{"id":533,"date":"2019-01-11T16:16:22","date_gmt":"2019-01-11T16:16:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gmt-solutions.co.uk\/V2\/?p=533"},"modified":"2024-05-29T11:06:20","modified_gmt":"2024-05-29T10:06:20","slug":"how-to-clean-your-phone-or-tablet-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gmt-solutions.co.uk\/V2\/how-to-clean-your-phone-or-tablet-part-2\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Clean Your Phone or Tablet – Part 2"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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How did you get on with part 1?\u00a0 If you missed it, you can catch up here<\/a> and find out how to clean up your apps and app data.\u00a0 In this part, we\u2019ll be dealing with other files, mostly things that you have created.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Downloads<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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This part only applies to Android users \u2013 iPhones store files and attachments as part of the corresponding app, so hopefully you already found and cleared out any storage hungry ones.\u00a0<\/p>

If you look in your\u00a0Downloads<\/span>\u00a0folder, you\u2019ll probably find a mixture of files you meant to download, and files that were downloaded for you by a web page \u2013 I find restaurant menus in mine that I remember looking up but don\u2019t remember downloading! Along with e-mail attachments, they can add up to hundreds of MB.\u00a0 Before you start, please remember that if you downloaded a ringtone or wallpaper image, it may not be stored anywhere else on your phone, so keep those if you want to keep using them.<\/p>

To find them, use the\u00a0Downloads<\/span>,\u00a0File Manager<\/span>\u00a0or\u00a0My Files<\/span>\u00a0app on an Android, and long press on a file to select it.\u00a0 Once you\u2019ve selected one, you can tap on more, then press the bin or Delete button that appears.<\/p>

The same applies to e-mail attachments, they shouldn\u2019t be too big individually but together can add up to quite a bit.\u00a0 There are far too many e-mail apps for me to go through individually, however, so just scan through your e-mails and look for the tell-tale paperclip icon, and delete any that you don\u2019t need.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Download management on an Android<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Notes<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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If you\u2019ve got hundreds of notes, it\u2019s worth cleaning out any of those you don\u2019t use any more.\u00a0 This one is easy \u2013 just go to the\u00a0Notes<\/strong><\/b>\u00a0app on an iPhone or the\u00a0Keep Notes<\/strong><\/b>\u00a0(Google) app on an Android.\u00a0 Some Android phones will have their own apps, i.e.\u00a0Samsung Notes\/Snote<\/strong><\/b>\u00a0for Samsung phones \u2013 hopefully you\u2019ll remember which one you used as you made the notes!<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Music, Books and Podcasts<\/strong><\/b><\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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If you use a streaming app for music or podcasts, it might be set to automatically download purchases or recent podcasts.\u00a0 I\u2019m not really into podcasts but have started listening to audiobooks \u2013 I was amazed to find that the three audio books I had downloaded in Audible took up over half a gigabyte!\u00a0 I\u2019ve deleted the one I\u2019ve finished which freed up about 200MB of space \u2013 this was easily done in the Audible app.<\/p>

If you\u2019re in a WiFi or 3\/4G area then you would be able to stream your music (at least using Google Play, Spotify or Apple Music) without having the files on your phone \u2013 so you could delete the music files to save space.\u00a0 If you want to listen to your music when you\u2019re offline, you will need to keep the files though.<\/p>

It\u2019s worth checking your settings in the music and podcast apps \u2013 in Google Play Music go to\u00a0Settings<\/strong><\/b>\u00a0and scroll down to the\u00a0Downloading<\/strong><\/b>\u00a0section.\u00a0 Check whether Auto-download is switched on, and you can also empty the cache and manage your downloads while you\u2019re there.\u00a0 On an iPhone, go to\u00a0Settings ><\/strong><\/b>\u00a0General > Usage > Manage Storage > Music.<\/strong><\/b>\u00a0 You\u2019ll see the total amount of storage your music is taking up at the top right, and an\u00a0Edit<\/strong><\/b>\u00a0button above it.\u00a0 Tap\u00a0Edit<\/strong><\/b>\u00a0and you can either delete all songs using the\u00a0Delete<\/strong><\/b>\u00a0button or tap the\u00a0minus sign<\/strong><\/b>\u00a0button next to individual artists to delete them one by one.<\/p>

