You probably have more than enough space on your phone to hold whatever you want. The bad news: Your phone is probably full of junk you never think to remove.
Take your photo gallery. How many duplicates, screenshots, and memes are clogging things up? Cleaning it up isn’t so bad if you have the right tools.
Then it’s time to tackle your apps. Don’t make the mistake of uninstalling apps without first deleting the associated account.
When you’re ready to start deleting, tackle these apps first:
1. QR code scanners
If you never heard of these codes before the COVID-19 pandemic, you probably recognize them now. To limit unnecessary touching, many restaurants ditched traditional menus in favor of QR, or Quick Response, codes. They’re small squares with black squiggles that wind around in a vague maze shape.
Instead of typing a URL, you can snap a photo of a QR code, and your phone takes you to the site.
If you have an iPhone running iOS 11 or newer, your phone has this feature built-in. There’s no need for a separate app. The same goes for an Android running Android 8 or later.
Trying to get your business on the top of Google Search results? It’s all in the SEO.
2. Scanner apps
When you need to scan a document, there’s no need to download a special app for that purpose.
On an iPhone:
• Open the Notes app. Create a new note by clicking the icon that looks like a square with a pen located at the screen's bottom right.
• Tap the camera icon at the bottom of your new note and select Scan Documents.
• Hold your phone over the document you want to scan. Tap the photo shutter button at the bottom of the screen.
• You can edit the image by dragging around the page corners.
• When finished, tap Save on the bottom right of your screen. Your file will save as a PDF.
You can get the job done using your camera or the Google Drive app on an Android phone. To do this using Google Drive:
• Open the Google Drive app. Tap Add in the bottom right corner.
• Tap Scan, and take a photo of the document you’d like to scan. Hit Done.
3. Facebook
How long have you had Facebook installed? If it’s been a few years, this app could be eating up a huge chunk of space on your phone. Even browsing the timeline adds temporary and cached files to your device, which consumes valuable space.
There’s an easy fix: Delete Facebook from your phone and then download it again from the App Store or Google Play Store. Ultimately, though, this is a temporary solution. The only way to stop this app from taking up space long term is to delete it permanently.
4. Flashlight apps
These apps were super popular when smartphones first came out. Nowadays, this function is built right in.
You can still find a ton of them available for download on the Google Play Store or Apple’s App Store, though. I’ll let you in on a secret: They want your data.
Many of these apps request permission to track your location, and they could even be hiding malware.
Cut off your flashlight app and trust in your phone’s natural abilities.
5. Pop the bloatware bubble
Our phones preloaded with apps we never use. This "bloatware" eats up your space and the device manufacturer locks some to make sure you can't uninstall them.
Most, though, you can remove. Stop swiping past the compass app or a music player you'll never use and uninstall it.
If you’ve got an Android, you’ve got more options for cutting the fat. There are even apps that can help you out. (You should delete those when you’re done, too.)
USA Today
