache to save more space.
Check for updates
Verify that the operating system on your Android phone is up to date. Updating it will install the most recent security procedures and make it snappier. To verify and install the most recent software version, navigate to Settings > General > System Update.
After updating your old Android phone to the most recent OS version and removing the uninstalled apps, you should update the remaining apps from the Google Play Store. To get the newest features, enhanced security, and faster performance, it’s critical to utilize the most recent versions of these programs.
Adjust the animation speed
A few features, such as Developer options to alter the animation speed, can be enabled or disabled to make your phone feel faster. This can make your phone feel much faster, but it’s a little trickier than the other settings discussed above.
Go to Settings > About phone > Tap on Software details >, then tap your Build number seven times to enable Developer options. You should now be able to access various animation scale parameters as this should activate the Developer options.
Next, locate the Window animation scale by scrolling down in the Drawing section of the Developer settings. To make apps and window pop-ups run faster, tap on it and adjust the animation to 0.5x.
To reduce the speed at which you move between home screen panels and within apps, you may also change the Transition animation scale. Additionally, reduce the Animator duration scale to speed up typical UI motions like unlocking the phone and opening and closing apps.
You may breathe fresh life into your aging Android phone by adjusting these settings. After adjusting, it ought to feel quicker and have more zip when performing daily tasks. If you want to give it a refresh, I recommend tinkering around with your home screen, changing the wallpaper, and modifying extra settings to help it stay longer.
Now might be the ideal moment to get your first ultra-thin phone, especially a Samsung Galaxy model, if you’ve been on the fence about it. Samsung’s incredibly thin and light Galaxy S25 Edge looks to be on sale right now. Amazon is selling the unlocked smartphone for $699, which is its lowest price to date.
With this significant $400 discount, the base model with 256 GB of storage is now more than a third less expensive than it would normally be. Titanium Jetblack, Titanium Icyblue, and Titanium Silver are available hues from the vendor.
Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge
SUPER SLIM. SUPER LIGHT: Galaxy S25 Edge is surprisingly light and our slimmest S Series phone yet. You’ll want to show off this sleek, super-slim design that slips easily into your pocket or bag without bulking things up.
What sets the Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge apart from the rest?
We were astounded by how incredibly slim Samsung’s sleek Galaxy S25 Edge was. With the camera bump removed, the titanium chassis on which the device is constructed is 5.8 mm (0.23 inches) thick. Even with a case on, it is manageable to hold in one hand because to its exceptional light weight of 163 grams (5.75 oz). Like the normal Galaxy S25, it features an IP68 dust and water resistance rating despite its sleek design.
The Galaxy S25 Edge still has high-end core components, even though it appears that some features were trimmed to create the incredibly tiny appearance. Among these is an amazing 6.7-inch AMOLED screen with a refresh rate of 120 Hz and 2,600 nits of brightness. Additionally, it makes use of a customized Gorilla Glass Ceramic 2, which is more resilient and scratch-resistant than the Victus 2 glass.
Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge
SUPER SLIM. SUPER LIGHT: Galaxy S25 Edge is surprisingly light and our slimmest S Series phone yet. You’ll want to show off this sleek, super-slim design that slips easily into your pocket or bag without bulking things up.
Internally, the Galaxy S25 Edge is equipped with the most advanced Snapdragon 8 Elite CPU available for Galaxy devices. Even when doing graphics-intensive operations and demanding tasks, you can count on incredibly fluid performance.
The telephoto lens, a reluctant casualty of the slim design, is one prominent omission. Nevertheless, the 200 MP primary camera is adaptable and competitive when combined with a 12 MP ultrawide sensor. For content creators, the phone’s ability to record up to 8K video is a plus.
Ultra-thin phones frequently struggle with battery life, but Samsung’s software optimization and effective chipset enable the S25 Edge to last a whole day – thankfully comparable to larger flagships. It charges quickly; a 25-watt charger will fill half the battery in 30 minutes.
Manufacturers are beginning to realize that battery health is a major concern for contemporary smartphones due to longer update commitments. In an effort to extend battery life, Android 15 added an optional 80% charging limit in addition to long-standing features like adaptive charging. Similar features were first introduced by Apple with the iPhone 15, and many Android phones now have them as well.
However, doesn’t 80% seem like a pretty arbitrary number? Why would you want to cap yourself below your maximum capacity? It’s time to go through more fiction and truths about batteries. Here are some things to be aware of.
