6 ms·

Just last week I discovered I could disable animations in Android through the hidden developer options. It's fabulous. The only initial quirk was no visual feed

by kgwxd 9y ago

Just last week I discovered I could disable animations in Android through the hidden developer options. It's fabulous. The only initial quirk was no visual feedback when a picture is successfully taken, so it felt like i missed the button, but I've gotten used to it already.

ashleyn 9y ago
I've done this as well. It reminds me of when I upgraded PalmOS devices in Ye Olde Days and home would appear instantly when you tapped it.
xnzakg 9y ago
You can also speed them up a bit. Makes the phone seem a lot snappier without breaking apps that seem to rely on animations for timing (I'm looking at you, messenger's "share" feature which doesn't have a send delay if you disable animations)
Declanomous 9y ago
Another bonus is how much longer your battery lasts without animations. I'm pretty sure battery saver just turns off tactile response, and disables animations for the most part (in addition to changing the gps update speed if you are using location services)
paulddraper 9y ago
!!!!! That is a amazing!!! I had no idea developer meant "interested user". > Make sure developer options are enabled. If they're not, go to Settings > About phone, then tap on Build number several times to enable it > Go to Settings > Developer options, and scroll down to Window animation scale, Transition animation scale, and Animator duration scale. > Tap on each of the animation options and turn them off. https://lifehacker.com/disable-animations-on-android-to-improve-performance-1583554900 https://lifehacker.com/disable-animations-on-android-to-impr...
- jasonkostempski 9y ago
  On my first try I accidentally tapped "Android version" instead of "Build number" :)
  - gokhan 9y ago
    on 7.x, that leads to an easter egg.
    - jasonkostempski 9y ago
      8.0 too
    - paulddraper 9y ago
      :( I am still on Android 6. I thought the Google Nexus 5 phone would be getting updates often...but I guess not.
      - nirv 9y ago
        If you you're comfortable with custom ROM, LineageOS[1][2] is very stable and snappy on Nexus 5. [1] https://wiki.lineageos.org/devices/hammerhead https://wiki.lineageos.org/devices/hammerhead [2] https://download.lineageos.org/hammerhead https://download.lineageos.org/hammerhead
- sevensor 9y ago
  This is the best thing I've learned all day.
- setzer22 9y ago
  There are also various visual feedback options, such as a CPU load indicator, or a debug renderer for screen touches which allows you to see if your touchscreen is misbehaving and how (happens to me when I plug my charger, for example).
bramjans 9y ago
Wow! Didn't know this existed, thanks for the tip!
jbb67 9y ago
Wow that makes an huge difference to usability. My phone feels like it's several times as fast now. Who knew that it felt slow and laggy on purpose! It's really good!
tome 9y ago
Does anyone know if you can do the same with iPhone?
- loxs 9y ago
  Only if you jailbreak
- kec 9y ago
  Settings -> General -> Acessibility -> Reduce Motion
  - tome 9y ago
    Oh nice, thanks! Unfortunately it seems that apps still animate.
    - SilasX 9y ago
      Yeah and I still see a lag from opening apps.
- goldenkey 9y ago
  If you have root you can write a MobileSubstrate hook that calls UIView setAnimationsEnabled:NO in a hooked constructor of UIView (then call super.)
- manmal 9y ago
  Completely disabling animations would break many apps, because a lot is going on in completion blocks of animations. Setting animation durations to a very low value would work though (that’s also what you have to do for UI tests).
Macuyiko 9y ago
This is simply amazing! Thanks for sharing!
Chaebixi 9y ago
> Just last week I discovered I could disable animations in Android through the hidden developer options. It's fabulous. The only initial quirk was no visual feedback when a picture is successfully taken, so it felt like i missed the button, but I've gotten used to it already. Are you talking about this: https://www.cnet.com/how-to/speed-up-your-android-by-adjusting-animation-settings/ https://www.cnet.com/how-to/speed-up-your-android-by-adjusti... ? I set mine to "0.5", and everything's much snappier, but they still play so I still get some feedback.
sliverstorm 9y ago
Try setting just "Animator duration scale" to 0.5x while leaving the others off. This will fix the camera problem, as well as makes things like closing apps in the "recent" list less janky, and you still get the rest of the benefit.
- zeveb 9y ago
  It's a real pity that there isn't a .25x setting, or even a .125 setting; the .5x setting feels nice, but still a bit slow-ish. I understand that the intent here is to simulate slow phones (try using the phone with the 10x setting — it's horrid!), but it'd be nice to simulate a fast phone instead!
  - sliverstorm 9y ago
    Even on the 0.5x setting things like the refresh pinwheel spin a little too fast, so 0.25x might be a bit much. It just controls too many different animations.
sclangdon 9y ago
There is a similar setting in Windows, in case anyone is interested. HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop\MenuShowDelay

by kgwxd 9y ago

ashleyn 9y ago

I've done this as well. It reminds me of when I upgraded PalmOS devices in Ye Olde Days and home would appear instantly when you tapped it.

