How to deep-clean and declutter your smartphone.
February 11, 2021
According to Punxsutawney Phil, the famous groundhog weather prognosticator from Pennsylvania, there’s going to be another six weeks of winter this year. If you’re going to be stuck indoors with time on your hands anyway, you might as well take some time to clean your smartphone.
Let’s start on the outside. If you have a protective case on your phone, remove it and clean it separately. Start by unplugging your phone from the charger and turning the device off. Then use a dry, lint-free microfiber cloth to remove any dirt, dust, or fingerprints. Finally, spray a 70 percent solution of ethanol or isopropyl alcohol onto a cloth and wipe the front, back, and sides, being careful not to squeeze fluid into the charging port or headphone jack (if applicable). Even if your phone is “waterproof,” never submerge it in water while cleaning it. You can clean most protective cases by soaking them in warm, soapy water, rinsing with clean water, then letting it air dry.
Note, there are ultraviolet light boxes you can purchase to sanitize your phone, but be aware these do nothing to remove dirt, dust, or smudges. And while they may destroy close to 100% of germs and bacteria, there is no proof they do anything to destroy the COVID-19 virus.
Now for the inside. There are a number of different ways you can declutter your phone to make it more efficient for you:
– Back it up. You can backup files on your phone by plugging it into a hard drive or computer or utilizing a cloud-based service. This will provide you with a way to retrieve items if you delete them now and want them again later, such as videos or photos that are taking up a lot of your phone’s memory.
– Unused apps. Your phone usually comes pre-loaded with a bunch of apps you may or may not use. If you have never used any of these apps, get rid of them. You may also want to delete other unused apps such as games you no longer play.
– Create folders. You can drag and drop any app over the top of another to create various folders. You might have one for games, your finances, time management, etc. Folders can help clean up your home screen to help you find what you need more quickly.
– Browsing history. Cleaning up your browsing history on search engine apps such as Google or Safari can help tidy things up a bit.
– Contacts. Go through your contact list to see if you have duplicate information or outdated listings for people who have changed the contact information. Delete what is no longer relevant.
If you have any questions about cleaning or decluttering your phone, or if you need any other professional smartphone or tablet repairs or services, stop by any Cell Phone Zone store. We’ll be glad to help you out.
Tags: Smartphone Maintenance