For many people, a new year means a new year playlist on Spotify, making a photo book from the previous year and all in all cleaning up the smartphone. A fresh year, a fresh start for your phone, so that it feels brand new again. This is how to quickly and effectively clean up your phone.
Start with your photos and videos
For many people, it is the biggest job of all the cleanup jobs within their smartphone: cleaning up the number of videos and photos. Think of the 50 photos it costs to take that one good selfie, but also of the folder in which all media from WhatsApp is stored, because it often wants to take up a lot of GBs with gifs, videos and more. Check carefully how many photos you want to keep. Do you have 500 photos from a weekend away? Maybe you can make a deal with yourself to keep 300 of them. Learn to look critically at your own photos, because if you keep the best ones and there aren’t that many, you are more likely to look back at them than if it’s a huge number (which often also loads poorly due to your internet connection). if you have them in the cloud).
Put your documents, photos and video in the cloud
We already mentioned it: the cloud. For example, on an Android phone, you can use Google Photos or for iPhone users, Apple iCloud to constantly automatically upload your photos and videos. You can indicate yourself which folders should be uploaded and whether this can be done via WiFi or data. Not only handy because it works automatically, but also because you can delete it from your phone after backup and you have more space for new photos and videos. Plus, if your phone breaks or is stolen, you don’t have to worry that your photos are gone: you can retrieve them from the cloud in no time.
Then clean up your apps
If you’ve tackled all the photos and videos, your phone probably feels ‘lighter’ already. However, there is one more thing you should definitely look at, which is the apps you have on your phone. And it sounds crazy, but you can also use a Marie Kondootje here: does that app really make you happy, or can it actually go away? Many people fear that if they throw away an app, it will never be downloaded again, but the opposite is true. You can even quickly download the app while you are in the HEMA and log in to get your customer card. So there is no reason (unless you visit HEMA every week) to have that app on your phone all the time.
Remove what takes up a lot of space
When it comes to apps, it is useful to also see which apps are the largest. You can often view this in your phone’s settings under the ‘storage’ section. There you can filter apps by size, so you may also choose to remove a few apps based on that. While you’re still working on the apps, make sure you update the apps you do keep, if necessary. You can check that on Android in the Google Play Store and on iPhone in the Apple App Store.
Check your streaming services
It sounds a bit contradictory, but also pay attention to whether your streaming services have downloaded a lot of music or podcasts. You can download music and podcasts for offline use which is very convenient, but also takes up a lot of space on your phone. So check all streaming services for this function and what has been downloaded. Is it still worth it? Are you often offline? It is often a matter of one slide and a complete playlist disappears from your phone.
Use your phone’s cleanup function
Every smartphone has it: a function with which the phone advises you about what you can clean up. Some even come with notifications to remind you of this. Apple has the offload apps feature, which removes apps if you don’t use them for more than 30 days. Very handy that your phone can also help you clean up, but you will have to do most of the work yourself. This is mainly due to clearing apps and videos. And then make sure you don’t fill your phone with apps and videos too soon. So it’s handy to repeat cleaning up your phone a little more often, immediately a good intention.
