I’ve been a loyal Samsung user for about 15 years, and if there’s one thing that’s always frustrated me, it’s the gradual slowdown. I have always wanted to make my Samsung phone faster. I’ve spent ages trying to figure out how to optimize their software and deal with the bloatware to make my phones feel faster.

The secret is surprisingly simple: turn off animations and the virtual memory function.

A couple of days ago, I finally stumbled on the real trick—a game-changer for my Samsung Galaxy S21, and it works just as well on the S24 (and I bet it will on the S25, too).

Make My Samsung Phone Faster

Here’s exactly how you do it.

Step 1: Unlock Developer Mode

First things first, you need to enable Developer Mode. Don’t worry, it’s hidden but super easy to unlock.

  • Go to Settings.
  • Scroll all the way down and tap on About phone.
  • Tap on Software information.
  • Find the Build number and tap on it rapidly 7 times. You’ll see a small message pop up telling you that “Developer mode has been turned on.”

Step 2: Turn Off Animations

Now that you’re a developer, you can get to the hidden settings that speed things up.

  • Go back to your main Settings menu. You’ll now see a new option at the very bottom called Developer options. Tap on it.
  • Scroll down until you find the “Drawing” section.
  • You need to change three settings here. Tap on each one and set it to “Animation off”:
    • Window animation scale
    • Transition animation scale
    • Animator duration scale

Disabling these makes the phone feel incredibly snappy because it no longer has to render the “whoosh” effects when you open apps or switch menus.

You can also disable animations more generally via Accessibility. See this article on how to do it.

Step 3: Disable Virtual Memory (RAM Plus)

This is the second half of the secret. Samsung’s virtual memory feature, RAM Plus, can sometimes do more harm than good for performance.

To do this, you need to turn off RAM Plus. To get here, go to: Settings > Device Care > Memory > RAM Plus. It was at the bottom of the screen for me. You may need to reboot.

The Important Downside to Know

Now, this fix isn’t without a potential side-effect. RAM Plus is designed to help when you run out of physical memory. If you are a heavy multitasker who keeps dozens of apps open at once, you might see some erratic behavior once you hit your phone’s physical RAM limit.

Honestly, though, I think Android’s memory management should be good enough on its own, and the speed boost is worth it for most people.

That’s It!

So there you have it. After years of searching around on how to make My samsung phone faster, these simple tweaks have truly transformed my Samsung phones. My S24 feels as fast as it did on day one.

Give it a shot—I’m confident you’ll notice a huge difference in how responsive your own Samsung feels.

And check out the rest of my blog for other random musings.