Keeping batteries healthy for longer
Heat and voltage are the two main enemies of battery health. Keeping your phone off of a hot dashboard, avoiding charging it beneath your pillow, and using slower charging when you don’t need a quick top-up are the main ways to manage the former. However, the user cannot effectively regulate voltage wear; voltage stress is merely a consequence of battery charging.
As you can see, the voltage of a nearly depleted battery is lower than that of a full one. Because there is some wiggle area below the peak voltage, which increases tolerance for voltage peaks brought on by large currents, this voltage gap can actually be exploited to accelerate charging. Many lightning-fast charging solutions operate in this way without damaging your battery. There is less tolerance between the immediate and maximum voltages, though, because a battery’s voltage rises as it fills up. Li-ion batteries will explode if their rated voltage is ever exceeded! To fully charge a battery, you must go slowly and carefully.
Although charging engineers take precautions to prevent battery explosions, wear can still happen simply by raising the battery’s voltage. The battery’s available lithium capacity eventually decreases due to anode saturation. When electrolytes are highly charged, they can also slowly break down into gases, and the cathode of the battery can also dissolve into the electrolyte. In a single case, none of this is concerning and is partly inevitable nevertheless, but over time, the additional wear accumulates and causes the battery’s capacity to gradually decrease more quickly than is ideal.
The first 60% of a battery’s voltage usually increases the fastest, after which it gradually increases until it reaches full. Stopping at around 80% is a nice halfway house because the battery is sufficiently charged to last for hours even if it isn’t quite at its peak voltage, which is where the most harm happens. The seemingly arbitrary 80% measure has a lot of sound research behind it, but is it truly helpful in real-world situations?
Should I only charge my phone to 80%?
The truth is that no matter what you do, your phone’s battery will ultimately deteriorate; the best way to handle this gradual decline will depend on your demands. The most careful chargers who maintain their phone’s temperature and adhere to the 80% rule may be able to increase the battery’s life by a year or more, which is unquestionably valuable. Whether artificially restricting oneself to 80% now is worth the long-term benefits is a personal decision.
Let’s examine the worst scenario. While many of today’s higher-end smartphones have ratings of 1,000 or even 2,000 cycles, modern smartphone batteries are typically rated for at least 500 charge cycles before depleting to 80% of their initial capacity. In the worst scenario, that amounts to about a year and a half of charging your phone every day from empty to full—a modest routine—and for longer-lasting phones, it may continue for several years. The majority of customers will most likely wait two to three years before detecting a decline in battery life, and much longer before it becomes a serious issue. And that’s assuming no additional safety measures are taken.
A year or more could pass before you need to replace your battery if you limit yourself to 80% charge.
Fortunately, most modern phones come with some built-in assistance. Taking your phone from the plug as soon as possible helps prevent stress from idle charging because phones tend to trickle charge for a time after displaying the completely charged notification, so the 100% charged notification is rarely actually quite full. By maintaining the battery at a reduced capacity and voltage until just before you normally unplug your phone in the morning, using Adaptive Charging or Optimized Charging—depending on the manufacturer of your phone—will help even more. Maintaining healthy habits like this could help your battery reach the three-year mark with ease.
Google’s latest Pixels go one step further, using Battery Health Assistance to gradually limit charging pace and battery capacity in software to keep a lid on long-term health and safety.
However, many people without extremely demanding workloads could still benefit from just charging their laptops, phones, and other devices to 80% charge (where possible) if they truly want to extend the life of their batteries. This can help you get through a normal day while also enhancing battery health. However, if you want to use your phone for the entire day, I wouldn’t advise unplugging it from the charger before 70%.
Worrying about an 80% restriction isn’t worth the battery concern if you frequently run out of juice by the end of the day, play a lot of games, or (like me) have strange charging patterns where your phone is rarely full anyway. In order to further customize the maximum restriction to your requirements, certain phones additionally provide 85%, 90%, and 95% settings. In any event, use your phone whatever you like, but be mindful that the battery will need to be changed after a few years. Don’t worry, you will need a new battery for your phone whether you intend to keep it for five, six, or seven years.
Fortunately, even for older phones, Apple, Google, and Samsung all have competitive battery replacement programs. It’s not awful to spend about $80 to keep a phone functional for many more years. However, in some areas, you may have to pay more than you should, and other brands’ availability and costs differ significantly.
With long-term ownership, these expenses are unavoidable; the only question is how many months you can try to avoid them. Adhering to the 80% rule will undoubtedly be beneficial.
