Playing Genshin Impact on your mobile device means taking Teyvat with you wherever you go, but it can also mean encountering lag, low frame rates, or huge storage demands. As a mobile gamer in South Africa, you might face additional challenges like older device hardware or limited data plans. 

‍

Fear not: this guide is here to help you optimize Genshin Impact on mobile for a smoother, more enjoyable experience. We’ll cover common performance issues and proven solutions recommended by both experts and the player community. Let’s unlock your phone’s potential so you can glide through Mondstadt and battle through Inazuma without a hitch!

‍

Common Mobile Performance Issues in Genshin Impact

‍

First, let’s identify the typical problems players experience when running Genshin Impact on a phone or tablet:

‍

• Low FPS and Stutters: Genshin Impact is a graphics-intensive game, and many mobile players report struggling to maintain high FPS (frames per second). You might notice the game feeling choppy, especially in busy cities or combat. Some users see FPS drops after updates, when the graphics API changes. Low FPS (below 30) makes the game feel laggy and can hurt responsiveness.

• Device Overheating and Battery Drain: It’s no secret that Genshin can make your phone heat up like a mini toaster. Prolonged play sessions often result in a very hot device, making it uncomfortable to hold and potentially causing thermal throttling (when your phone slows down to cool off). Battery usage is equally heavy; some players report that 100% to 20% battery in 2 hours is normal. A hot phone plus rapid battery drain is a common combo issue, especially on high settings.

• Large Game Size and Storage Warnings: Genshin Impact’s install size on mobile is huge. As of 2025, with multiple regions, the full game can take >20 GB of space (and growing). Many mobile gamers encounter the dreaded “Insufficient Storage” error during big updates. Keeping that much free space is hard on devices with 32GB or 64GB storage. 

‍

In fact, around the Fontaine update, players were scrambling for solutions, noting that pre-installation uses even more space temporarily. If your phone is nearly full, Genshin might not even update or run properly. Plus, having a nearly-full storage can contribute to performance issues (the device has less virtual memory for smooth operation). So storage optimization is a real concern.

• Network/Ping Issues: While not a performance issue in terms of graphics, it’s worth noting for SA players: you might experience high ping (200ms+) since there’s no local African server. This can cause a slight delay in co-op combat or enemy reactions, though for solo play it’s usually fine. Still, it’s part of the mobile experience that might feel like “lag” to some, so we’ll touch on it later.
  
  

Now that we know the problems, let’s dive into solutions. We’ll start with the easiest wins: adjusting in-game settings.

‍

Best Graphics Settings for Smooth Gameplay

‍

Genshin Impact offers a range of graphical settings on mobile. Tuning these can dramatically improve your frame rate and stability. The goal is to find a balance where the game still looks good but runs smoothly, even on less powerful devices.

Here are the recommended graphics settings that many players (and even tech reviewers) suggest for mobile:

‍

• Render Resolution: This controls the game’s internal resolution. It has a huge impact on performance. Lowering render resolution to Low gives a big FPS boost because the device has fewer pixels to push. On a high-end phone, you might manage Medium or High, but for most mid-range devices, Low or Medium is ideal. You might notice slightly more pixelation on character models at Low, but it’s worth the trade-off if you’re struggling with FPS. If you’re on a budget phone, start with Low render resolution.

• Shadow Quality: Shadows make the world look pretty, but are very demanding. Set Shadow Quality to Low for a significant performance gain. Low shadows might appear blocky, but it’s far better for performance. Medium could be okay on upper-mid devices, but avoid High shadows unless you’re on a gaming phone. High shadows can make the game look console-like, but they are a known resource hog that can cause lag on mobile.

• Visual Effects & SFX Quality: These settings affect particle effects (like elemental skill animations) and overall effect density. For smoother play, set Visual Effects to Low and SFX Quality to Low/Lowest. On some devices, Medium might be tolerable, but many users reported that lowering these settings reduces random frame drops during combat. Lower SFX quality also reduces the flashiness of ability animations, which can actually make combat clearer visually.

