How to Adjust Screen Resolution on Android

This wikiHow teaches you how to increase/decrease the size of items on your Android device’s screen (such as apps) by increasing/decreasing the default DPI (dot per inch). This is a standard option in the Settings menu of any device running Nougat OS (Android 7.0) or later, but you can also change the DPI on Android devices running Marshmallow (6.0). or below using a computer and the Android Studio Developer Kit (or SDK for short). Note that the actual resolution determined by the device’s display cannot be changed.

Table of Contents

On Android Nougat and above

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Open section

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Settings on Android. Click the Settings app in the shape of a colored gear to open the settings.

You can also swipe down from the top of the screen and tap the gear icon in the drop-down menu.

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Scroll down and tap About phone . This option is at the bottom of the Settings menu.

On a Samsung Galaxy, you tap Display .

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Scroll down to the “Build number” heading. The option is near the bottom of the “About phone” menu.

On a Samsung Galaxy, tap Screen respution in the “Display” menu.

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Tap the “Build number” heading 7 times. The Developer options menu item will be unlocked, which you will use to adjust Android’s resolution.

Notice “You are now a developer!” (You are already a developer) will pop up when developer mode is enabled.
On Samsung Galaxy, you’ll choose the screen resolution here by tapping and dragging the slider left or right to increase or decrease the resolution. ^{[1] X Research Source}

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Click the back button. You will return to the Settings page.

On Samsung Galaxy, tap APPLY in the upper right corner of the screen. The new resolution will be applied immediately.

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Click on Developer options located near the About phone option.

On some Android phones, you need to scroll down to see this option.

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Scroll down and tap Smallest width . This option is near the bottom of the page. A window will pop up. ^{[2] X Research Source}

This option is near the bottom of the Developer Options page, so you’ll need to scroll down a bit to find it.

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Enter a new width. Tap the text field in the center of the pop-up, then enter the width of the resolution you want.

The larger the width, the smaller the items on the screen (like text, icons, and so on) will be.
Android’s resolution can range from 120 – 640.

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Click OK at the bottom of the pop-up window. The resolution of the Android device will be adjusted.

On Android Marshmallow and below

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Download and install the Android Studio Developer Kit. The SDK installs the Android Debugging Bridge, which allows you to execute commands on a connected Android device. Go to https://developer.android.com/studio/index.html, click the green DOWNLOAD ANDROID STUDIO button and do the following:

On Windows – Check the box “I have read and agree…” (I have read and agree), click the blue DOWNLOAD button, double-click the downloaded EXE file, follow the pop-up instructions, Open the Android SDK and follow the on-screen setup prompts.
On Mac – Check the box “I have read and agree…”, click the blue DOWNLOAD button, double click the downloaded DMG file, verify the software if necessary, follow the installation instructions, Open the Android SDK and follow the setup prompts that appear on the screen.

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Enable USB debugging mode on Android. USB mode will allow you to make changes to your Android device from the command line on your computer.

Skip this step if USB mode is already enabled.

Connect the Android device to the computer. Plug the USB end of the Android charging cable into the USB port on your computer, then plug the charging end into the charging port on your Android device.

The charging port is usually located at the bottom on Android devices.

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Open a command line program on your computer. The command line program on Windows is Command Prompt, and on Mac it is Terminal:

On Windows – Open Start

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, enter command prompt and click

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Command Prompt at the top of the menu.
On Mac – Open Spotlight

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, type terminal then double click

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Terminal top results.

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Check the current resolution of your Android device. You can see the current resolution (or “density”) by: ^{[3] X Research Source}

Type adb shell and press Enter
Type dumpsys display then press Enter
See the number to the right from “density” (for example, density 420 (403.411 x 399.737) ).

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Adjust the resolution. Type wm density respution && adb reboot , you need to replace the respution with the three digit resolution you want and then press ↵ Enter .

Numbers larger than the current resolution will make the items on the screen smaller and vice versa.
Android resolutions usually fall between 120 and 640, so your choices should be within this range.

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Restart the Android device if necessary. Hold down the power button on your Android device until a menu pops up, then choose the Power off or Restart action.

If the device screen changes immediately after the resolution command executes, you do not need to restart Android.

Advice

You can change the DPI of your phone with some apps as long as the Android device is jailbroken (rooted).
The on-screen keyboard may be distorted after the resolution changes. You can install a keyboard with a DPI-appropriate interface (like GBoard) to overcome this situation.

Warning

In some cases, changing DPI will cause compatibility issues when using Google Play to load apps. If this is the case, you can return the DPI to its original settings, download the application, and then adjust the DPI again.
When increasing/decreasing the phone resolution to increase/decrease the size of items on the screen, you will not be able to adjust the screen resolution to HD (eg 720p – 1080p) because sharpness is determined. by the device’s physical display.

Steps

On Android Nougat and above

On Android Marshmallow and below

Advice

Warning

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