How to Adjust Refresh Rate on Any Device
Your display's refresh rate controls how many times per second the screen redraws its image — measured in Hz (hertz). A monitor running at 60Hz refreshes 60 times per second. One running at 144Hz does it 144 times. The higher the number, the smoother motion appears on screen.
Adjusting your refresh rate sounds simple, but the right setting depends on your hardware, your OS, what you're doing, and what your display actually supports. Here's how it works across major platforms — and what shapes the outcome.
Why Refresh Rate Matters
At 60Hz, everyday tasks like browsing, email, and document editing look perfectly fine to most people. Bump to 120Hz or higher, and scrolling feels noticeably smoother, cursor movement feels more responsive, and fast-moving content — games, video, animations — looks cleaner with less motion blur.
The catch: your display has to support the higher rate, your GPU has to be capable of driving it, and the cable connecting them has to have enough bandwidth to carry the signal. All three need to align. A 144Hz monitor connected via an old VGA cable, for example, won't run at 144Hz regardless of what you set in software.
How to Adjust Refresh Rate on Windows
Windows 11 and Windows 10
- Right-click the desktop → Display settings
- Scroll to Advanced display (Windows 11) or Display adapter properties (Windows 10)
- Under Refresh rate or the Monitor tab, open the dropdown
- Select your target Hz — only supported rates will appear
- Confirm the change
Windows only shows refresh rates your GPU and monitor combination can actually handle through the current connection. If a rate isn't listed, it's either unsupported by the hardware or blocked by the cable type.
🖥️ Tip: If you're on Windows 11 with a variable refresh rate display, check Advanced display settings for the Dynamic refresh rate toggle, which automatically shifts between 60Hz and higher rates depending on what's on screen.
How to Adjust Refresh Rate on macOS
Apple Silicon Macs and newer Intel models with ProMotion displays handle this adaptively — the system scales between 24Hz and 120Hz automatically based on content. You can still set a fixed rate if needed:
- Open System Settings → Displays
- Hold the Option key and click Show all resolutions (older macOS) or look for the refresh rate dropdown in newer versions
- Select your preferred rate
On external monitors connected to a Mac, available rates depend on the display's specs and whether you're using DisplayPort, HDMI, or Thunderbolt — and which version of each.
How to Adjust Refresh Rate on Android
Most Android phones with high-refresh displays give you manual control:
- Go to Settings → Display
- Look for Motion smoothness, Screen refresh rate, or Display refresh rate (naming varies by manufacturer)
- Choose between available options — typically 60Hz, 90Hz, 120Hz, or Auto/Adaptive
Adaptive mode is common on flagship devices. It drops the rate during static content to save battery and raises it during scrolling or gaming. Whether that tradeoff works well depends on your phone's implementation and how aggressively it manages power.
How to Adjust Refresh Rate on iPhone
iPhones with ProMotion (iPhone 13 Pro and later) handle refresh rate automatically through ProMotion technology, scaling between 1Hz and 120Hz. There's no manual Hz selector — Apple manages it at the system level. Third-party apps can request higher frame rates, but the OS controls the display's actual output.
Standard iPhone models without ProMotion run at a fixed 60Hz with no adjustment available.
Variables That Change the Outcome 🎮
Adjusting the refresh rate isn't a universal fix — several factors determine whether a higher rate actually makes a difference for you:
| Factor | Why It Matters |
|---|---|
| Display hardware | Your panel must natively support the target Hz |
| GPU capability | Must render frames fast enough to feed the display |
| Cable/connection type | HDMI 1.4, HDMI 2.0, DisplayPort 1.2/1.4 all have different bandwidth limits |
| Resolution | Higher resolutions require more bandwidth — 4K@144Hz demands more than 1080p@144Hz |
| Content type | Games benefit more than static document work |
| Battery vs. performance | On laptops and phones, higher Hz increases power draw |
| OS and driver versions | Outdated GPU drivers can prevent higher rates from being recognized |
A desktop gaming setup with a high-end GPU and a DisplayPort 1.4 cable has completely different headroom than a laptop connected to an external 4K display over HDMI 1.4. Same settings menu, very different ceiling.
When Higher Isn't Necessarily Better
Running a higher refresh rate than your GPU can sustain for a given task creates screen tearing or forces heavier frame pacing work. In those cases, VRR technologies like G-Sync or FreeSync — if your monitor and GPU both support them — synchronize the display's refresh rate to the GPU's actual output rate, eliminating tearing without locking to a fixed Hz.
For productivity-only use on a standard monitor, staying at 60Hz is completely reasonable and draws less power. For competitive gaming or anything with fast motion, the perceptual difference at 120Hz+ is real — but only if the rest of the hardware chain keeps up.
Troubleshooting Common Issues
- Rate not showing in dropdown: Check your cable spec and GPU driver version
- Screen goes black after changing rate: Windows reverts automatically after 15 seconds if you don't confirm — let it revert and try a lower rate
- External monitor stuck at 60Hz: Try a different cable standard (DisplayPort over HDMI, or a higher-spec HDMI cable)
- Changes don't persist: Some displays require the rate to be set through GPU control panel software (NVIDIA Control Panel, AMD Radeon Software) rather than Windows display settings
What's achievable — and what's worth changing — depends entirely on what display you're working with, what's driving it, and what you're actually doing on screen.