Pro Tip: Organize Your Cell Phone for the New Year
The start of a new year is the perfect time to set goals and re-evaluate old ones. While your cellphone might not be top of mind when it comes to bettering your life, it can unknowingly be a major source of day-to-day stress and clutter.
Because your cell phone goes everywhere you go, you probably use it for just about every task, from paying bills to getting directions. As a result, your cell phone gradually becomes bogged down with information and files that are unorganized and difficult to retrieve.
If you can’t remember the last time your phone had a major overhaul, here are a few spring cleaning tips as you head into the new year.
1. Create folders for apps
With so many apps available for your operating system, your cell phone is likely a jumbled mess of applications—to the point where it’s impossible to quickly locate apps you’ve downloaded.
To add some organization, create folders and group similar apps together. Create a social media folder for all your social media apps (Twitter, Facebook or Instagram). If you have financial apps on your phone, create a financial folder specifically for your bank or credit card company’s apps. You can also get creative and group apps by color. Another option is making a separate folder specifically for apps your young children access.
2. Remove apps you don’t use
Phone apps can accumulate over the years, and before you know it, you end up with several apps on your phone that you never open. This takes up memory and clutters your screen.
While you’re organizing your apps, use this time to remove apps you’re no longer using. If you haven’t opened a particular app in the last six months, you probably don’t need it.
The good thing about app purchases is that you can re-download a deleted app later on without having to pay for it again.
3. Keep your favorite apps on the main home screen
You don’t have to keep all of your apps in a folder. Move those you use often to your home screen for easy access. These might include your bank app, your social media apps and maybe your favorite games.
4. Remove photos and music
Chances are your smartphone functions as your photo album and music library. The problem, however, is that after years of downloading music and taking photos, your media collection can eat away at your memory and slow down your cell phone.
You don’t have to completely delete your photos or music, but if you’re running out of space, consider removing these from your cell phone. You can either upload photos and music to your computer if you have enough storage space, or transfer some of your photos and music to an external hard drive. Then you can delete these from your phone and keep them saved somewhere else for easy access.
5. Remove old contacts
Go through your list of contacts and remove any person you’re no longer in contact with. This includes old business clients, referrals, old coworkers, classmates, etc.
We use our cell phones for everything, so there’s a tendency to enter and upload a ton of information to our devices. But the more information transferred to your phone, the less space you might have available. So once a year, set a goal of organizing your cell phone. Freeing up space not only creates room for new downloads, it can also increase your phone’s speed and make it more functional.