8 ways to spring clean your phone for a better digital life

If you are guilty of having apps cluttered all over your screen, you are not alone. There’s an app for almost everything and it’s easy to download most of them without noticing.

Smartphones loaded with too many apps can slow down your phone, allow third-party apps to access your data, shorten battery life or—worse—crash your phone.

Here are a few tips to help you spring clean your phone:

1. Don’t need it? Good riddance

Apps tend to take up a lot of space on your phone. Take time to look at your apps and arrange them in order of usage. It will help you keep your daily apps organized in a way that’s easier for you to access.

You can also check out what apps you can delete. If you haven’t used an app in over a month (or you don’t even remember what it was for) then you probably don’t need it.

2. The backup plan

As a general rule, regularly backup your data. This not only frees up space in your phone, but it also speeds it up. Additionally, if your phone is taken over by ransomware, you will still have your data.

3. How many people are on your phone?

You build contacts as you learn and grow in this world. You add them to your address book. As you move from one phone to another, you are carrying these numbers and details to the next device, and the one after that. Finally, you end up with more contacts than the number of people you know.

Go through your contacts and delete the ones you know you won’t need. If you have duplicates, merge them.

4. No need for downloads

With streaming available, there’s no need to save media to your phone unless you really want to. Gone are the days when you needed to download your music or movies to your devices. It’s the same with memes, videos, and gifs sent via text. Make sure you don’t have your settings set for them to be downloaded automatically to your phone.

5. Time to change your password

Changing passwords regularly can help keep your device safe from cyber attacks. Use a password manager or create a unique password, preferably a combination of at least 12 upper and lowercase letters, symbols, and numbers.

The key is to make it difficult for attackers to access your information by changing your passwords every three months and not reusing passwords for multiple accounts.

6. Check for software updates

Software patches and update notifications are a recurring thing. While it is highly recommended that you update your phone immediately upon receiving them, sometimes we miss the notifications.

Check your phone’s settings and make sure that you are running the latest version of the software. Ignoring security updates exposes your phone to vulnerabilities that can be exploited.

7. Clean on the inside and out

Don’t forget to remove your phone cover and wipe down your phone with a clean cloth. Read the cleaning instructions that came with your phone. Using wet wipes and alcohol solutions may damage the phone.

8. Safety first

Use a reliable security suite to help keep not only your phone safe from cyber attacks but also your laptops and tablets. This extra layer of protection may help you keep your phone in tip-top shape and maintain good cybersecurity habits.

Like you bought it yesterday

Following these tips will help your phone run to its full capacity while also keeping it safe and secure. So, reach out to your inner Marie Kondo and get rid of anything that no longer brings you joy.