Justin Duino
One of the Google Pixel 4 and 4 XL’s key features is its 90Hz display. But if you’re trying to save battery life, you can turn off the high refresh rate. Here’s how to keep the phone’s screen at 60 Hz.
How to Disable the 90Hz Display
To begin, swipe down on your home screen twice to move past the notification shade and into the quick tiles section. Tap on the gear icon to open the Settings menu.
Alternatively, you can swipe up from the home screen to open the app drawer. From there, locate and select the “Settings” app.
Scroll down and tap on the “Display” option.
Select the “Advanced” button to expand the menu.
Locate and tap on the “Smooth Display” option.
Select the toggle next to “Smooth Display” to disable the 90Hz display. As the Pixel 4 and Pixel 4 XL will be locked at 60 Hz, you should experience a slightly better battery life.
How to Force 90Hz Refresh Rate
If you’re not worried about battery life and want the Google Pixel 4 and Pixel 4 XL to always run at 90Hz, you force the better-looking display. We don’t recommend this as it will run down your battery faster.
Before you can access the option to force the higher refresh rate, you have to enable Developer Options. To do this, swipe down on your display twice to access the quick settings tiles. Tap on the gear icon to open the Settings menu. Alternatively, open the “Setting” app from the app drawer.
Scroll down to the bottom of the menu and select the “About Phone” option.
Locate the “Build Number” item at the bottom of the page and rapidly tap on it. After a couple of seconds, you will be asked to authenticate yourself using the lock screen passcode (password, PIN, etc.).
Now that the setting is enabled hit the back button and select the “System” option.
Scroll down and tap on “Advanced” to expand the full menu.
Locate and select the “Developer Options” button.
Either use the search tool to locate “Force 90Hz Refresh Rate” or scroll down and tap on the option within the “Debugging” section.
Select the toggle next to “Force 90Hz Refresh Rate” to turn the feature off.
Again, we don’t recommend you for the 90Hz refresh rate. Almost everyone that has used the Google Pixel 4 and Pixel 4 XL has commented on the phone’s poor battery life. Forcing the higher refresh rate will make the device die faster than usual.
