Modern Android smartphones are packed with default behaviors to make your life easier. However, sometimes these small conveniences quickly add up and make your phone busier than it should be. This was happening to me, too. I started feeling as if my smartphone was constantly asking me to look at something. That’s why I decided to make a handful of small changes to my handset. No, I didn’t install a minimalist launcher or give up on my social media apps. I either disabled or reduced several defaults on my phone. These changes didn’t make my phone more powerful, but they definitely made it calmer and more intentional.

Stop adding new apps to my home screen automatically

My home screen, my choice

The very first thing that I changed was how my phone handled newly installed apps. I install a lot of apps on my smartphone for testing purposes. Sometimes, I would use that app only once or return to it for a specific task. Every time I install an app, my phone automatically puts it on my home screen, alongside the apps that I use every day. Over time, this turns my valuable home screen space into clutter. After every few days, I used to delete unwanted icons manually.

Later on, I realized Android also offers a setting to organize my home screen apps in a much better way. This saves my phone from becoming a mess. If you also don’t want Android to automatically add new apps to your home screen, tap and hold on your home screen, then tap Settings and turn off the Add new apps to home screen or Add app icons to home screen toggle.

Reduce system animations

I noticed this change almost immediately

This is probably one of those features that you don’t really pay attention to until you tweak them. Android is packed with animations and transitions across the interface. For instance, you see subtle visual effects when opening apps or switching screens. Of course, these animations give you a connected and smoother experience. That said, it can also introduce slight delays to what you do. Personally, I don’t want to see every transition. I prefer my phone to be more responsive. That’s why I decided to reduce system animations.

For this, I had to enable Developer options first. I went to Settings -> About Phone and tapped the Build number seven times. After that, I opened System -> Developer Options and tweaked the Window, Transition, and Animator Duration scale options. You’ll find them under the Drawing section.

Wi-Fi and Bluetooth scanning

I turned them off when I didn’t need them

There are some Android settings that look helpful but can slow down your phone, and this one is amongst them. Android offers a nearby device scanning feature that allows your phone to discover Bluetooth accessories, smart home devices, and Wi-Fi options, even when you’ve turned off Bluetooth and Wi-Fi toggles. Sounds convenient, right? That said, constant scanning can become a problem in some cases.

That’s because this feature continues to run system background services and checks for devices that you may never connect to. As a result, your phone cannot enter a true deep sleep state. This affects the performance and battery life of your phone.

I use the same Wi-Fi and headphones every day. I don’t need my phone to search for nearby devices or networks. In my case, the nearby scanning feature added unnecessary background activity. So, I turned it off. If you’re someone who regularly pairs new accessories, it’s better to leave this feature on.

Notification noise

I took back control of my notifications

I find notifications useful. I don’t want to miss an important message or calendar reminder. That’s why I didn’t want to turn off notifications completely. That said, I don’t really appreciate the way Android handles my notifications. By default, Android treats all notifications as equally important. This also includes low-priority alerts like promotional messages and reminders to try another app feature. Rather than disabling my notifications, I decided to be more selective about them.

I turned off notifications for apps that regularly send promotional messages, recommendations, shopping alerts, or other information I don’t really need. Some common examples are food delivery and shopping apps.

Next up, I also didn’t want my phone to display the full content of my notifications right on my lock screen. Obviously, I don’t want anyone else to see what messages and emails are coming on my phone. So, I also changed this behavior. This helped me get important notifications while hiding their contents when my phone is locked.

To change this on your Samsung smartphone, you can head to Settings -> Notifications -> Lock Screen Notifications -> Hide content. On Pixel, open Settings > Notifications > Notifications on lock screen and toggle off Show on lock screen.

App suggestions

I turned down the prediction game

By default, Android can offer app suggestions based on how I am using my phone. For instance, it could show me apps that I frequently use or recommend one based on what I’m doing at a particular time/location. This is nice to have for folks who want their phones to predict their habits. However, it’s not for someone like me who wants a calmer interface. So I decided to turn this feature off.

The exact steps to disable this feature depends on which phone you own. Samsung users can open the Recent screen, tap on the three dots, then choose Settings and turn off the Show recommended apps option. On Pixel phones, you can long-press the home screen, choose Home settings -> Suggestions, and then turn off the Suggestions on Home screen toggle.

I prefer my Android phone this way

Frankly speaking, none of these changes transformed my smartphone. I didn’t get a dramatically better battery life or faster performance. That said, it definitely made my phone feel calmer. Now, my phone doesn’t automatically fill my precious home screen space with apps and I don’t need to deal with the default notification noise.

You don’t have to accept every default setting that Android offers. You just have to spend a few minutes making some simple tweaks and your phone will feel more intentional.

8.5/10

SoC

Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5

Display

6.9-inch Dynamic Super AMOLED 2X

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