There are a lot of different podcast apps out there, and instructions for those should be similar to the above \u2013 if you get stuck just let us know and we\u2019ll give you a hand.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Managing music settings on Android<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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Photos and videos<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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This is usually what takes up the most space on my phone, but I recently got a new phone so it\u2019s not a great example at the moment!\u00a0 Both Androids and iPhones have options to back up your photos and videos to the cloud (Google Photos or iCloud) \u2013 which means you can delete them from your phone or tablet, but still look at them online.<\/p>

Please note \u2013 WHERE you delete the photos (at least on an Android) affects what happens to them.\u00a0 If you delete them in the Gallery app, they will be deleted from your phone but remain backed up to your Google Photos account and viewable online.\u00a0 If you delete them in the Photos app \u2013 they are removed from your phone, any other synchronised devices, and deleted from the backup as well so they will be permanently gone.<\/p>

Let\u2019s start with the straightforward \u2013 delete any photos you don\u2019t need.\u00a0 We\u2019ve all got pictures of the floor or your hand which were taken accidentally, probably a few questionable selfies, and photos of that thing you had to remember\u2026\u00a0<\/p>

Then there are other people\u2019s photos \u2013 your phone may be set to download any pictures you\u2019ve been sent in WhatsApp, Messenger, iMessage and other apps.\u00a0 You can delete photos individually in each conversation on each app \u2013 but this would be a bit time-consuming.\u00a0 I find them in my photo library, or in an images folder called WhatsApp\/Messenger\/name of app.<\/p>

If they\u2019re not showing up in your photo library, then on an Android go to\u00a0Gallery<\/strong><\/b>\u00a0or\u00a0Photos<\/strong><\/b>.\u00a0 In\u00a0Gallery<\/strong><\/b>, go to\u00a0Collections<\/strong><\/b>\u00a0(may also be called folders or albums) – in\u00a0Photos<\/strong><\/b>\u00a0press the three lines for the menu, then choose\u00a0Device Folders<\/strong><\/b>.\u00a0 You can then go into each app\u2019s folder and delete as necessary, and choose whether to synchronise those folders to your backup.<\/p>

On an iPhone, go into the app (let\u2019s say WhatsApp), go into a conversation and tap the group or contact name. You\u2019ll see a link called Media \u2013 tap this and you can delete all or selected media or documents from that conversation.\u00a0 The same thing works in Facebook Messenger but is named Shared Content.<\/p>

To get rid of iMessage photos on an iPhone, go to\u00a0Settings<\/strong><\/b>\u00a0> General > iPhone Storage<\/strong><\/b>, then scroll down and tap on\u00a0Messages<\/strong><\/b>. Tap\u00a0Review Large Attachments<\/strong><\/b>\u00a0and it will give you a list of all photos and videos attached to your messages, which you can keep or delete.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Google Photos menu<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Photos from various apps<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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iPhone Photo Stream and iCloud Photo<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Apple has two methods of sharing\/storing photos, the Photo Stream and iCloud Photo.\u00a0 I was a little confused by this as I don\u2019t have an iPhone, but it seems that a lot of iPhone users are also confused!\u00a0 You are able to use both \u2013 Photo Stream will keep photos that were taken within the last 30 days up to a maximum of 1,000 photos, and it will synchronise them to the cloud and your other devices. iCloud Photo\u00a0Library stores a high-resolution copy of your photo in the cloud and does not have a limit to the number of photos and videos. It does form part of your personal iCloud storage however, so you can reach your limit on this if you have a lot of photos.\u00a0 The handy thing about iCloud Photo Library is that you can choose to keep the original high-resolution photo in the cloud and a smaller version on your device to optimise storage space.<\/p>

Photo Stream synchronises low-resolution versions of photos from all your devices (iPhone, iPad and Mac).\u00a0 There are pros and cons to this – If you’re very short on space, turning off Photo Stream will free up some storage for you.\u00a0 Open \u00a0Settings > Photos<\/strong> and turn off My Photo Stream<\/strong>.\u00a0 However, this does mean that you won\u2019t be able to see your iPhone pictures on other devices.\u00a0<\/p>

The Apple photo issue can be quite complicated \u2013 so for more tips on backing up your pictures, there\u2019s a great article on Macworld here<\/a>.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Check your camera settings<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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To try and get the best possible image, your phone might have an HDR mode (High Dynamic Range) or Burst mode.\u00a0 When you take a picture, it takes two, sometimes three, to get the best possible quality \u2013 but you don\u2019t need to keep all three of them.\u00a0 If you check the settings in your camera app, you may be able to adjust whether it keeps all images or just the best one \u2013 and you may find quite a few duplicates you can delete in your photos.<\/p>

