# How to Enable Developer Options on Android (and the 8 Toggles Worth Using)

URL: https://upfour.online/settings/enable-android-developer-options
Category: Settings
Tags: developer options, animation scale, usb debugging, performance
Published: January 14, 2026
Last updated: August 12, 2026

**Short answer:** Open Settings › About phone and tap Build number seven times, entering your PIN when asked. Developer Options then appears under Settings › System.

Developer Options is the menu Android hides behind a deliberately awkward gesture. It is not dangerous by itself — it is just a settings screen — but it exposes toggles that assume you know what they do. This guide covers the unlock, the handful of options that are genuinely useful day to day, and the ones you should leave alone.

> **The toggle that causes the most damage**
>
> Of everything in Developer options, **Don't keep activities** causes the most trouble. It sounds tidy. What it actually does is destroy every app the moment you leave it, so half-typed messages and forms disappear constantly.
> The menu itself is harmless to open. It is two or three specific toggles inside that cause problems, and they are flagged below.

## Enable Developer Options in under a minute

1. Open **Settings** and scroll to the very bottom.
2. Tap **About phone** (on Samsung it is **About phone › Software information**).
3. Find **Build number** and tap it seven times in a row.
4. Enter your PIN, pattern or password when prompted.
5. A toast reads *"You are now a developer!"*

The menu now lives at **Settings › System › Developer options** on Pixel and stock Android, or **Settings › Developer options** near the bottom of the list on Samsung One UI.

> If Build number does nothing, you are probably in a work profile or on a managed device. IT policy can block the developer flag entirely, and no amount of tapping will change that.

## The 8 toggles actually worth changing

### 1. Animation scales — the real "make my phone faster" setting

Three separate settings control every transition on the system: **Window animation scale**, **Transition animation scale** and **Animator duration scale**. Set all three to **0.5x**.

Your phone is not faster in any benchmark sense, but every tap now produces a visible result in half the time, which is what "fast" actually feels like. Setting them to **Animation off** works too, though the interface starts to feel abrupt because some gestures rely on the animation to communicate what happened. This is the biggest single win in our guide to [making a slow Android phone fast again](/fixes/fix-slow-android-phone).

### 2. Force peak refresh rate

On a 90 Hz or 120 Hz phone, Android drops to 60 Hz aggressively to save battery. **Force peak refresh rate** pins the display to its maximum. It is a noticeable smoothness improvement and a noticeable battery cost — roughly 5-10% of a day's runtime. Worth toggling on for a weekend to decide if you care.

### 3. Background process limit

Under **Apps › Background process limit** you can cap how many background processes Android keeps. **Do not use this as a performance fix.** It is a debugging tool, and capping it breaks notifications, messaging and alarms. It is listed here specifically so you skip it.

### 4. USB debugging

Required for ADB, for sideloading over a cable, and for most desktop backup tools. Turn it on when you need it and off when you are done — a phone with USB debugging enabled and an authorised computer is a meaningfully softer target if the device is stolen.

Use **Revoke USB debugging authorisations** after using a machine you do not own.

### 5. Default USB configuration

Sets what happens when you plug into a computer. Changing it from **No data transfer** to **File Transfer** saves you from pulling down the notification shade and selecting the mode every single time.

### 6. Show taps and Pointer location

Both are screen-recording aids. **Show taps** draws a dot wherever you touch, which makes a tutorial recording readable. **Pointer location** dumps raw coordinate telemetry across the top of the screen — useful for diagnosing a touchscreen dead zone.

### 7. Disable absolute volume

If your Bluetooth headphones have only three usable volume steps between "quiet" and "painful", this is the fix. Turning **Disable absolute volume** on decouples the phone's volume slider from the headset's internal one, giving you the two multiplied together and a far finer range.

### 8. Standby apps / App standby buckets

A read-only diagnostic view showing which bucket Android has filed each app into: *active*, *working set*, *frequent*, *rare* or *restricted*. When an app's notifications keep arriving late, check here first — an app in the **rare** or **restricted** bucket is being deliberately throttled by the system. See [fixing late Android notifications](/settings/fix-android-notifications).

## The ones that will cost you

| Setting | What people think it does | What it actually does |
|---|---|---|
| Don't keep activities | Frees memory | Destroys every app the moment you leave it; you lose form data constantly |
| Background process limit | Speeds up the phone | Kills messaging and alarm reliability |
| Aggressive Wi-Fi to cellular handover | Better connectivity | Burns mobile data by leaving usable Wi-Fi early |
| OEM unlocking | Nothing on its own | Unlocks the bootloader path; on most phones enabling it is a prerequisite to wiping the device |

## Turning it back off

Toggle **Use developer options** off at the top of the screen to disable everything without hiding the menu. To hide the menu entirely, go to **Settings › Apps › See all apps › Settings › Storage › Clear storage**. That resets the developer flag along with a few other Settings-app preferences.

## Frequently asked questions

### Is enabling Developer Options on Android safe?

Yes. Opening the menu changes nothing on its own — it only reveals settings that are already present in the system. Risk comes from specific toggles inside it, notably OEM unlocking and USB debugging, not from the menu itself.

### Does Developer Options void my warranty?

No. Enabling Developer Options is a supported part of Android and does not affect your warranty. Unlocking the bootloader, which begins in this menu, can void warranty coverage with some manufacturers.

### Do animation scales actually make my phone faster?

They do not change processing speed, but they cut the time between your tap and a finished on-screen response by half at 0.5x, which is what most people mean by faster.

### How do I hide Developer Options again?

Switch off the master toggle at the top of the screen to neutralise every setting. To remove the menu entirely, clear the storage of the Settings app under Settings › Apps › See all apps › Settings › Storage.

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Source: https://upfour.online/settings/enable-android-developer-options — © 2026 UpFour