Just because your Android phone is starting to get old, it doesn’t mean you have to replace it. There are things you can do to keep it running for longer. I recently decided to factory reset my old Pixel to try to freshen it up. Then, after I set it up again, I changed a few key settings. The result is that it feels almost as good as new.

SoC

Google Tensor G4

Display

6.3-inch Actua display

The Google Pixel 10a is a barely updated version of the Google Pixel 9a, with a slightly brighter screen and an upgrade from Gorilla Glass 3 to Gorilla Glass 7i. Google has shaved the remaining few millimeters from the camera bump, making it completely flat. Unlike prior versions of the Pixel a series, this model year does not share the same Tensor processor as the mainline Pixel 10.

Limit battery charging to 80%

Stretch out the life of your battery even further

A relatively recent addition to the Pixel battery settings that has filtered down to the older models is the ability to limit the charging to 80% of the capacity. The idea behind this is that it makes your battery last longer because it’s put under less strain than it would be with a full charge.

The downside, of course, is that not charging to 100% means that it will be running low by the end of the day. And if the phone is older, the capacity will already have dropped somewhat below its original level. It still works just fine for my usage and will hopefully mean I can keep the device running for even longer. But you’ll need to test it out to see if it suits you.

To enable it, go to Settings > Battery > Battery health > Charging optimization, toggle it on, and select Limit to 80%.

Fine-tune your app notifications

It doesn’t have to be all on or all off

The longer you use a phone, the more apps you’ll install and the more notifications you get as a result. Although you now have to allow an app to send notifications, there’s an extra hidden setting that lets you fine-tune exactly what notifications you see.

Many apps split their notifications into categories, with smaller groups inside them. For instance, Google Photos has notification categories for Backup, Memories, and Other. The Other category has 11 types of notifications, including something called “Promotions,” which sounds rather like an ad.

It’s worth taking a few minutes to disable some of these less important notifications. To do it, go to Settings > Notifications > App notifications. Select an app, then tap Show Unused Categories to see them all. Now tap through them to disable the ones you don’t need.

Enable the notification history

No more problems with accidental swipes

While I was in the notification settings, I also enabled the Notification History, which is turned off by default for some reason. Do it at Settings > Notifications > Notification history, and you’ll be able to see all your recent alerts, even the ones you accidentally swiped away.

Turn on app archiving

The best way to remove apps you need but don’t use

I’ve got a lot of apps installed on my Pixel, but I don’t use all of them. I keep quite a few apps just in case I need them one day. If I uninstall them, I figure I’ll either forget about them or have to deal with setting them up again.

The perfect compromise for this is to enable app archiving by opening the Play Store and going to Settings > General > Automatically archive apps. This uninstalls your unused apps to save space, but keeps your settings and data for the app, and leaves the icon in your app drawer. Just tap it again, and it will instantly reinstall.

Archiving means you won’t forget or lose an app, but it won’t use any system resources while you aren’t using it. You can manually archive apps, too, by long-pressing the icon and selecting App Info, followed by Archive.

Control background apps

Stop apps from using the battery and resources when you don’t need it

All those apps I’ve got installed were making my Pixel phone feel sluggish because some of them continue running in the background even after I have finished with them.

At Settings > Battery > Battery usage, you can see the apps that have used your battery since your last full charge, split between screen time and background. Some apps, like audio apps, you’ll want running in the background. Others, you won’t.

To stop an app from running in the background, tap it and toggle off Allow background usage. You won’t get notifications from these apps, so use it selectively, but you will see lower battery use and potentially improved performance all around.

Adjust the animations

Make the phone feel snappier

One of the oldest tricks in the book to make an Android phone feel fresh and new is to speed up the animations and transitions. These were originally introduced partly as eye-candy, and partly to mask the slow performance of early smartphones.

In truth, animations are no longer needed. The effect of turning them off entirely is a bit too stark for me, but cutting them in half makes the phone feel much snappier.

To do it, you need to enable the developer options first. Go to Settings > About phone and tap Build Number seven times. Now go to Settings > System > Developer options and set Window animation scale, Transition animation scale, and Animation duration scale to .5x.

Change the home screen settings

And remove the At a Glance widget

The final step in making my Pixel feel fresher was to change up the home screen. As well as adjusting the icon layout and changing wallpaper, there are two newer options that I also used.

One is to change the shape and style of my app icons. Pixel still doesn’t support third-party icon packs, but you can change the shape and choose minimal or AI-generated icons instead at Wallpaper and style > Icons.

The other is to remove the At a Glance widget from the top of my home screen. I’ve never found it all that useful, and would rather use the space for my own choice of widgets instead. I nixed it by long-pressing on the widget, selecting Settings, and toggling off Use At a Glance and Show on home screen.

You don’t always need to buy a new phone

Phones now last longer than ever. But they will start to slow down after a while, and you can also get bored with them. By making a few tweaks and changing a few settings on my Pixel, I’m confident I can keep it going for some time yet.