Focus on gaming

Find your games and gaming tools in one place

Open the Games app and then:

To play a game, tap .
If you don't have any games yet, tap Download games and choose one from Play Store.
To adjust display settings, prevent interruptions, and turn off gestures during games, tap Settings.
To see moments you captured during games, tap .
To turn Gametime on or off for a game, tap .

Open toolkit

Use the toolkit to quickly adjust settings during a game.

To open it, you can either:

Tap .
Swipe right.
Swipe right but don't show . This gives maximum space for and interferes least with gaming.

Reposition

Drag to the top, middle, bottom, or opposite side of the screen.

Reposition

Swipe right.
Tap Settings > Toolkit access.
Tap next to Swipe right from the edge.
Select top, middle, or bottom third of screen.

Customize tap or swipe to open

Open the Games app.
Tap > Toolkit access
Do one of the following:
- To tap , select Tap the icon.
- To swipe right, select Swipe right from the edge.
- To swipe without showing , select Swipe right from the edge, then tap and turn Show visual hint off .

Remove the toolkit

If you don’t want to use the toolkit, you can remove it entirely. Open the toolkit and tap Settings > Toolkit access > Hide the toolkit.

Turn off calls and notifications

From the toolkit

During a game, open the toolkit.
Tap to block calls and to block notifications.
When Block calls is on , calls from starred contacts are allowed as exceptions. To block starred contacts as well, or to permit calls from certain contacts, tap > Caller exceptions.

From Games app

Open the Games app.
Tap .
Turn Block notifications and Block calls on or off .
When Block calls is on , calls from starred contacts are allowed as exceptions. To block starred contacts as well, or to permit calls from certain contacts, tap Caller exceptions.

Turn off gestures that conflict with game controls

Some gestures may conflict with game controls. You can turn them off while you’re playing games.

During a game, open the toolkit and tap .
Tap Block Gestures and turn on the gestures you want to block.

Adjust display settings

During a game, open the toolkit.
To change performance mode, tap Standard , High performance , or Battery saver .
Tap Settings and adjust settings:
- To improve display, adjust Display refresh rate.
- To keep brightness at a fixed level while gaming, turn Disable adaptive brightness on .
- To hide labels below sidebar icons, turn Show labels off .

TipFor the smoothest motion, be sure the display refresh rate is set to the highest rate.

Record or take screenshot during game

During a game, open the toolkit.
To record your screen, tap . Learn more.

To take a screenshot, tap .
To share it, tap .

Allow game play over mobile data

To save mobile data, Gametime prevents games from using mobile data when Wi-Fi is available. But you can change settings and allow games to use mobile data.

Open the Games app.
Tap .
Turn Use mobile data on or off .