• Environment Detail: This setting controls the distance and level of detail for rendering the environment (grass, rocks, etc.). Set this to Low or Medium. Low will make distant objects 2D or simplified, which you might notice as “popping in” of details when you get close (the infamous “png trees” effect). Medium offers a nice compromise where the world looks decent but performance isn’t hit as hard as on High. Only devices with very strong GPUs should attempt High environmental detail.

• FPS (Frame Rate) Setting: Genshin lets you cap at 30 or 60 FPS (and some devices allow 45 as a midpoint). If your phone struggles, cap the game at 30 FPS. While 60fps is butter-smooth, not every phone can maintain it consistently – chasing 60 can lead to more heat and sudden drops to 20fps, which feel worse. Many mobile players choose 30fps for stability and to reduce heat. In fact, a community member from SA reported their device stayed under 33°C by sticking to 30fps, and got hours of gameplay on a single charge. If you really want a smoother-than-30 experience and your phone supports it, try 45 FPS (some Androids with higher refresh screens allow this via config file or certain settings). But generally, 30 is the safe bet for mid-range phones to prevent flickery animation and significant performance fluctuations. You can always experiment: if you set 60fps and notice constant “Overclocked” warnings in the in-game performance meter or see/feel stutters, dial it back to 30.

• Motion Blur: Turn this OFF. Motion blur adds a post-processing effect that most players don’t even like visually, and it “sucks out a lot of performance for nothing”. Disabling motion blur makes camera movements crisper and saves resources. Easy win.

• Bloom and Anti-Aliasing: These are more about visuals. Bloom creates that glowy light effect; Anti-Aliasing (AA) smooths jagged edges. Both can affect performance moderately. If you’re struggling, you can set Bloom to Off (the game will look a bit less vibrant but still okay). Some guides recommend turning Bloom off for max performance, while others say it’s not too heavy – in my experience, Bloom is a nice-to-have; turn it off if every bit of FPS counts. As for Anti-Aliasing, Genshin uses TAA by default (an efficient AA). Keep it on TAA if possible because it helps visuals without huge cost. However, if you’re on an older phone and you suspect AA is hurting, you can try FXAA or None. But most reports show TAA is fine to leave on.

• Crowd Density: This affects how many NPCs appear in cities. Set Crowd Density to Low. In places like Mondstadt or Liyue Harbor, you won’t see as many NPCs wandering around, but it cuts down CPU load. On mobile, fewer NPCs = less processing. It doesn’t affect gameplay much aside from the world feeling a tad emptier (which is a worthy trade if you need FPS). So low it is.

• Co-Op Teammate Effects: If you do co-op domains or bosses often, this setting determines whether you see other players’ flashy skill effects. Put this on “Off” or “Half.” Off means you won’t see your co-op partners’ ability animations at all (you’ll just see their characters moving, which can actually make it easier to focus on your own actions). Half will show some effects but not all. This can significantly reduce visual clutter and lag in co-op. For single-player, this setting doesn’t matter. But if you ever team up, having it off can prevent frame drops when everyone unleashes bursts at once. Some users explicitly mention that turning off teammate effects helped them maintain 45fps on smoother performance mode.

To summarize the Optimal Settings for most mobile devices in 2025: Render Resolution Low/Med, Shadows Low, Effects Low, SFX Low, Environment Low/Med, 30 FPS cap, Motion Blur Off, Bloom Off (optional), Anti-Aliasing TAA (on), Crowd Low, Co-Op Effects Off. These settings, as also recommended by Android Authority and countless community tests, should give you a noticeable boost in smoothness. After applying them, do a quick test: run around a busy area like Port Ormos or fight a bunch of hilichurls – the game should feel a lot more fluid.

‍

If you find you have extra headroom (your phone stays cool and the performance bar in Settings shows “Smooth” easily), you can consider raising one or two things (maybe medium effects or 60fps). But always prioritize a consistent frame rate over high graphics on mobile. Consistency = better gaming experience. As one Genshin player put it, “higher FPS can also lead to lower input lag, making gameplay feel more reactive”, so hitting a stable 30 or 45fps may actually improve your combat performance more than fancy graphics would.

