We all love the convenience of latest,modern smartphones. They’re so much more than just phones — they’ve become our cameras, calendars, mailboxes, entertainment consoles and internet browsers. But all those apps, photos, videos and games compete for a limited amount of room in which to operate. If you’re not careful, your phone’s memory will quickly become the digital equivalent of a traffic jam. Suddenly, space is hard to come by, so everything slows down — and when it does, we no longer love our cellphone quite so much.
According to experts,this doesn’t mean it’s time to scrap your phone. Instead, they recommend trying a few simple housecleaning steps, outlined below, before giving up on a sluggish device. These will help clear out most of the unwanted clutter and might just restore your phone’s performance back to nearly new.
1.Do you really use all those apps?
Take a long look at the apps you’ve downloaded, and decide which ones you use regularly and therefore need to keep. Delete the rest. Unused apps not only hog precious storage space, they also impact your battery life, as they are constantly restarting and running in the background without you even realising it. You can always download an app again later if you discover you can’t live without it. But for now, get rid of the extras.
2.Learn to manage photos and videos
Nothing beats the convenience of taking digital photos and videos on your smartphone. Unlike using film, there’s no set limit to how many you can take. But there definitely is a limit to how many you’ll want to keep stored on your device. Photos, and especially videos, chew up memory with each one you save. You also run the risk of losing the entire collection if something happens to your phone to wipe out its memory, or if it is lost or stolen.
Review your saved items frequently to make sure you’re not keeping too many duplicates. Perhaps most importantly, regularly back up your files to a computer, external hard drive, or cloud-based storage — then delete all of them from your smartphone. This will take a few extra minutes, but it’s time well spent: it not only frees up space on your device, it also safeguards against your precious memories getting wiped away. Unlike using film, there’s no set limit to how many you can take. But there definitely is a limit to how many you’ll want to keep stored on your device. Photos, and especially videos, chew up memory with each one you save. You also run the risk of losing the entire collection if something happens to your phone to wipe out its memory, or if it is lost or stolen.
3.Clean up after browsing(cache)
When you surf the internet on your smartphone, each website stores a unique collection of images, videos, or text files required to display things like web pages and advertisements. These files makeup what’s called the phone’s cache memory, or cached data.
Cached data is saved within your browser so that next time you access the site you already have the information necessary for it to load quickly. It’s a wonderful tool for web pages you visit frequently. But for sites you’ll rarely visit again, these files simply take up valuable digital real estate. As they accumulate, you’ll start to notice web pages taking a lot longer to load, making your browsing experience much less enjoyable. To avoid this, make it a habit to periodically clear your cache memory. While each Android phone or iPhone is slightly different, the general process will include going to the Settings menu on your phone, then locating your Storage, Apps, or Applications Manager menu. Cached data is usually stored here, clearly labelled. Follow the prompts to delete unwanted files.
5.Make your contacts count
Without careful attention, your Phone Book can overflow with duplicate entries or just-plain unimportant contacts. The cost of all that extra data is not only time wasted scrolling through extraneous information- it’s also eating up memory you could use for more valuable things.
Review and organize your contacts regularly to make sure you have a well-organised and up-to-date list. Group a person’s work, cellphone, and home phone number together under a single entry. Delete entries you won’t likely need again. And sync your contact list with your Apple or Google contacts to create a backup, just in case anything happens to your phone or its stored data.
5.Keep it as good as new
Just keep in mind that while smartphones are wondrous, state-of-the-art technology, that doesn’t mean they won’t require some good old-fashioned human intervention from time-to-time. Whether you’re using an entry-level flip phone or the most advanced smartphone, a little tweak will go a long way toward keeping things operating efficiently and extending the useful life of your device.