Phones age like bananas, or relationships.
Our culture pressures us to spend money on the latest and greatest (phone, not banana).
you’re free to fight it.
Delete apps
Too many apps slow down your phone by running in the background.
Clear out the ones you dont use.
A useful way to do this is to sort them roughly by when you last remember using them.
Clear up hard drive space
Older phones come with less storage space.
If you find yourself frequently bumping against the storage limit, this might be slowing your phone down.
First delete (or move off your phone) all the apps and files that you dont use.
Especially video files and long or high-quality audio filesthat means music and podcasts.
Delete all the bad takes from your photos.
If you store a lot of your streaming music and video locally, move some back to streaming mode.
Maybe,maybe, andvery carefully, do a factory reset and fresh install of everything on your phone.
You will still inevitably lose something this way, like saved game progress.
Upgrade some hardware
Fix and replace
Your phone cant feel new if its physically busted.
But only visit authorized repair shops that you’re free to verify through third parties.
Many cheap unauthorized shops will install janky parts, like a new screen that stops working within days.
Better to live with a cracked screen than to ruin the whole phone at a shop you dont trust.
Answer their questions honestly and theres some chance theyll help you out.
It feels great to just sit your phone down on a stand instead of hunting for a plug.
Plus it gives you fewer chances to accidentally jam the plug in the wrong way and break something.
Remember to pick not just based on looks, but also on thickness and texture.
Get a light and thin case that makes your phone physicallyfeelnew.
Not like a very secure cement brick.
Get one with a pocket if thats your thing.
Orand this really is stupid but it worked for meremove the case youve been using.
This is especially liberating if you carry your phone in your pocket.
It will appear as a different gadget and may scratch that itch and buy you a couple more months.
Rearrange your apps by category, or color, or icon theme.
Sort everything into folders.
Leave just four apps on your home screen.
Switch everything to dark mode.
Increase your text size so everythings readable; decrease your text size so your screen feels bigger.
Dig through your configs
Know what rules?
Poke around the parameters for a while and youll probably find some capability you didnt know your phone had.
This only sounds dumb until the first time that it works.
Jailbreak
Android users have a lot more customization and prefs options.
But iPhone users canjailbreak, a risky but exciting process for freeing your phone of Apples many software restrictions.
Some day you will need to buy a new phone.
Today does not have to be that day.
But it can be the day you made your old phone new again.
