In 2024, it feels like we’re collectively addicted to our smartphones more than ever, doesn’t it? While most of us wouldn’t trade these devices for anything in the world, we would still appreciate a less cluttered smartphone experience. From removing unused apps to tips and strategies for making your phone’s operating system more streamlined (and everything in between), you’ll find countless ways to make your phone far less cluttered. Let’s dive in!
1. Remove Unnecessary Apps
It doesn’t get any more straight word than this: immediately delete unnecessary or underused apps. It’s common sense. By eliminating apps you only use once in a blue moon, you’ll streamline your app screen, ultimately making it easier to navigate. I’ll lead by example: I don’t need three different car rental apps on my phone. Goodbye, Hertz, and National Car Rental; from now on, I will consider myself exclusively an Enterprise app-using renter!
You’ll be surprised at how many apps you can erase from your phone without thinking twice. What are you waiting for? The decluttering process starts now.
2. Decrease Icon and Text Size
I get it; larger fonts and icons are easier to read, and if you have poor eyesight, smartphone viewing accessibility is a priority. However, if you have perfect vision or are relatively young, clean up your smartphone interface by decreasing the icon and font size! Smaller and sharper visuals naturally lend themselves to a less cluttered design.
When somebody complains that their smartphone is too cluttered, I laugh when they show me their screen and see the most ridiculous and oversized font size ever! Fortunately, it’s an easy fix.
3. Choose Wallpaper Carefully
Like larger font and icon sizes, sometimes we can only blame ourselves if our smartphone feels like a convoluted, cluttered mess. Choosing your home screen and lock screen wallpaper is a relatively mindless process; if you’re anything like me, you select a photo of your girlfriend (to score brownie points) or an utterly random picture of no significance. However, your wallpaper selection can lead to your phone feeling cluttered!
Assigning a busy, bright, and complex wallpaper doesn’t do you any favors. Choose a home screen wallpaper that is clean, modern, and non-distracting. Making little adjustments like this will make your time spent on your smartphone less frantic and more relaxed.
4. Hide as Many Apps as Possible
If you’re too scared to cut ties with the embarrassing number of random apps you’ve installed on your phone over the years, you have another option: you can hide them! Once only an option for Android users, Apple has enabled this feature in iPhones. If permanently deleting an app is too permanent for you, hiding individual apps will do the trick.
The upside to this strategy is that making those hidden apps visible again can be done in just a few taps. I suggest going berserk and hiding as many as you can muster!
5. Organize Apps into Groups
In the early days of smartphones, users were forced to suffer through an endlessly scrollable screen filled with every app they’ve ever downloaded. It was overwhelming, to say the least! Fortunately, in 2024, that isn’t the case any longer.
Start organizing your apps into groups. Create a “Finance” folder on your home screen and throw all your money-centric apps into that group. Do the same for fitness, entertainment, and social media apps. Before you know it, your smartphone will feel like a closet after spring cleaning: it will be organized and far more manageable!
6. Embrace Home Screen Minimalism
Who says a home screen needs to be filled with anything? Although my app drawer is a different story, the home screen on my Samsung Galaxy smartphone is shockingly minimalistic. Aside from a small weather widget and five unlabeled app icons running down the side of the screen, there’s nothing else there!
Embrace home screen minimalism; I’m telling you, it’s a game-changer. Stop throwing humongous weather widgets, endless icons, and tacky wallpaper around like they don’t matter. They matter, and it’s time you were a little more mindful about what goes on your home screen.
7. Disable YouTube Smart Downloads
If you’re a YouTube addict (and who isn’t these days), the app may download suggested videos to your phone’s storage without you knowing. Check your YouTube settings and disable “smart downloads.” Doing so will prevent YouTube’s algorithm from quickly filling up your phone storage with endless videos.
While watching YouTube videos offline is a feature reserved for YouTube Premium subscribers, the smart download feature carelessly invades your phone’s storage and contributes to clutter. It’s best to turn this feature off for peace of mind.
8. Utilize Cloud Storage
It’s 2024; why are so many people afraid of saving their photos, documents, and other data to the cloud?
Whether you use iCloud or Google Drive for storage, there’s no need to use your phone to store this digital data; the cloud is secure. We’re ten years removed from the infamous Apple iCloud hacks that leaked countless private celebrity photos online. By not using your phone’s internal storage for photos and other settings, you’re setting yourself up for a much more uncluttered user experience.
9. Stop Taking So Many Screenshots
I have a confession to make. I take entirely too many screenshots. Do I ever use them after I take the initial screen capture? I do not. Do I take screenshots multiple times per day? You betcha.
It’s time to lead by example and vow to stop taking so many screenshots. I have an addiction, and I’m prepared to make a positive change in my smartphone habits. Think of all the clutter these screenshots contribute to daily! I wish there was a way to disable the screenshot feature entirely, but alas, that kind of information is far beyond my pay grade.
10. Stream All Music
Suppose you’re still listening to albums and songs you’ve physically downloaded to your phone. In that case, I heartily encourage you to begin living in the present. Streaming services are all the rage in 2024, and they present a clutter-free listening experience that is far more enjoyable than what we all grew up on.
Take your pick: Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music, Tidal, and a handful of other music streaming services are here to be literal music to your ears. I wonder why you hate convenient entertainment if you have yet to jump on the music-streaming train! There’s plenty of room to hop on!
11. Delete the Amazon App
Wishlists, shopping carts, notifications, and endless ads are prime examples of clutter we encounter daily as smartphone users. Coincidentally, all of these are found in one app: Amazon. You know what to do: it’s time to delete the Amazon app from your phone!
I know it sounds crazy, but deleting the app (or hiding it from view if you lack the willpower to permanently remove it) has additional benefits besides eliminating clutter from your smartphone. Most notably, you won’t succumb to impulse shopping as often, leading to valuable savings over time. If you must shop on Amazon, access the site through your desktop computer instead of your phone.
12. Regularly Reset Your Smartphone
We all remember being told to periodically restart our computers back in the day to maintain optimum performance. As it turns out, modern smartphones are similar to the PCs of yesteryear.
Don’t be shy; a simple restart once a week can do wonders. Data-intensive portions of your phone, like temporary app storage and data caches, can fill up over time; restarting your phone clears these out. If you want to go crazy, I recommend wiping your smartphone completely every six months; a fresh reset will make your phone feel brand new!
13. Don’t Keep Photos on Your Phone
Some people stubbornly keep all photos on their phones, hogging up storage and contributing to an overly-cluttered interface.
Don’t keep photos on your phone. I’m not advocating deleting photos entirely after taking them. Instead, utilize your smartphone’s cloud storage capabilities and purge your pictures monthly. Doing so will keep your phone running efficiently. In addition, it will prevent clutter everywhere, from your photo app to your storage system.
14. Keep Software Updated
Bizarrely, my girlfriend ignores every Apple iOS update on her iPhone until it’s forced on her. Her rationale is simple: she doesn’t think her iPhone needs an update and is afraid she’ll lose valuable data.
It’s time to put those worries aside; your data is safe with all phone software updates (Android devices included). Remember, these software updates are vital to the continued secure operation of your smartphone, and most updates contain critical security patches and revisions that you need to keep your data safe.
15. Use Your Phone Less
Here’s a free lesson: put down your phone and (as the kids say these days) touch grass. Go outside. Meet up with friends. Catch up with someone over the phone (wait, never mind). The best way to keep your smartphone clutter-free is to use it less. It makes sense, right?
By keeping it on a table, away from your obsessed hands, you’ll be unable to contribute to the neverending parade of clutter. As an added bonus, using your phone less will help declutter your mind. It’s a win-win situation!
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