We often think of smartphones as being disposable. New models are released every year and when they are, we get rid of the old ones and replace them. But this is costing a lot of money and contributing to electronic waste, which is becoming a big problem. The thing is, your smartphone will last a long time if you know how to look after it, so you don’t need to keep replacing it all of the time. 

There are a lot of things you can do to look after your phone and keep it running well. Often phones slow down because they are filled with apps and files that you don’t need anymore. When the storage gets clogged up, the phone runs very slowly and people assume that it just needs to be replaced. But if you can clean up your phone, it will keep working for a lot longer. Getting things organized will also make your phone easier to use. These are the steps you need to take to clean up your smartphone. 

Download Some Cleaner Apps

The best way to start cleaning up your phone is by getting some apps. There are a lot of different kinds of apps you can download and they will do things like clear out your cache, speed up the device and keep it running smoothly, make it easier for other people to help look after the phone and get rid of all of those annoying ads that pop-up every time you open an app. It’s important to choose the best iphone cleaner app because there are a lot of them that don’t work well or even put viruses on phones. Also, only install the right kind – if your phone is Android then get Android cleaner apps and if it’s an iPhone then get iOS products. You can get specific apps to deal with photos, other kinds of files, contacts, and apps. They will automate things for you so you don’t have to manually delete everything. 

Get Rid Of Useless Apps

After you have downloaded some cleaner apps, it’s time to look at what you are actually using on your phone. If there are apps that you don’t use anymore, or that were useless in the first place, then remove them. This will free up space so your phone won’t run as slowly and the battery life will last longer. Be ruthless when deleting apps and don’t keep things just in case you might use them in the future. Remember, you can always download them again if you do need them at some point.

Backup All Of Your Files

Having an organized phone will also make it easier to back up all of the files that are on your device. This is important if you want to keep them safe, because just deleting things will not actually remove everything completely. If your phone gets lost or stolen then this backup can be really helpful because it means you won’t lose any data. It also helps if you accidentally delete the wrong things when you are clearing out your phone. 

Delete Cache Data

The cache is all of the temporary data that apps store when you use them. It’s basically just bits and pieces of files that are stored in folders on your device, and they are taking up space on your phone. But it’s easy to get rid of them instead of just leaving them there. You can use cleaner apps to get rid of this cache data or you can go through the settings and delete them all. However, you need to check that you are not interrupting the functionality of the apps by deleting the cache. You should get a notification if it is likely to affect apps, so you can keep those certain files and get rid of the rest. 

Check App Permissions

Certain apps want access to certain things on your device. For example, the Facebook app will need access to features like your location and contacts. If you allow it, then this data is stored by the app and will take up space on your phone. Having your location data tracked by a lot of apps at the same time will also slow your phone down a lot. The thing is, most apps don’t actually need that data, they’re just collecting it to sell it. So, go through all of your app permissions and change settings so you are only giving access when it is absolutely necessary. 

If you follow this step by step guide, you can clean up your smartphone and keep it working for much longer. 

Samantha

Samantha hails from Virginia and is a proud wife to a retired Deputy Sheriff and mother to two amazing little boys named Jack & William. A veteran product reviewer; Samantha has been reviewing products for 8 years and offers high quality product reviews with original photography.