With everything–including phones–becoming more expensive, people are holding into their current phones longer before needing an upgrade. In a study back in 2019, the majority of users around the world would keep their phones for two years before needing an upgrade. With the improvement of technology, a phone can actually last as long as 5 years, though users may notice problems in the third year. It’s possible to make your phone last longer than the average 3 years–as long as you follow all the possible tips to keep them in top condition.
Aside from myself, I’ve known people who use the same phone for more than 3 years (not just iPhone users, mind you) and they barely have any major issues with their daily drivers.
5 Best Tips to Make Your Phone Last Longer
- Keep your phone’s exterior clean
- Declutter your storage
- Mind your charging habits
- Update your phone’s software
- Back up your phone data regularly
Keep your phone’s exterior clean
Regardless if you use a case for your phone or not, you should give it some TLC once in a while by cleaning the exterior. Phones accumulate grime with daily use, which can accumulate so much that they hinder the phone’s performance. If you don’t believe us, check out this video on how an iPhone is professionally cleaned–you’d be mindblown to know how much debris can accumulate in your phone over the course of time.
Aside from having an unsightly appearance, not cleaning your phone once in a while can lead to consequences like charging issues, bad speaker or microphone quality, or stiff buttons. Cleaning your phone is not that hard: just wipe it with a microfiber cloth (or wipes) that has 70% isopropyl alcohol. For hard-to-reach areas like charging ports and speakers, use a toothpick or cotton buds to gently dislodge any stuck debris.
Declutter your storage
Even if your phone has large storage (most phones nowadays have at least 128GB), they tend to slow down if you fill up the internal storage full to the brim. Ideally, you would like to have at least 30% of free space (or around 38GB if your phone has 128GB storage) to keep your phone running smoothly. This is also important if your phone makes use of RAM expansion, where it allocates part of your internal storage as RAM.
To declutter, you simply just check what photos or videos you don’t need on the phone, or what apps are eating up space that you no longer use. Unless they have sentimental value to you, it’s best to transfer your files from your phone to an external drive or cloud storage.
Mind your charging habits
Batteries are one of the most important components inside your phone, and taking good care of them should help you make your phone last longer. With the current technology for batteries, it’s possible to make them last as long as 5 years before they will need a replacement.
Keeping your battery healthy boils down to how you charge your phone: one of the key tips includes not charging your phone in extreme temperature conditions, avoiding using processor-heavy apps when charging, and keeping an adequate charge to your battery at all times. In case your battery dies earlier than usual (ie less than 2 years), you may opt to just replace the battery as a cost-effective option–over buying a new phone when your current one is still good.
Update your phone’s software
One of the major improvements by brands recently is that they have expanded their software support across the majority of their products. While the standard is 3 years (which is usually 2 major  Android updates and 3 years of security updates), some are pushing for 5 years–or maybe as much as 6 years if you’re using an iPhone.
Updating your phone’s software is important, as they usually patch any bugs and fixes in order to keep your phone running smoothly–on top of potentially adding new features and keeping your phone safe from potential malware. Make sure to do research before installing that new update–there are cases that it’s better to hold off, especially if the brand has to fix some bugs with it.
Back up your phone data regularly
One of the things that’s hard to avoid are software glitches, and these can either lead you to reinstall the problematic app–or need to completely format your phone and give it a fresh slate. To save you the hassle, it’s wise to regularly back up your phone’s important once in a while.
There are many ways to back up your phone–through your computer, or through cloud services like iCloud (for iOS) or Google Drive (for Android). You don’t need to literally back up everything–just prioritize things like your messages, contacts, WiFi/network settings, and saved passwords. Having a backup means you can get your phone up and running quickly in the event that you need to reformat it due to a software glitch.
That wraps up our tips on how to make your phone last longer without needing to buy a new one every year or so. Are there other tips that you’d like to recommend as well? Do let us know!
