Page 13 - 2106

(Continued from page 12) ing apps are notorious for this kind of bloat because
they store versions of the original media inside them.
loquialism at this point, but the idea that a large Other apps like social networks will continually build
quantity of apps and data prevent us from effective- up stored data until you go in and clean them out pe-
ly finding and utilizing utilities that are actually useful riodically.
becomes painfully apparent when scrolling through
page after page of superfluous downloads. And the Going into Settings > General > iPhone Storage will
underlying mechanism for keeping them around also give you a running tally of how much space each
likely touches on the brain’s ability to create illogical, app is taking up. Clicking into a specific app will tell
emotional attachments to things we think we might you how much storage is dedicated to the app itself,
need later. Breaking the connection is hard, but has and how much is dedicated to the documents and
tangible benefits. data it has accumulated. Selecting “offload app” will
remove the application, but keep the data so you can
While cleaning up your apps will make your phone
more appealing to use and look at, it can also make
it more secure. Old apps that no longer get updates
or that you haven’t updated in some time because
you never use them can harbor serious security

flaws. Those are mostly edge cases, but imagine
how bad it would feel to endure a hack because of a
novelty sound effects app you downloaded to rag on
your friends.

See what apps you really use re-install it later and pick up where you left off.
A quick flick through your apps will likely reveal a
few old zombies that you haven’t opened in months For Android users, the process is slightly different.
or years. That app you downloaded to sync up to a Try going to Settings, Apps & notifications, and then
camera you lost on vacation two years ago? That App info to see a list of your apps and their sizes.
app that shows you what your face would look like if
you were an old man, which was fun for about three Delete the apps that track you the most
minutes and then you never used it again? They
can go. The year 2008 was a different time for app users.
Most people didn’t consider the fact that a simple
The iPhone has an automated way to kill apps that flashlight app or a powerful social network might do
you don’t use anymore when it needs to free up everything in its power to try and track you and gather
space on your device. Go to settings > General > up enough information to create a Westworld-style
iPhone Storage and it will give you an option called robot in your likeness. Now, of course, we know how
“Offload Unused Apps,” which automatically deletes naive that sounds.
apps you don’t use regularly, but saves the docu-
ments and data that go with them. As a true app Unfortunately, there’s no dead-simple way to find out
slob, I discovered that this option would save me what kind of tracking apps are performing as you tap
more than 23 GB. away. Going into the Settings page in iOS will give
you a running list of all the apps you have on your
Find the apps hogging your storage phone, and simple indicators about which aspects of
Some apps take up a lot of space all on their own. your device they can access. It’s a good practice to
Games with fancy graphics like PUBG, for instance, go in and turn off location access—or at least switch it
can claim gigabytes worth of space on your built-in to “while using the app” to prevent it from keeping
storage. Some smaller apps, however, will grow as tabs on your location at all times. (A subsequent ver-
they accumulate data. Photo, video, and audio edit- (Continued on page 14)

June 2021 13