‍

Advanced Tweaks and System Tips

‍

Beyond in-game settings, there are system-level and usage habits that can significantly improve Genshin’s performance on your device:

‍

• Clear Background Apps and Boost RAM: Genshin Impact is heavy on RAM (using 3-4GB easily), so if you have other apps lingering, they steal memory. Before launching the game, close all other apps. On Android, use the recent apps overview and tap “Clear All.” This frees up RAM and CPU attention for Genshin. Modern phones are decent at multitasking, but you’ll still benefit from clearing big apps like Facebook, YouTube, etc. You can also try using third-party RAM booster apps for older phones. For example, the RAM Booster (Memory Cleaner) app can flush cached memory with one tap. Some devices (like Xiaomi, etc.) have built-in phone manager apps that do similar cleaning. Freeing RAM can reduce random slowdowns or “memory leaks” that cause stutters. It’s a quick win you can make a habit of: before launching Genshin, swipe away those other open apps (and on iOS, similarly close others if needed).

• Enable Developer Options Tweaks (Android): This tip is for more tech-savvy users and Android devices only. Android has hidden Developer Options (you unlock it by going to Settings > About Phone > tap Build Number 7 times). In Developer Options, there are settings like “Force 4x MSAA” and “Disable HW overlays” and “Background process limit”. Some players swear by enabling Force 4x MSAA – this forces multi-sample anti-aliasing in OpenGL ES games (Genshin runs on Vulkan now for many devices, but some might still use OpenGL fallback). Contrary to intuition, you should turn it on and also the “hardware acceleration” (which might refer to graphics driver preferences). The idea is to let the GPU work at full tilt for smoother edges, though this can increase power draw. It’s something you can test: if your device is not too old, Force 4x MSAA might actually smooth out some visual hiccups at the cost of a bit more heat. However, results vary – it’s not a magic fix and could reduce performance on low GPUs. 
  
  
  Another dev option is setting Background process limit to 1 or 2 processes, to ensure minimal other processes run while you game. Just be cautious with dev options – always toggle back if something causes issues. For most people, this step isn’t necessary, but it’s a tool in the arsenal if you’re pushing an older phone to its limits.

• Keep Your Phone Cool: Heat is the enemy of performance. When a phone overheats, it throttles (slows down) to prevent damage, causing lag spikes. Some practical tips to keep it cool: don’t play while charging (charging = extra heat generation). If possible, play in a well-ventilated area or a cool room. Remove any thick phone case that insulates heat. Even lowering screen brightness a bit can reduce heat. Another trick: take brief breaks every hour to let the device cool (also good for your hands and battery health). On devices known to run hot with Genshin (looking at you, Snapdragon 888 phones), these measures make a difference.

• Use Game Mode if Available: Many smartphones have a built-in “Game Mode” or “Game Turbo” that can automatically optimize performance for games. These modes may do things like allocate more CPU/GPU to the game, block background network activity, or disable notifications. On Samsung, for example, Game Booster can monitor and auto-adjust settings for smoother gameplay. On Xiaomi/Redmi, the Game Turbo lets you tweak additional settings per game. Check if your phone has such features and enable them for Genshin Impact. They often also let you lock certain settings (like preventing auto-brightness dimming, etc.). While not universal, these OEM optimizations can complement your manual tweaks.
  ‍
  
  

By combining optimized game settings with these system-level practices, you’ll tackle the performance issue from all angles. It’s like tuning a car – not just the engine (game) but also the road conditions (device environment) need to be right for the smoothest ride.

‍

Managing Storage and Data on Mobile

‍

Now onto the big elephant in the room (or rather, the giant Ruin Guard in your storage): Genshin’s file size. How do you manage the game’s huge data footprint and keep your device happy?

‍

• Use the “Quest Resource Management” Feature: This is a fairly new quality-of-life addition that many players aren’t aware of. Added in a recent update, Quest Resource Management allows mobile players to uninstall voice-over files and quest resources for story quests you’ve already completed. Essentially, once you finish certain quests or chapters, you can free up the space taken by cutscenes/voice files for those quests.
  
