How to Prolong the Life of Your Smartphone

Whether you have an iPhone or an Android, you probably spent hundreds of dollars on your phone. Many devices seem like they are only made to last two years or so. That’s an incredibly short life span for such an expensive investment. Luckily, there are ways to extend the life of your phone. By following these tips, you could get an extra year (or three) out of your smartphone.

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Protect Your Screen

A broken screen can make your phone almost impossible to use, and it can lead to other damage. Use a tempered glass screen protector to save you the time and trouble of a cracked phone. You can get a package of glass screen protectors for about $5 to $10. Replacing your phone’s screen could cost you up to $100. A cracked screen could also shorten the life of your phone by making it more susceptible to water damage.

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Delete Unneeded Apps

Many people replace their phones when they start running too slowly. Often, phones can become bogged down because they don’t have enough storage space left. Look through your phone’s apps and delete anything you don’t use. Image files take up a lot of space, so look through your pictures and delete or transfer any you don’t need to have on your phone. Cloud storage services like Shutterfly can be set up to automatically transfer photos to their storage and delete them from your phone. We also recommend using cloud storage for music and documents on your phone to save on storage space.

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Invest in a Quality Case

A good phone case can make all the difference. You will drop your phone at some point, and when that happens, you need to have a case on it that can cushion the fall, protecting the electronic components inside. A case with a lip around the front of the phone will also offer an extra layer of screen protection.

Some of the best cases are a bit pricey, but they are way less than the price of a new phone. If you shop around you can find imitations of high-end cases that are almost as good, for a lot less money. To be effective, a case should include a soft rubber cushioning skin and a hard outer shell. The shell alone will not provide the shock absorption necessary to protect your phone.

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Think Before You Update

If you have an old phone, you might be happy that the manufacturer is still sending out updates, but you should think twice before tapping ‘install.’ After two generations, software updates can do more harm than good. The updates are being made primarily for newer models that probably have more efficient processors and more storage space. Putting that fancy software on an old model isn’t a good idea. Instead of improving your phone, it will probably just bog it down.

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Take Care of Your Battery

A battery that won’t hold a charge is one of the most common reasons for replacing a phone. There are a lot of myths out there about phone batteries. For instance, you can’t overcharge your battery by leaving it plugged in for too long.

If you let your battery get very low before charging it, you’ll put more wear and tear on the battery and dramatically shorten its life. Experts recommend charging your phone when it’s at 75%. Charging it for a few minutes a few times a day is much better than running the battery all the way down and then charging it back up to 100%.

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Buy Insurance

Even if you’ve taken all the necessary precautions to protect your phone, there are still things that could go wrong. It’s not unheard of for a phone to experience a fatal software bug, and even the best case can’t protect against a really hard fall. If you are covered with insurance, you’ll be able to get your phone replaced for a small fraction of what it would cost you to go out and buy a new device on your own. Insurance will protect your pocketbook and keep you from having to live without a phone for more than a few days.