xnzakg 9y ago

You can also speed them up a bit. Makes the phone seem a lot snappier without breaking apps that seem to rely on animations for timing (I'm looking at you, messenger's "share" feature which doesn't have a send delay if you disable animations)

Declanomous 9y ago

Another bonus is how much longer your battery lasts without animations. I'm pretty sure battery saver just turns off tactile response, and disables animations for the most part (in addition to changing the gps update speed if you are using location services)

paulddraper 9y ago

!!!!! That is a amazing!!! I had no idea developer meant "interested user". > Make sure developer options are enabled. If they're not, go to Settings > About phone, then tap on Build number several times to enable it > Go to Settings > Developer options, and scroll down to Window animation scale, Transition animation scale, and Animator duration scale. > Tap on each of the animation options and turn them off. https://lifehacker.com/disable-animations-on-android-to-improve-performance-1583554900 https://lifehacker.com/disable-animations-on-android-to-impr...

jasonkostempski 9y ago
On my first try I accidentally tapped "Android version" instead of "Build number" :)
- gokhan 9y ago
  on 7.x, that leads to an easter egg.
  - jasonkostempski 9y ago
    8.0 too
  - paulddraper 9y ago
    :( I am still on Android 6. I thought the Google Nexus 5 phone would be getting updates often...but I guess not.
    - nirv 9y ago
      If you you're comfortable with custom ROM, LineageOS[1][2] is very stable and snappy on Nexus 5. [1] https://wiki.lineageos.org/devices/hammerhead https://wiki.lineageos.org/devices/hammerhead [2] https://download.lineageos.org/hammerhead https://download.lineageos.org/hammerhead
sevensor 9y ago
This is the best thing I've learned all day.
setzer22 9y ago
There are also various visual feedback options, such as a CPU load indicator, or a debug renderer for screen touches which allows you to see if your touchscreen is misbehaving and how (happens to me when I plug my charger, for example).

bramjans 9y ago

Wow! Didn't know this existed, thanks for the tip!

jbb67 9y ago

Wow that makes an huge difference to usability. My phone feels like it's several times as fast now. Who knew that it felt slow and laggy on purpose! It's really good!

tome 9y ago

Does anyone know if you can do the same with iPhone?

loxs 9y ago
Only if you jailbreak
kec 9y ago
Settings -> General -> Acessibility -> Reduce Motion
- tome 9y ago
  Oh nice, thanks! Unfortunately it seems that apps still animate.
  - SilasX 9y ago
    Yeah and I still see a lag from opening apps.
goldenkey 9y ago
If you have root you can write a MobileSubstrate hook that calls UIView setAnimationsEnabled:NO in a hooked constructor of UIView (then call super.)
manmal 9y ago
Completely disabling animations would break many apps, because a lot is going on in completion blocks of animations. Setting animation durations to a very low value would work though (that’s also what you have to do for UI tests).

Macuyiko 9y ago

This is simply amazing! Thanks for sharing!

Chaebixi 9y ago

> Just last week I discovered I could disable animations in Android through the hidden developer options. It's fabulous. The only initial quirk was no visual feedback when a picture is successfully taken, so it felt like i missed the button, but I've gotten used to it already. Are you talking about this: https://www.cnet.com/how-to/speed-up-your-android-by-adjusting-animation-settings/ https://www.cnet.com/how-to/speed-up-your-android-by-adjusti... ? I set mine to "0.5", and everything's much snappier, but they still play so I still get some feedback.

sliverstorm 9y ago

Try setting just "Animator duration scale" to 0.5x while leaving the others off. This will fix the camera problem, as well as makes things like closing apps in the "recent" list less janky, and you still get the rest of the benefit.

zeveb 9y ago
It's a real pity that there isn't a .25x setting, or even a .125 setting; the .5x setting feels nice, but still a bit slow-ish. I understand that the intent here is to simulate slow phones (try using the phone with the 10x setting — it's horrid!), but it'd be nice to simulate a fast phone instead!
- sliverstorm 9y ago
  Even on the 0.5x setting things like the refresh pinwheel spin a little too fast, so 0.25x might be a bit much. It just controls too many different animations.

sclangdon 9y ago

There is a similar setting in Windows, in case anyone is interested. HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop\MenuShowDelay