My 4-year-old Android phone is showing its age. Here's how I'm keeping it running

I’m still using a Nothing Phone 1 as a daily driver. It’s four years old and recently reached the end of its software update support.

As much as I’d love to upgrade to a new Pixel, I believe my beat-up phone has another year or two of service left. With annual Android updates becoming incremental, upgrading from my mid-ranger would no longer feel like such a huge jump.

In the meantime, I’ve been finding ways to maintain my phone’s speed and extend its lifespan. There are a few steps, in particular, that have given my daily driver a new lease on life.

Start by replacing the replaceable hardware

Having my Nothing Phone’s battery replaced was the first order of business. It was the only significant expense in overhauling my phone. I had it done at an officially licensed service center, and it cost less than my last fancy dinner out.

My original battery’s health was below 75%, and it struggled to power my phone for an entire day. Even worse, the battery’s poor health caused performance throttling. It didn’t just happen in games; apps that I would’ve normally breezed through felt so slow compared to a couple of years ago.

To preserve the new battery, I swapped my fast charger for a slower 18W charging brick from an old Pixel. Although it takes about a half hour longer to charge my phone to full, it produces less heat. In addition, I replaced my heavy-duty case with a thinner case for better ventilation.

Replacing these accessories may be minuscule in the long run, but every move counts when it comes to squeezing more life out of my aging Android phone.

Switch to lighter, open-source apps

You’d be surprised by how much a single app could drain your battery and slow your phone down. Check your Android’s battery usage to see how often apps like Chrome and Instagram work in the background. Coincidentally, the aforementioned apps take a ton of storage space, too.

I spent a good amount of time checking which apps sapped my battery the most, then switched them out for lighter alternatives. For example, I found that Brave is lighter than Chrome, resulting in lower storage and battery usage. At the same time, I observed that browsing social media sites and forums, such as Facebook and Reddit, was more enjoyable in the open-source browser.

This allowed me to uninstall some of my heavy apps in favor of their web versions. I also became fond of open-source software. For podcasts, I use AntennaPod instead of the power-hungry Spotify app. In lieu of my default Nothing launcher, I went even more minimalist with Before Launcher. It maintains a full-time dark mode that lets the OLED rest its pixels.

Put together, I can get up to an hour of extra screen-on time per day. I would then charge my phone less often and reduce the time it takes to heat up. Again, these are lightweight solutions for long-term benefits.

Optimize Android at the system settings level

After replacing the hardware and apps, I dug deeper by adjusting system settings to optimize the overall interface. The first things I tweaked were the window and transition animations in the Developer Options. Scaling them down to 0.5x made the UI feel instantly snappier.

As much as it pains me, I lowered my screen’s refresh rate from 120Hz to 60Hz. I accepted that many of my apps couldn’t consistently handle a high refresh rate. Most of my games were locked at 60Hz, as well. The sped-up animations already made up for the loss of fluidity while swiping around the OS.

Another limitation I set on my phone: restricting the maximum charge to 80-90%. Combined with the slower charger, this software setting helps reduce heat buildup. Overheating kills lithium-ion cells faster than anything else.

More universal tips to maximize my aging phone

While it may seem trivial, deleting large files and forgotten downloads keeps my phone’s internal storage fast. Regularly leaving the storage capacity at over 90% can cause system-wide stuttering or lag. Apps that would normally open instantly, such as the camera or gallery app, could slow down to a crawl with overloaded storage.

I’ve also relied more on Android’s built-in Private DNS to block unwanted ads. Adguard’s DNS has consistently worked well for me. More importantly, a Private DNS works throughout the system, so I don’t need a browser extension or a separate app, which would otherwise have drained more power and storage space.

Bonus: Flash a custom ROM. Although I haven’t reached this point myself, installing a third-party operating system like LineageOS would make my phone feel fresh and provide additional software support. The disadvantage would be losing all the optimizations I already made and access to certain apps or features. The latter is the bigger deal-breaker. I can’t use my Nothing Phone 1 as a daily driver without Google Wallet or my banking apps. I wouldn’t want to lose Nothing’s Glyph interface, either.

Manufacturers shouldn’t tell me when to ditch my phone

The only potential danger of using a phone past its security patches is the risk of vulnerabilities. I have to be extra vigilant now that my latest security update is stuck at July 2026. It’s a long shot that I’ll get hacked, but it’s nonetheless something to be wary of.

I’ll eventually buy a new phone with longer software support. Android devices with up to seven years of updates have become the norm. This would give my next phone more annual makeovers. All I’d have to do from my end is swap the battery once it hits substandard battery health and maintain my apps.

Until that time comes, I’m more than happy to stick to my Nothing Phone 1 with all its optimizations. The longer I wait, the better my next phone will (hopefully) be.