There’s no doubt that Samsung’s latest smartphones perform incredibly well. The Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 is an incredible chip, and I rarely run into issues with my Galaxy S26 Plus. However, not all Samsung phones are created equal, and I always take steps to keep my phone in tip-top shape.
One way I do this is by restarting my Galaxy S26 Plus every so often. To many of us millennials, turning off our phones for any amount of time may sound like a big ask, but it’s good for our phones and can give us some peace of mind, especially if we’re dealing with issues or our phones are feeling slow.
Samsung’s Device Care
Samsung Device Care may not seem like a big deal, but it’s been one of my favorite Galaxy features for as long as I can remember. It’s a suite of settings in every Galaxy phone that lets you optimize your phone to keep everything running smoothly. You can clear your memory used by apps running in the background, free up storage space from unused apps or duplicate files, manage your battery settings, run diagnostics, and more.
In fact, I find myself cleaning out my phone’s memory so often that I’ve started using the Device Care widget to easily optimize my Galaxy S26 with a tap.
However, there’s one feature in Device Care that isn’t as obvious or as readily accessible: Auto Optimization. You may have to scroll down a bit to see it, but this feature further ensures your phone runs smoothly in the background, so you spend less time worrying about its performance.
One way it does this is with Auto restart, which lets you schedule days and times when your phone will automatically reboot itself, which Samsung notes can “keep your phone running in the best condition.”
Why you should restart your phone
Being able to automatically restart your phone may not seem like a big deal, but this can help your phone’s performance. In fact, experts say that rebooting your phone at least once a week can help in several ways, from closing background apps that are eating away at your phone’s resources to addressing the occasional glitch (but not all).
The NSA has also noted that rebooting can help reduce the risk of malware, although this may be less of a concern these days with the various protections companies have put in place to safeguard our phones. Still, you can never be too safe.
Some may say that it’s good to reboot your smartphone once a day, and there’s definitely no harm in that. Once a week is also acceptable, so long as you’re doing it fairly often and somewhat consistently. Doing so will clear bad data and free up memory from misbehaving apps, which can result in better battery life for you, since apps aren’t sucking it up by doing things in the background you’re unaware of or don’t need.
How to schedule automatic reboots on your Galaxy S26
1. Open the Settings app, either from the pull-down Quick Settings menu or the app drawer.
2. Open Device care.
3. Tap Auto Optimization.
4. Tap Auto restart at the bottom.
5. Toggle on Restart when needed if you want your phone to automatically restart when it detects performance issues.
6. Toggle on Restart on schedule and set the day(s) and time when you want the phone to automatically reboot.
Keep your Galaxy S26 in top shape for as long as you can
Samsung’s flagship smartphones, such as the Galaxy S26, receive software support for up to seven years, which includes OS upgrades and security patches. It’s a nice gesture, assuming consumers will continue to hold onto their phones for as long as they’re supported, and some of them actually might. That’s why built-in tools such as this are a great way to help ensure phones are properly cared for and that battery health can be prolonged.
If you have a Samsung smartphone, I recommend checking out all the Device Care features to keep your device optimized and in tip-top shape.