Do you have apps on your phone that you don’t even remember downloading and can’t even remember what they’re for? Let’s get your tech life under control with these tips on how to declutter and organize your phone.
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Nowadays pretty much everyone has a smart phone. Phones have become a lifeline for most people, myself included. Your phone is how you connect with others, how you get stuff done, and how you find answers. How in the world did we survive before Google?
Have you ever had one of those days where you just look at your phone and cannot find what you’re looking for? You have so many apps and half of them you don’t even remember downloading, much less what they’re actually for.
Is your phone a hot mess? Is it full of clutter and unorganized apps?
Let’s do something about that!
Grab your phone (or save this post for later if you’re reading this on your phone) and let’s take a minute to declutter and organize your phone.
Some people have up to 100 apps on their phone, yet only use about 10 of those. That’s a lot of apps taking up space and cluttering up your phone! We clean out our homes to make them clutter-free, so why not do the same with our phones? Delete and uninstall all the apps you haven’t used in a long time. Chances are you won’t miss them. And if you do, just reinstall them!
Folders keep your phone from becoming too cluttered. Creating folders help keep things organized and looking nice and neat. I have several folders on my phone. One of them is labeled “Social Media” that I keep Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram in. These are time consuming apps and by keeping them in a folder I don’t see them as soon as I look at my phone.
Photos are a huge clutter source on your phone. We take way more photos in 2 minutes now than the whole world took in all of the 1800’s! Yes, it’s very difficult to narrow down photos to delete them, especially when it comes to photos of our kids. Delete duplicate photos and the “accident” photos. You know – the ones where you accidentally took a close-up selfie that made you look like Yoda. I back my photos up with Google Photos and once they’re backed up I delete them from my phone. This saves space and makes your phone run smoother. Use a print service like Shutterfly, Walgreens or CVS to create keepsake photo books if you wish.
Online shopping deals newsletters take up a lot of space in your inbox because they are constantly coming. Try RetailMeNot or Rakuten instead so you can check up on deals only when you are actually shopping. If you need certain emails for a particular site, update your email preferences to receive fewer emails.
Tip: Every time you get a newsletter, open it and either adjust preferences or unsubscribe. That way you won’t get overwhelmed trying to do it all at once!
Before Pinterest I bookmarked things like crazy so I wouldn’t forget them. I no longer bookmark things because I save them to Pinterest or Pocket. If you have bookmarks and use them often, organize them into folders to make things easier to find. Delete everything else.
Your downloads folder tends to take up a lot of space on your phone. Every time you download email attachments or web files they go into your “download” folder. To delete your downloads from your Android phone, launch the files app, then select “phone files”. Here you will see a list of folders; scroll down and select the “download” folder. All the files you have downloaded will be in this folder. Long pressing them gives you different options so that way you can delete them. (I’m not sure how to do this on an iPhone.)
Delete any unnecessary data by removing old texts, your call history, and voicemail. Clean up your contacts list as well by deleting duplicates and removing old contacts. Clearing the system cache will clear up space and keep your phone running smoothly.
If you’re a hard-core spring cleaner, “factory reset” your device once a year, but do so cautiously and only if you want/need a fresh start. This will allow you to only reinstall the things you actually use instead of building up clutter.
Tip: Make a list of all the content you want to keep before you start the factory reset. Double check your list!
Is your phone organized or out of control? Following the above steps will help you declutter and organize your phone.
Looking for more organizing tips? I recommend these great posts:
Bedroom Organizing Ideas That Will Work for Anyone
Organizing a Small Closet on a Budget
How to Maximize the Storage Space Under Your Bed
How to Organize Your Paperwork
My Clutter-Free Series
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These were all such good tips! Thank you for sharing.
Thank you so much!
Fantastic tips! I need to clear out some games I stopped playing and some organization apps that I downloaded and never used XD
Thank you! Enjoy decluttering!
Would love to follow your tips if only I can figure out what to do since I'm not that techie. I'm afraid to uninstall or do things to the apps, as suddenly the phone might stop working. I usually call on the younger generation to help me, but they are not patient enough to explain things.
I understand. ? The people at the store where I got my phone are very helpful with stuff like that. Maybe someone at a store like Verizon could help if you need it. ?
Thanks for this Michelle. You prompted me to delete some downloads, which was a good start. I'm really bad at deleting photos, even if they're backed up . I just don't trust the back ups sometimes ?
A good tip for emails is to use the search facility to bring up a group of emails to delete in bulk. So if you search for the word "unsubscribe" you will get a bunch of newsletters and you can get rid of them all. I have a quick skim through first though!
I also try to delete emails as soon as I have read them but I'm behind with that again ?
Marie xx
I understand about the photos. I'm like that, too with certain ones. That's a great tip about unsubscribing from emails! I didn't know that. Thank you for sharing! ?
Great advise here Michelle, I've actually started to declutter apps from my phone, feels so good to delete them out, especially those that I have not used for at least a year, if I haven't used them in a year most likely I will not and don't need it. I've never done a factory reset, great advise to keep a list. Thank you
Thank you! It does feel good to delete the unused apps and declutter. ?
These are fantastic ideas! Thank you for sharing Michelle :) I definitely need to unsubscribe from e-mails when they arrive instead of just deleting them! Creating folders sounds like a brilliant way to keep everything neat and organised too. Great post! <3 xx
Bexa | http://www.hellobexa.com
Thank you! I'm bad about letting emails back up thinking I'll look at them later. I eventually delete them anyway usually without reading them! ?
I'm really a dinosaur. I still have my landline, and use (infrequently) my flip up 'Star Trek-like' phone. One of these days maybe I'll need this advice. I am such a collector, I am sure I will collect on my phone too.
My mom still has her landline, too. I was surprised when she got a smartphone! :) I understand being a collector. Sometimes it's just too hard to get rid of certain things.
I declutter physical things ALL the time but my phone is something I tend to ignore. However I don't have an awful lot on there anyway compared to some. I always delete apps as soon as I stop using them and delete photos that I 100% don't want or need anymore!
Jenny
http;//www.jennyinneverland.com
That's great that you remember to delete apps as soon as you stop using them! Sometimes when I don't use an app for a while I completely forget to delete it. Oops.. :D
Great ideas here! I'm one for phone organisation. Folders and more folders! Must go and clear out my bookmarks and downloads though, thank you for the reminder!
Megan | https://meganelizabethlifestyle.com/
Thank you! I do love that we can put things in folders. ? Thank you for reading!
Such Great tips!
Thank you so much!