7 Steps to Maintain Your Cell Phone

Choosing a cellular phone is a big decision, and the hefty price tag makes it an investment as well. Maintain your new phone and keep it operating smoothly with these seven tips.

1. Keep It Clean

To keep your phone and screen clean, make a simple solution of equal parts of water and vinegar, and add a few drops of Young Living Essential Oils. Apply with a soft cloth and wipe your phone clean. Choosing lemon or lime oils will eliminate oily buildup, with the added benefit of providing antiseptic properties and invigorating aromatherapy. Using this solution regularly will ensure that your phone stays clean and sanitized.

2. Clean Out Your Apps Too

It is remarkable how many apps we download and do not use, or use a few times and then completely forget. These unused apps are taking up valuable storage space on your phone though, and cleaning them out will improve your phone’s performance.

Scroll through your downloaded apps and look for those you do not use on a regular basis. On an iPhone, apps that have not been used in a while will have a cloud next to their icon on your home screen. This may be an indicator that it is time to delete them.

3. Use a Reliable Phone Case and Screen Protector

Using a reliable phone case and screen protector will protect your phone from drops, spills and other mishaps that will damage your phone. Protecting your phone with a solid case is just good sense.

Look for a case that protects against drops and is watertight. If the hard case that you choose does not have an integrated screen protector, you can buy a separate product to ensure your screen does not crack.

4. Monitor Battery-Draining Apps

Keep an eye on any new apps that you download. If you notice that your battery is suddenly running out faster than usual, the new app is most likely the culprit. Be sure that you use that app enough to warrant the drain on your battery.

The biggest battery hogs seem to be Facebook and Messenger, Snapchat, and weather apps. If you find your battery life to be a real challenge you may want to limit these apps when possible.

5. Check Your Settings

The way you use your phone can drain more of your battery life than the apps you are using. Check these settings, and make adjustments where necessary, to enable your phone’s battery to last as long as possible.

• WiFi: If you know that there is no WiFi available where you are, turn your WiFi setting to off, or set your phone to airplane mode. Allowing your phone to perpetually search for WiFi that is not there is a sure-fire way to drain your battery down to nothing before you know it.
• Brightness: Be sure your phone’s screen is set to the lowest brightness that still allows you to read the screen. Keeping the screen brightly lit takes quite a bit of battery energy and will cause your phone to die sooner than later.
• GPS: Constantly linking to GPS services is another way to drain your battery prematurely. If you are not actively relying on your GPS for a reason, toggle your GPS or location setting to “off”.
• Bluetooth: Your phone will also search non-stop for opportunities to link via Bluetooth if you leave that setting on. If you are not using Bluetooth devices toggle your setting to “off” to save your battery.

6. Run Your Updates

Be sure to run your operating system updates as soon as you get a message that they are available. Leaving the update downloaded on your phone without running it takes up quite a bit of storage and will slow your phone’s response time significantly.

Routinely check your apps for updates as well. Keeping your apps updated and running as smoothly as possible will also help your phone to operate quickly.

7. Increase Your Storage By Moving Your Pictures

Pictures take up a ton of storage space, so moving your pictures off your phone will improve how it operates. You can choose to move them to a portable hard drive, a PC, or cloud storage. Whichever storage solution you choose, your phone will be happier for it.