With the release of Android 12, Google introduced a new feature called Game Mode, which provides a few features gamers depend on to get the most out of the Android gaming experience.
Game Mode optimizes a device for performance and battery life and is done on a game-by-game basis by developers. Of course, that means Game Mode may not be enabled for every game.
Another caveat to Game Mode is that it's only available to Pixel devices.
Game Mode also brings with it a Game Dashboard, which appears in-game and adds the following features to Android:
All of the above features are taken care of without interrupting gameplay, so it's a real blessing for serious mobile gamers.
Let's find out how to enable Game Mode on your Pixel device.
The first you need to do is enable Game Mode. To do this, follow these steps:
Figure 1
Enabling Game Mode on a Pixel 6 Pro running Android 12.
Image: Jack WallenWith Game Mode enabled, open any game you have installed on your device, and you should see a small game control icon (Figure 2).
Figure 2
The Game Mode icon is found in Star Trek: Fleet Academy.
Image: Jack WallenTap that icon to reveal the Game Mode dashboard (Figure 3), where you can optimize Android for the particular game (if available), stream your gameplay to YouTube Live, check your FPS, and enable the screenshot shortcut.
Figure 3
The Game Dashboard makes it easy to control the options that are available to the game you are playing.
Image: Jack WallenIf the game developer has enabled the Optimization option, you can select from 3 modes of optimization:
Some games require a restart (of the app, not the device) if you go the optimization route.
Although Game Mode is still only available to Pixel devices, there's been no confirmation as to whether or not it'll find its way to other devices. If you have a non-Pixel device and want to gain some of the benefits found in Game Mode, an XDA senior developer has created an app called Gaming Mode which can help boost the performance of your device specifically for games.
This app does the following:
And that's all there is to Game Mode. If you're a serious mobile gamer, you owe it to yourself to try this feature. If you don't own aPixel , give the Gaming Mode app a try and see if it doesn't help boost your device performance for the games you play.