Most smartphones released in the past few years have cameras that are good enough and solid battery life and can still perform the necessary functions of a more expensive phone, like surf the web, stream movies and music and provide access to the latest apps. Most of the time, you don’t really need a new phone.
So, if you’re perfectly happy with the one you own, even if it’s a couple of years old, here’s how you can keep it running as long as possible
Apply software updates
Make sure you’re always running the latest software. Updates are usually issued to fix security problems, squash software bugs and improve performance. I’ve heard complaints about some older phones, usually about four years in age, slowing down with the latest software, but sometimes that’s the trade-off for making sure you have all of the latest features introduced by Google’s Android or Apple. At this point, it might be worth considering an upgrade, but until then, keep applying regular updates.
You can update an iPhone by going to Settings > General > Software Update. It varies on different Android phones, but typically you should be able to find it in Settings > System > Advanced > Software Update.
Free up space
Another reason people usually tell me they need a new phone: They’re running out of space. I have an entire guide on how to free up space on your iPhone, but here are a few more tips.
Pictures and videos can hog a ton, so consider using Google Photos or Apple Photos, which back up your pictures and videos to the cloud and let you free up loads of space on your phone.
Apple Photos is free until you use up 5GB of your iCloud storage, after which plans start at 99 cents per month for 50GB of storage. Google Photos has free unlimited storage, but lowers the quality of your photos. If you want to upload full high-quality images and run out of your free 15GB of Google One storage, consider buying more. Google One plans start at $1.99/month for 100GB of storage.
Maybe your battery life seems to be worse than it used to be. This could be the case, and I’ll address getting a new battery in the next step. But sometimes it’s just an app that’s eating more than its fair share of your power. To find out what’s using your battery life, do this.
On an iPhone:
- Open Settings
- Tap Battery.
- Scroll down.
- See the “Battery Usage by App” section.
- Remove apps you don’t need that are eating a lot of battery, or limit how often you use them.
It varies on Android by phone, but try this:
- Open Settings.
- Tap Battery.
- Tap the menu icon on the top-right.
- Choose “Battery Usage.”
- See which apps are using the most battery and either remove them or limit how much you’re using those apps.
