A clean phone will run faster
Keeping your smartphone clean is one thing, but making sure it’s spick and span on the inside is important, too. In light of this, we’ve got a few handy tips to make sure you’re getting the most from your smartphone.
A clean phone will have more storage space
Getting rid of old, unused apps will free up space for your all important snaps and tunes, while closing down the things you’re not using will keep your phone running smoothly and extend battery life.
But, did you know that there are hidden files in your phone? They’re pretty small (sometimes called orphan files), and if not addressed they can accumulate and eventually take up a chunk of your storage.
Look out for search history (or cached data), Facebook comments and likes, SMS conversations, usernames – that sort of stuff.
If you’re an Android user, we’d recommend you check out CCleaner (pictured below), which is available from the Google Play Store for free. It’s designed to sweep up all the rubbish inside your phone, and hopefully give you some more room to play with. It’s quick and easy to use, and doesn’t take up much room itself.
There might also be some apps on your phone that were installed when you got it – apps you never use.
Some of them will need to stay to make sure things continue to run as they should, but others can be binned if you think they’re taking up too much space and you’re not getting any use from them.

A clean phone is a private phone
If you’re looking to trade in your phone for a shiny new one, it’s important to make sure it’s totally wiped before you hand it over. This means that your personal data will remain personal when the phone is gone.
But, you can go one step further to ensure your privacy. Go to your phone’s settings and look for the encryption option – it’ll most probably be under the security settings.
Encrypting your phone before wiping it means that even if some whizz kid gets a hold of your phone after you’ve handed it over, they won’t be able to glean any information from your old accounts. This is really important if you use things like banking apps or PayPal.
If you have anything to add, drop us a comment below.