Now that there’s a tiny hint of sun, it’s time for a good spring clean. And that includes your phone. It’s all well and good giving your screen a quick wipe with some anti-bac – but what about decluttering the stuff that’s on it too?
Having a proper clear out can help with your phone’s performance. From longer battery life to quicker loading times. Plus, when you want to find that great holiday snap, you won’t have to dig through years of memes and screenshots to find it.
Delete photos and videos
This is a pretty obvious one. Having tons of photos and videos in your camera roll can take up a lot of storage space. So, the best place to start is by having a good tidy. Get rid of anything not worth keeping – after all, you don’t need 45 versions of that one selfie. Then move everything else to external or cloud storage. Even if storage isn’t a massive issue, this is still worth doing. If you do ever lose your phone, you’ll have everything backed up.
Remove some apps
We’ve all got apps we don’t use anymore. Or the ones we keep around for those just-in-case situations. But do you really need them? We don’t think so. A lot of apps work in the background, even when you’re not using them. So, having a root around and getting rid is a quick way to free up some space – and save your phone from working harder than it needs to.
Tip: once you’ve binned your unused apps, check that the remaining ones are all up to date. You don’t want to miss out on up-to-date security or handy new features.
Clear out your contacts
You’re scrolling down your contact list. Who’s Mark? Your guess is as good as ours. If you’ve got one too many unfamiliar names in there, it’s definitely time to delete some numbers. But, if you want to double check before you remove them entirely, fire up WhatsApp. Their profile picture should remind you. And while you’re on WhatsApp, why not clear out your old chats? That group organising your friend’s hen do from a couple of years ago hasn’t been touched since. It’s time for it to go.
Turn off location tracking
You don’t need Twitter to know where you are every second of the day. And when it comes to improving battery life, turning off location tracking can make a big difference. Especially if your phone is just sitting in your bag. Apps constantly checking to see where you are drains your battery. And let’s be honest, it’s a little bit creepy too. Turning location tracking off – or at least controlling which apps can see where you are – is really easy. Just search for ‘location tracking’ in your settings and you can tweak everything from there.
Clear your cache
Websites and apps store info on you to help you log in, fill out forms, or remember what’s in your basket. But over time, this saved data can slow things down. You can clear your cache through your internet browser (whether that’s Chrome, Safari etc) and it only takes a few minutes to do.
Reset
If all else fails and your phone is still painfully slow, it might be time for a good old factory reset. It’ll wipe everything from your phone as if it was brand new - giving you a complete fresh start. Before you take the plunge though, make sure you back everything up properly. Use iCloud for iPhones and Google Drive or OneDrive for Android. Otherwise, all your stuff will be gone for good.
Physically clean your phone
You’ve cleaned up the digital side of things. Now for the physical bit. Phones can get pretty grimy. After all, most of us use them every single day. And that can cause a right mess over time – from gunk in the charging port, to a sticky screen.
Before you start cleaning, unplug any cables, and switch off your phone. Then you can get to work. Google and Apple recommend using a 70% alcohol wipe for the job. But only use it on your screen and the casing at the back. Because you don’t want to risk damaging it by getting moisture in the headphone port or speakers.
Don’t forget your phone case either. Just take it off the phone before you clean it. With plastic, silicone, and rubber cases, you can soak them in some warm water and dish soap for a couple of minutes. If there are any stains left over, use an old toothbrush to get rid of them. And make sure to dry the case off with a cloth before you put it back on your phone.
Giveaway Time!
Want to give your house a good spring clean too? We can help you there as well because we are giving you the chance to win a brand new EUFY RoboVac 15C!
To enter, all you need to do is tell us what your top spring cleaning tip or hack is. Whether it's weird, wonderful, or just plain common sense we want to know!
Simply write your response below and click reply.
Entries close at 23:59 on 17th March 2023, and we'll announce the lucky iD community winner shortly after.
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