5 tips for spring cleaning your phone

It’s April, and that means it’s time for some spring cleaning, including your phone.  

Yes, your phone! Your phone can accumulate apps and data overtime that can slow down your whole phone, or even cause unwanted crashes.  So why not use some of the time traditionally given to spring cleaning your house to give some TLC to your little portable brain.

So here are some tips to get your phone running as fast as a spring rabbit.

Back up your data

The very first thing you should do, in case you get overzealous with your cleaning, is to back up your data. On Android, it’s as easy as going to your phone’s main menu > System > Backup. On iOS, you have the option of either backing up to your computer or to your iCloud account. That way if you accidentally get rid of something important, you can restore it easily.

Update your apps and operating system

Especially the OS. Every updated version of either Android or iOS comes with new features, new security updates, and new options for phone management. Usually, your phone will tell you when an updated version of the OS is available, but you can also check manually under your main menu and System (Android), or General (iOS). For your apps, go to the app store on your phone, find your profile or account icon, and check on all your current apps to see if any updates are available.

Clean out your photos and videos

It’s all too easy to take a picture or record a video on your phone and then completely forget about it. That’s why it’s good to periodically clean out the pictures you have stored on your phone. This is where Marie Kondo’s maxim of joy comes into play. Does the picture you are looking at bring you joy? Then keep it! If it does not, get rid of it. You will be surprised at how much space your photos can take up.  

Organize your apps

Speaking of decluttering — look at your phone’s home page. How many of those apps do you use every day? Not all of them on that page we’d wager. That’s a lot of visual clutter you can streamline. Our suggestion is to put the ones you use every day on your home page, with the ones you use less often on the second page. And if there’s apps you haven’t opened in, say a year, uninstall them. Those apps might be using resources or have permissions on them that can degrade your phone’s performance. Remember, anything you delete (including paid apps) can be recovered through your app store account.

Clean the outside too

Seriously, it’s probably filthy. Wash your hands first, and then turn off your phone and unplug it. Grab an anti-bacterial wipe, or a dry cloth and some alcohol-based cleaner (70% isopropyl recommended) and wipe down the screen and outside of the phone. Be careful not to get any moisture into the ports. And if you take your phone into the bathroom, do this once a week. Either the anti-bacterial wipe or the 70% isopropyl solution will kill germs on your phone.  

Follow these tips and your phone will be in shape for spring!

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