Whether you consider smartphones to be a gift from the heavens or a blight on humanity, you know that owning one is imperative for success in today’s business environment. It’s also crucial for staying in touch with friends, family, and acquaintances across the globe.
Unfortunately, most of us have, at some point, experienced anxiety caused by the sheer amount of notes, old screenshots, random PDF downloads, and all manner of other detritus stored God-knows-where. Attempting to declutter your phone is overwhelming – you don’t even know where to start.
Add to that the temptation to buy a new one each time the intolerably slow operating speed of the old one gets to you, and it’s no wonder the average lifespan of a phone is only two years.
Whilst everyone loves a fresh start, we don’t really get one any more. The convenience and availability of data transfer services means that we no longer have to sift through all our data and decide what matters. Your new phone resembles the old in no time at all.
So – buying a new phone does not fix the problem.
All those unneeded screenshots and downloads will follow you, phone to phone, until you take the time to deal with them properly.
There are substantial benefits to putting in the initial time and effort, including:
– faster operating speed, as there’s a smaller storage burden to bear;
– you can find what you’re looking for more quickly;
– the interface is clearer, easier to use, and more calming to look at;
– elimination of one source of stress from your daily life (it all adds up); and
– less demand placed on servers that store your cloud data, which take up a lot of physical space as well as energy (which benefits the environment).
IMPORTANT: You can extend these benefits and reduce future burdens by setting “declutter your phone” as a recurring monthly to-do item.
Now, to business – declutter your phone by completing the following list of tasks, one by one. The order doesn’t matter, but make sure you finish one before you move onto the next. If you like, download the free checklist to help with your monthly cleanups.
1. Clear your downloads folder. Find it under File Manager or Files (depending on your OS). Move what you want to keep to relevant folders, then delete the rest.
2. Selectively delete photos and videos. This includes blurry images, screenshots, duplicates, poor angles, pictures you just plain don’t like, pictures of shopping lists, too-short or bumpy videos, and anything else that you don’t love.
3. Clear app caches. This is done via Settings. Apps store a lot of (often unnecessary) information on your phone, taking up precious memory space.
4. Remove old/unused apps. These may not be immediately obvious from your home screen, but go through your app list and delete the ones that you haven’t used for a few months. If you decide in future that you do actually need something, you can always reinstall it.
5. Delete unwanted music and listened-to podcasts. You know those songs you always skip past? Save yourself the hassle of skipping, and the storage space, and delete them. Get rid of any podcast episodes you’ve already listened to, as well, and unsubscribe from any that you no longer like to listen to.
6. Delete text messages and photo messages. Delete those one-time verification codes for online accounts, recharge reminders, expired special offers from retailers (also text STOP to these unless you actually use them), unimportant messages from friends, and pictures of the shopping list sent through by your partner or roommate.
7. Delete old, unneeded contacts. Old work colleagues that you have no wish to speak with again, random peripheral friends from school or college, relatives of your ex-partner if you no longer speak with them, and anyone else you don’t expect to contact in the foreseeable future. If you’ve had them there for years and never contacted them, chances are their number has changed anyway. Add them on LinkedIn if you think you’ll need to connect with them professionally.
8. Delete old alarms. Have a tonne of random, deactivated alarms sitting in your phone? Get rid of them and only keep the ones that you use regularly.
9. Clear your online calendar of old recurring tasks and declined invitations. Have you set a reminder to call your best friend once a week, but have since moved in together? No need to keep that task clogging up your calendar. Set your calendar to hide declined invitations, too.
10. Delete old notes, action to-dos, and organise what remains. Do you use notes for everything, like me? Chances are you have plenty of old ones that you no longer need. Delete them, and create an action list of notes you come across that still need to be completed. Organise what remains into logical categories and condense notes where possible.
11. Delete unneeded Chrome bookmarks. Go through your bookmarks and delete everything that you don’t need or that no longer interests you. Set aside some time to read the ones you saved to read, or delete them.
12. Close Chrome tabs, bookmark the ones you need for later. Bookmark or action the ones that you really need, and close the rest.
13. Close all apps. Only keep open apps that you’re currently using. Having more open than you need only slows down your phone’s operation and leads to frustration.
14. Sort apps into folders. Create logical folders on your phone and sort your apps accordingly. You might have folders such as Social, Tools, Self-care, Blog/Business, etc.
15. Unfollow uninteresting content on social media. This may take some time, and is more of a habit to develop than something that you can manage in a day. As you’re browsing and come across content you don’t love, take the time to unfollow the account. You can also go through your listed interests and the accounts you follow on each platform and unfollow that way.
16. Physically clean your phone. Take the case off and clean it, inside and out, then clean your phone, including removing dust from any open ports. Clean the screen thoroughly too, and replace the screen protector if it needs it.
17. Change up your homescreen. This is just a fun way to change up your phone’s appearance and help it feel fresh and new again.
18. Update your social media profile pictures. When was the last time you changed them? Time for an update to something fresher and more in line with the latest version of you.
Don’t forget to take it one at a time, and be thorough. The more thorough you are, the better your user experience will be, for longer.
If you think I’ve missed something, please let me know in the comments below and I’ll add it to the list, with credit to you.
Otherwise, share this with the friend who needs it the most, or alternatively – your own audience, if it will help them.
