How to get your Android phone in tip-top shape for 2021 – Guide
After all, our mobile Devices are where we do a lot of our real work and thinking these days, and it’s all too easy to forget the importance of keeping them in the best possible shape for productivity and safety. So as we look forward to the promising year 2021, join me in taking 10 minutes to properly tweak and prepare your own trusted Android phone for the following year. We’ll start with the most basic step.
Android Maintenance Step #1: New Year’s App Cleanup
Installing interesting and potentially useful new apps is easy – but do you know what’s considerably harder to do? Assess which apps you actually use regularly and then uninstall the ones on your phone and collecting virtual dust bunnies (however adorable they are). Lest you think this is heavy lifting for too much work, let me remind you: an occasional app cleanup is really valuable on a few different levels. First, it cleans up clutter – both in terms of the actual space an app occupies up in its limited local storage and in terms of the visual space it requires on its home screen or application drawer, where its presence makes it less fast and efficient for you to find the things you actually use and look for regularly. Also though, have unused apps on your phone can slow down your system or drain your battery as many apps run in the background at least some of the time and use it unnecessarily up your phone’s precious resources. That’s fine if they’re serving some legitimate purpose for you, of course, but when they’re not, it’s an easily avoidable waste. And finally, having apps you don’t need on your device can sometimes expose you to thorny privacy and security issues, as the apps likely had some sort of access to your data when you first installed them. Why keep that door open if it’s no longer providing any significant benefit? Fortunately, fixing all of this doesn’t take a lot of time – as long as you think about doing it. just open up the application drawer in your phone and think carefully about each item you see inside it. A good rule of thumb is that if you haven’t opened or used something in the past two months, it’s probably worth uninstalling. Those “just in case” apps that we all maintain almost never come into play and it actually takes about seven seconds to install something again if you quit up needing it. So for anything you’re not actively using, press and hold your finger over the icon – and then depending on yours. phone Android type and version, drag the icon up with your finger until you see an “Uninstall” command at the top of the screen, or look for the “Uninstall” option (or icon) in the menu that appears up. I said it wasn’t that bad, right? And our next step isn’t much harder.
Android Maintenance Step 2: Cleaning Storage
Now that you have your app list reduced and beautiful up, take a quick second to release up some additional space on your phone’s local storage. An official Google app called Files will make the process as simple as possible: just install the app, if you haven’t already, and tap the Clean tab at the bottom. This will pull up a list of contextual suggestions for cleaning cobwebs, getting rid of dirt and opening up extra space on your trusty Android companion – with one-touch commands for everything from cleaning temporary junk files to eliminating duplicates, deleting old downloaded files and removing redundant copies of images and videos you’ve already backed up up to Google Photos (assuming you are using this service). Feeling lighter already? I hope so – because now it’s time to turn our attention to some deeper, more privacy-oriented parts of our 10-minute maintenance sprint.
Android Maintenance Step 3: The Permission Tightening
Android’s permission system has come a long way over the years, and with Android 10 and 11 in particular, Google has given us much more control over exactly how apps can access sensitive areas of our data. With Android 10, we gained the ability to give apps access to our physical location only when those apps are being actively used, instead of allowing them to see them all the time, as they did before. And with Android 11, that same concept has been taken even further, with the newly added option to allow an app to access your location, camera, or microphone only on a limited, single-use basis – for a single session, on another words, and with the permission expiring as soon as you exit the app and move on to something else. But here’s the asterisk: in both cases, it’s up for you to make sure you have your permissions set. up however you want – and that’s pertinent, especially if you’re using a phone which has been updated to Android 10 or 11 (instead of coming with either out-of-the-box version). Why? Well, I’ll tell you: in any instance involving upgrade, any app you installed before the upgrade would have been given regular and unrestricted permissions in the older Android environment – and therefore would only be affected by the new, more differentiated options if you were to access manually and revisit your settings. So, do yourself a favor and do the following: And speaking of things with over-the-top access to your information…
Android Maintenance Step 4: External Access Verification
In addition to all the apps on your phone, your Google Account related information may be shared with outside companies and services that do not necessarily have a direct presence on your device – if you have granted them any access at some point in the past. So while we’re thinking about permissions and other matters, head over to this Google Account page and review the list of third-party entities that are authorized to view at least some of your account information. You’ll see lines for services that have full access to your entire Google account and everything within it, along with lines for services that can see a specific part of Google’s configuration – like your calendar, your contacts, or your email. If you see something there that you no longer use or (worse yet!) You don’t recognize it, click on it and remove access button to cut the connection and protect your data.
Android Maintenance Step 5: Device Size Reduction
In addition to apps and services that retain access to your information after you no longer use them, actual devices can remain associated with your account indefinitely once authorized. And oh yes, the start of a new year is a perfect time to do some housework and ensure that all outdated devices are disconnected and off your Google Account approved access list. This one is super easy: just open it up this Google Account page and take a look at all the devices listed there. When you see something you’re no longer using, click the three-dot menu icon inside the box and select the option to exit it. And if you find something you don’t recognize, click on the same icon and select “Don’t recognize this device” to take the appropriate action. And with that, my hominid companion, we are ready to descend on our final Android maintenance step for early 2021.
Final note
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