Mobile phones have become just as powerful and indispensable as fully equipped computers. In fact, we’d argue that they’re more vital than ever considering how many businesses are mobilizing their workforces.

But every piece of tech, including smartphones, becomes more difficult to manage and slows down over time. If you use a handheld device for work, a thorough cleaning every now and then can keep it and your life at peak performance. Here are a couple of things you should tidy up.

Apps

There’s an app for everything these days. One for video streaming, another for messaging colleagues, and even one for counting sheep. Downloading the odd app every now and then is no big deal, but it’s easy to fill up your phone with useless junk.

Take some time to go through your app library. Deleting ancient and unused apps is a good start, but equally important is organizing the apps you have so you can easily find them. Our advice: organize your apps based on functionality. For example, group all your social media apps on the same row (or folder), your messaging apps in another, and all the miscellaneous programs in another.

Media

Videos and music take up the most space on your device, and they’re tucked away in their respective apps.

To make some space, navigate to your phone’s general settings menu, go to storage, and select the apps you want to clear the cache or data for. You can even clear saved app data from your web browser and messaging apps. Just be warned that clearing cache data will sign you out of every service you’re currently logged into and may cause the app to forget personalized settings.

Certain streaming apps like Spotify and Netflix also have automatic download settings, so make sure they’re disabled to preserve storage space.

If you don’t want to delete any media files, however, you can move them to the cloud. Both iOS and Android users can sign up for iCloud and G Suite services, but there are other options, including Office 365 and Dropbox.

Photos

Photos are another storage hog. You can start by clearing out all the unnecessary images like screenshots, saved memes, and selfies. Modern photo apps use artificial intelligence to categorize your photos and screenshots, so this process should be easy.

Next, look through your photo library and trash any duplicated, out-of-focus, and potentially embarrassing photos. Any picture you didn’t delete should be stored in the cloud.

Contacts and messages

Another thing you should organize for the sake of your sanity is your contacts. Scrolling through 100 people you barely remember to find your mom's number is not the way our futures should look. Consider purging unused contacts and be sure to merge any duplicate contact information.

The same goes for messages. Empty your inbox, disable push notifications for distracting messaging and social media apps, and make sure to block contacts that are sending you spam. Having less to look at and manage can go a long way in increasing your productivity.

Home screen layout

Though this point has much less to do with saving storage space, it does make your phone look tidier and more professional. The first thing you can do is reduce the number of home screens you can swipe through. Consider only using two screens or pages: one for personal and entertainment apps and another for business-related and utility apps.

If you’re a true tech minimalist, you can take this a step further and delete everything on your home screen except your 10 most frequently used apps. Then, get a fresh wallpaper (preferably something simplistic).

These cleanup tips may seem tedious, but you’ll be thanking us when you have fewer apps to worry about and it’s easier to stay organized. For more tips on managing your smartphone or other devices optimally, the Red Key Solutions blog has what you need. We even help with more technical IT issues, so call us today.

Red Key is a leading Managed IT firm that is bringing AI to companies in New York City, Westchester County, Fairfield County Connecticut, California & beyond.