Chrome not smooth at 120Hz refresh rate on your Galaxy S20? Here's a simple fix

The Galaxy S20, S20+, and S20 Ultra feature 120Hz refresh rate displays that considerably improve the user experience (at the expense of some battery life). While not every game takes advantage of the high refresh rate, most non-gaming apps do. That includes all of Google's apps except for Maps, which operates at standard 60 Hz refresh rate at all times.

However, if you use Google Chrome, you may have noticed that it sometimes starts acting all sluggish when you're scrolling through a website and makes it seem like the phone has switched back to 60Hz refresh rate even though it hasn't (the switch back to 60Hz happens when the phone's temperature goes above 40C). This doesn't seem to happen very often, but when it does, what can you do to get Chrome back to normal?

Well, there's a simple fix: If you notice that scrolling in Chrome isn't as smooth as it should be when your Galaxy S20, S20+, or S20 Ultra is set to 120Hz refresh rate, you can force close the browser and reopen it.

Force closing Chrome and reopening it does the trick

There are two ways you can close Chrome and clear it from memory. The first method is the quickest: Simply tap the Recents (multitasking) button to see all running apps, look for the Chrome tab, and swipe it up. Then, open Chrome again from the home screen/app drawer and it should be working normally again (that is, scrolling should once again be butter smooth).

If that doesn't work, here's what you need to do. Long press the Chrome shortcut on your home screen or in the app drawer and select App info. Then, tap the Force stop option and tap OK on the popup, which will clear Chrome from memory for good and make scrolling in the browser smooth again. Don't worry, Chrome will still remember all the tabs you had open and will reload them the next time you fire it up.

If Chrome feels sluggish too often, try Samsung Internet

If you don't find Chrome on your Galaxy S20, S20+, or S20 Ultra working as smoothly as you like, and if you don't care for syncing your browser data across your mobile and PC, you can try using Samsung Internet for your browsing needs. Samsung Internet works great at all times, has better performance than Chrome, and has a lot of extra functionality to offer, including the ability to use ad blockers.

Don't forget to check out our other Galaxy S20 tips and tricks to get the most out of your phone.

Abhijeet Mishra - Editor-in-Chief

[email protected]

First Samsung device: SGH-D500

Abhijeet's writing career started with guides for custom firmware for Samsung devices (including the original Galaxy S), and he moved to SamMobile in mid-2013 and worked up the ranks to Editor-in-chief. In addition to phones and mobile devices, his interests include gaming on both PC and console, PC hardware, and spending countless hours on YouTube watching videos on tech, movies, games, politics, and internet dramas.

Phone Tips & Tricks Galaxy S20 Tip Google Chrome Samsung Internet