In the continuous battle of operating systems, the one killer feature that sets apart Android is the level of customizability it offers to its users. Each system has its own config file, and Android stores its core functioning values in the Build.Prop file. For any user, modifying the Build.Prop file opens the door to tweaking your device without the need to install any third party apps or mods. So, if you have been looking for the best Build.Prop tweaks for your rooted Android smartphone, we have you covered. We bring to you the 16 best Android Build.Prop tweaks you can try:
Note: You can modify your Build.Prop file using any file manager with root browser support. Check out our list of file managers here. Alternatively, you can also modify the Build.Prop file using ADB Shell. To proceed with these tweaks, just make sure to find the specified entries in your Build.Prop file and change the values as mentioned.
1. Improve Scrolling
You may have noticed that at times your device is not that fluid while scrolling the screen. You can fix it by modifying the maximum and minimum fluid velocity on your device, which basically improves the overall scrolling on your device.
windowsmgr.max_events_per_sec=150
ro.min_pointer_dur=8 ro.max.fling_velocity=12000
ro.min.fling_velocity=8000
2. Enable Auto Rotation on Lock Screen
The earlier versions of Android used to have auto-rotation enabled on their lock screen, but for some reason, Google disabled that feature. Nonetheless, you can easily enable it with the following code.
lockscreen.rot_override=true
3. Enable Auto Rotation on Home Screen
While custom launchers do have auto-rotation support for the home screen, stock launchers and various OEM launchers do not support it. Well, there’s nothing to worry, as you can enable auto rotation on the home screen with the help of this command.
log.tag.launcher_force_rotate=VERBOSE
4. Improve Net Speed
Are you suffering from slow internet speeds? Luckily, you can improve the overall internet speed on your Android device by increasing the TCP’s Buffersize. Furthermore, forcing your device to use Google’s DNS is another proven method to increase the Internet Speed.
net.tcp.buffersize.default=4096,87380,256960,4096, 16384,256960
net.tcp.buffersize.wifi=4096,87380,256960,4096,163 84,256960
net.tcp.buffersize.umts=4096,87380,256960,4096,163 84,256960
net.tcp.buffersize.gprs=4096,87380,256960,4096,163 84,256960
net.tcp.buffersize.edge=4096,87380,256960,4096,163 84,256960
net.dns1=8.8.8.8
net.dns2=8.8.4.4
5. Disables Black Screen After Call
There are times that your device’s proximity sensor might not be functioning properly, which ends up resulting in a black screen for a few seconds after the call has been cut. This can be fixed by altering the proximity delay as shown below.
ro.lge.proximity.delay=25
mot.proximity.delay=25
6. Improve Picture Quality
You might be aware of the fact that WhatsApp reduces the size of media files upon sharing for faster transmission. The Android System, in itself, does not display the entire content of an image, in order to reduce the processing power required. Instead, it only renders the image at comparatively lower quality, which although is good enough, is not the best quality. In case you feel your device has enough power to handle the entire processing task of displaying the images in original quality, you can change the values mentioned below.
ro.media.enc.jpeg.quality=100
7. Enable Faster Boot
On your Windows PC, you might have noticed that ever since Windows 8, the boot times got really low. This is because Microsoft introduced Fast Startup, a process in which most of the data was stored as a hibernation file, which was then loaded upon the next boot, thus saving a lot of seconds. Android has a similar feature in itself, which allows it to boot faster. This can be enabled with the code below.
ro.config.hw_quickpoweron=true
8. Force 270-Degree Rotation on All Apps
On Android, the default rotation degrees are 90°, 180° and 270°. Despite this, there are apps that choose to rotate only 90°, and a scenario might take place where you’ll have to rotate the device itself to ensure that you’re holding it right. This can be avoided by forcefully enabling 270° Rotation on all apps with the code given below.
windowsmgr.support_rotation_270=true
9. Keep Backlit Capacitive Keys On While Screen is On
If you’re using a device that has backlit capacitive keys on it, you might have noticed that the back light is only enabled whenever you tap on it, and that too momentarily. If you’d want the back light to be permanently turned on as long as the screen stays on, you can do that by altering the back light’s timeout values.
ro.mot.buttonlight.timeout=0
10. Disable Built-In Error Reporting
Android users are pretty much acquainted to apps crashing on them. While the app crashing is bad, the continuous notification of Error-Reporting is much more annoying. If you feel the same and would love to get rid of that annoying reporting function, you can add the following lines of code to the end of your Build.Prop file.
profiler.force_disable_err_rpt=1
profiler.force_disable_ulog=1
11. Make Your Phone Ring as soon as you get a Call
Due to security purposes, the Android system usually waits and verifies the connection before it sends the signal to ring to the device. This can be changed by adding a few lines at the end of the Build.Prop file.
ro.telephony.call_ring.delay=0
ring.delay=0
12. Change your Device’s DPI
DPI refers to the Density Independence on your device, which is the ratio of your device’s resolution to the display size. You can alter the DPI to increase or decrease the total content shown on your display, by altering the LCD Density value.
ro.sf.lcd_density=XXX
Here, XXX refers to the DPI Value. While generally the values are a multiple of 160, you may choose to set any value of your choice.
13. Increase The Time Between WiFi Network Scans
By default, the Android System scans for WiFi networks at an interval of 15 seconds. While this feature is good, it does drain out a lot of battery. You can change this interval with the help of the following code.
wifi.supplicant_scan_interval=XXX
Here, XXX refers to the interval of scanning in seconds. So if you’d want to change the interval to say 5 minutes, change XXX to 300.
14. Improved Overall Performance
Android System comes with a stock performance tuner, which for some reason Google disables. You can enable it with the help of the following code to experience better RAM management and increased processing.
debug.performance.tuning=1
15. Lock Your Launcher to Memory
Sometimes in the process of RAM Management, some devices tend to clear the launcher app from the memory. The Android Launcher is an application that uses a lot of processing power upon restart, and clearing it from the RAM continuously uses a lot of processing power that results in loss of essential battery juice as well. This can be prevented by locking the launcher app to the memory with the help of the code below.
ro.HOME_APP_ADJ = 1
16. Stream Videos Faster
Android has a stagefright framework for its streaming purposes (No, we’re not talking about the Stagefright security hack), which can be altered to result in faster streaming of online videos. You can do that by adding the following lines of code at the end of the Build.Prop file.
media.stagefright.enable-player=true
media.stagefright.enable-meta=true
media.stagefright.enable-scan=true
media.stagefright.enable-http=true
media.stagefright.enable-rtsp=true
media.stagefright.enable-record=false
See Also: 8 Reasons Why You Should Root Your Android Device
Tweak Android With These Build.Prop Tweaks
The Build.Prop file is the basic config file for the majority of aspects of the Android System. You can tweak it to modify most of the functioning of your device to suit your liking or needs. Well, these were some of the most handy and useful Build.Prop tweaks you can try on your Android smartphone. We have included tweaks that should work with Lollipop, Marshmallow, Nougat and even the latest Android O update.Do share with us your experiences of tweaking around with the Build.Prop file, and any queries in the comments section below.
Abubakar Mohammed