  
  Later, if you ever need them (say you replay a story in the Travel Log), the game will re-download them on demand. This feature can save you several gigabytes. For example, uninstalling past quest resources can free ~6 GB according to one guide. To use it, go in-game to Paimon Menu > Settings > Resources > Quest Resource Management. The interface will show which parts you can safely delete. As a precaution, only use the “Basic” deletion if you’re sure you’ve finished those quests and won’t immediately need them – and note that if you have multiple accounts on the same device, the feature handles that cleverly by only deleting data all accounts have finished. Many players were eagerly waiting for this tool, joking “this is probably the first thing I’ll do after maintenance” to save space. So definitely take advantage of it. It’s an official solution to the ever-growing game size.
  ‍
  
  

• Clear Cache and Unused Files: Outside the game, a general storage tip: clearing app caches on your phone can free a surprising amount of space. Android Settings often have a “Storage” section where you can clear all app caches in one go. Social media apps, for instance, can hoard 500MB+ of cache each. Doing a bulk cache clear before a big Genshin update might free a couple of GB (as one Reddit guide noted). Importantly, Genshin itself stores some cache data; if something’s corrupted or you need to free space, you can go to your phone’s App Info for Genshin Impact and tap “Clear Cache” (not Clear Data, which would delete the game files – be careful to only clear cache). Additionally, the game downloads separate voice-over packs for each language. If you switched voice languages or the game auto-downloaded multiple languages, you can remove the ones you don’t use. In Settings > Language > Manage Voice-Over Files, uninstall any language pack you don’t need – e.g., if you play with English voices only, you can remove Japanese/Chinese/Korean packs. This can save several GB (each pack is 4-5GB). Many players don’t realize they have redundant voice packs installed. One more thing: check your device’s photo gallery apps. Some gallery apps (like Google Photos) store thumbnails and can balloon in App Data size; clearing that data (which only resets thumbnails, not actual photos) freed 2-3GB for some users. Every bit counts when updating Genshin.
  
  ‍
  
  
• Reinstalling the Game (When Necessary): It sounds counterintuitive, but sometimes the nuclear option is best: delete and reinstall Genshin Impact fresh. Over time, updates pile on new files and leave some old data lingering. A fresh install often has a smaller footprint than a game that’s been incrementally updated for a year. One guide noted that after reinstallation and then using quest resource deletion, the game took less space than after a direct in-place update. The community strategy around big version updates (like 4.0, 5.0) is often: uninstall, make space, reinstall clean. If you choose to do this, make sure your account is bound (to email, Hoyoverse account, etc.) so you don’t lose progress. Then uninstall Genshin, clear any leftover folders if present, and install the latest version. Yes, you’ll have to re-download assets, but you end up with only the necessary files. To illustrate: people found that not using the pre-install and instead doing a clean install on patch day could save several GB because the pre-install kept old files until the patch applied. If you’re low on space, avoid using the pre-download feature (it requires extra free space to hold both old and new files) – just update when it launches or reinstall. It’s a bit time-consuming (downloading ~20GB can take a while on SA networks; maybe connect to solid Wi-Fi or do overnight), but it can be the difference between playing the new update or not.
  ‍
  ‍
  
  
• Maintain >20% Free Storage: A pro-tip from tech circles: try to keep your device’s storage below ~80% usage. When storage is nearly full, device performance can suffer and apps (like Genshin) have less working room. One Reddit response mentioned “try to not fill up your phone storage, keep it below 80%” as a lag mitigation. This isn’t always feasible on smaller-storage phones, but it’s something to strive for. Offload other big apps or media files to a PC or cloud if needed. That breathing room will make updates smoother and possibly reduce in-game hitching due to background storage operations.
  ‍
  
  

By doing the above, you can ensure Genshin Impact isn’t eating your entire phone. We’ve seen players go from “I can’t update, I need 10GB more space!” to “Okay, after deleting past quest data and some caches, I freed 8GB and the update installed.” It might take a bit of digital spring cleaning, but it’s worth it to keep adventuring on mobile.

‍

Enjoying Genshin on the Go

‍

Mobile gaming lets us enjoy Genshin Impact anywhere, whether you’re lounging on the couch, commuting, or in bed. With the optimizations we’ve covered, you should see a marked improvement in how the game runs on your phone or tablet. 

‍

In conclusion, Genshin Impact can absolutely run and shine on mobile with the right optimizations. Whether you’re on a budget Android or the latest iPhone, you have tools at your disposal to make the game smooth and fun. Now, armed with this guide, go forth and adventure across Teyvat on your mobile device!