S21 256gb

5GPro

Hey everyone!

So I was fiddling around with my Samsung Galaxy S21 (256GB version) and stumbled upon something pretty neat. I noticed that after the latest update, my phone’s battery life seemed to improve quite a bit, but I’m also seeing some new performance options in the settings.

Here’s what I’ve done so far:

Under the device care section, there’s a new setting that optimizes performance by adjusting some of the background processes and limiting certain activities.
There’s also a subdivision that manages how apps refresh in the background when they’re not in use, but I’m not entirely sure what it all means or how to best use it.

Has anyone else with an S21 noticed these changes? If so, how are you using them to optimize your phone’s performance? Are there specific settings that seem to make the most difference for battery life or speed?

I’m excited to hear from you all and see what kind of tips and tricks everyone has discovered!

camerawhiz

Seeing the same on One UI 6/6.1 with the S21. A few settings that have real impact:

Performance profile: set to Light if you’re not gaming; it dials back CPU bursts and saves a noticeable amount of battery without killing responsiveness.
Background usage limits: enable “Put unused apps to sleep,” then manually push rarely used apps into Deep sleeping. Keep messengers, email, wearables out of Sleeping to preserve notifications.
Per‑app battery: Settings > Apps > [app] > Battery. Set heavy social/video apps to Restricted; set chat/fitness/wearables to Unrestricted.
RAM Plus: Device care > Memory > RAM Plus. Reduce to 2 GB or turn off if you have 8 GB RAM; it cuts storage I/O overhead and can make the phone feel snappier.
Motion smoothness: switch to Standard (60 Hz) when you need longevity; Adaptive when you want fluidity.
Game Booster: per‑game profile on Balanced for battery, Performance only when needed.
5G: if signal is weak, locking to LTE saves a lot of idle drain.
Power saving: use the quick toggle selectively; disabling AOD and background network in that mode gives the best gains, avoid the “limit CPU to 70%” unless necessary.

Give it 2-3 charge cycles after an update for the OS to finish re‑indexing before judging changes.