Burst mode is great for moving subjects, as it takes lots of pictures in rapid succession so you can choose the best or least blurry one.\u00a0 It does create a LOT of photos though, so you can probably get rid of a number of those.\u00a0 Luckily there\u2019s a shortcut to do this!\u00a0 On an Android, open Photos<\/strong>, and when you click on the set of burst images, navigate to the one you want to keep then press the burst icon<\/strong> at the bottom (two vertical lines beside an image icon).\u00a0 You can then choose to keep this image and delete the rest.\u00a0 It\u2019s very similar on an iPhone \u2013 find the set of burst images, choose Select<\/strong>, tap on the image(s) you want to keep, tap Done<\/strong>, and then \u00a0toKeep<\/strong> only 1 Favourite<\/strong>.<\/p>

If you\u2019re not sure if your phone has a burst mode, try taking a photo but keep your finger pressed on the shutter button!<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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The Ultimate Clean!<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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There\u2019s one last option to clean your phone, which I recommend doing at least once a year \u2013 the factory reset.\u00a0 It\u2019s a bit scary the first time when you\u2019re not sure if all your contacts will be restored, but I\u2019ve done it multiple times on my Androids and it does help to boost performance.<\/p>

I can\u2019t stress enough how important it is to back up your phone before you do this \u2013 otherwise you may lose the items you want to keep!\u00a0 You can find instructions for backing up on Android here and for an iPhone\/iPad here.\u00a0 It\u2019s also worth checking in your Contacts folder, whether all contacts are synchronised to the cloud (ie backed up), or stored locally (not backed up and could be lost).<\/p>

For an Android, check in Settings > Backup and reset<\/strong> whether Automatic restore<\/strong> is turned on.\u00a0 This will restore all your app settings when it reinstalls your apps.\u00a0 You may still need to choose the apps you want reinstalling from the app store, but it will check your backup for any app related data.\u00a0 If you want a complete cleanout, then turn off Automatic restore<\/strong> and the app will be installed \u201cas new\u201d.<\/p>

Once you\u2019re sure everything is safely backed up to the cloud, just go to Settings > Backup and reset<\/strong>, and tap on Factory data reset<\/strong>.\u00a0 You\u2019ll be asked if you\u2019re sure before the phone goes ahead \u2013 this can take a little while to reset and set it up again.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>

If you\u2019re an iPhone user, go to Settings\u00a0> General >\u00a0Reset<\/strong>\u00a0and then select Erase All Content and\u00a0<\/strong>Settings.\u00a0 You will need to put in your passcode, and again, the phone will ask you if you\u2019re certain you want to do that.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Other tips<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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To maximise your battery life, check your location settings and Bluetooth.\u00a0 If they\u2019re permanently turned on, and on high accuracy for location, this can drain your battery.\u00a0 ,You can also tailor which applications have access to your location, for privacy reasons \u2013 I could fill another whole blog post with my opinions on this though!<\/p>

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It\u2019s generally a good idea to turn your phone off now and then (gasp!), or restart it at least.\u00a0 If you\u2019re under 21, then yes, this is possible in case you\u2019ve never tried it!\u00a0 Smartphones are essentially tiny computers, and much as your PC needs turning off now and again, your phone can benefit from it too, to clear out the RAM and any temporary files.<\/p>

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I hope this has been useful, if you\u2019ve got any questions please post them below.\u00a0 We\u2019ll be moving on to cleaning up your PC next week, and next month you can find out which apps are essential to install on your newly cleaned up phone!<\/p>

If you missed part 1 of cleaning your phone, you can find it here.<\/a><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Reset your Android<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

How did you get on with part 1?\u00a0 If you missed it, you can catch up here and find out how to clean up your apps and app data.\u00a0 In this part, we\u2019ll be dealing with other files, mostly things that you have created. Downloads This part only applies to Android users \u2013 iPhones store […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,18],"tags":[12,13,15,11,10,9,14,16],"class_list":["post-533","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mobile-phones","category-tablets","tag-android","tag-iphone","tag-it-support","tag-mobile","tag-phone","tag-phone-cleaning","tag-spring-clean","tag-technology"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmt-solutions.co.uk\/V2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/533","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmt-solutions.co.uk\/V2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmt-solutions.co.uk\/V2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmt-solutions.co.uk\/V2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmt-solutions.co.uk\/V2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=533"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gmt-solutions.co.uk\/V2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/533\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmt-solutions.co.uk\/V2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=533"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmt-solutions.co.uk\/V2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=533"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmt-solutions.co.uk\/V2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=533"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}