How to Take Care of Your Smartphone

Sometimes I get really into something and read all about it just for the sake of learning about it. Additionally, I have always been someone that takes very good care of my possessions. I have a mildly irrational fear of things breaking or malfunctioning, so I always do my best to ensure their safety and well-being. I recently got a new iPhone, and I spent a hefty amount of time perusing various articles about how to properly care for smartphones, cross-checking helpful tips, and finding answers to contradictions. What I have for you is a compilation of the most current tips I could find on how to care for newer smartphones with newer lithium-ion batteries. Please comment or let me know if you see something that you believe is way off.

Things you should do:

• Charge your phone when the battery gets to around 20%
• Unplug the charger when the battery gets to around 80 or 85% (if you need to unplug it before that's fine too)
• It's also fine to charge it for a bit whenever you want, say for 10-20 minutes
• Let the battery go down nearly all the way (around 5% perhaps) and then charge it all the way to 100% once a month to reset its cycle (the beginning of each month is a good time for this)
• Keep Wi-Fi on when it's readily available (at home or work maybe), but turn it off when you are away from wireless internet so your phone isn't straining itself searching for a network
• Turn off Bluetooth and GPS/Location Services unless you are actively using them and/or need them
• Disable background activity, background app refresh, or background updating when possible or at least for certain apps (the Siri Spotlight feature for iPhones is an example)
• Only update apps while connected to Wi-Fi
• Close apps you aren't using
• Adjust the phone's settings (like brightness, motion features, vibration, etc.) to minimize how hard the phone is working and thus maximizing performance and battery life
• Turn off your phone every so often (once a day or every two days)

Things you should not do:

• DO NOT CHARGE YOUR PHONE OVERNIGHT! Even though there are many recent reports that newer phones aren't negatively affected by this, it still puts too much strain on the battery
• Let the battery stay below 20% too often (except for once a month)
• Charge your phone all the way to 100% (except for once a month)
• Leave features on that you aren't using (Wi-Fi while out and about, Bluetooth, GPS/Location, etc.)
• Let your phone get too hot or too cold (charging it overnight heats it up, for example)
• Use your phone for every media need, such as listening to music, watching videos, etc. (if you can avoid it)
• Download and use apps that claim to increase battery life or auto kill apps — they simply make your phone work harder
• Leave your phone on all the time