Are you committing common iPhone “sins” that are costing you battery power, data, and possibly even putting you at risk for viruses? Don’t feel too bad — you can figure out what those mistakes are today and correct them so that your phone works faster, more efficiently, and is as safe as possible. Payette Forward identified no fewer than nine common iPhone mistakes, including a tip for 5G users.
Here’s what you need to know to stay safe.
Turning Off Find My iPhone
If you can’t find your iPhone, some insurance plans like Apple+ will not cover your loss. One of the best settings that can help is Find My iPhone, but it won’t do an ounce of good if you have it disabled. Go to Settings > tap on your name > Tap “Find my” and then tap “Find My iPhone” and make sure it’s turned on.
Allowing Apps To Track You
Some apps should track you — GPS, for example, needs to track your location in order to function the way you expect it to. But the majority of your apps do not need to know where you are at all times (often so that they can use that information to push third-party ads onto you). Go to Settings > Privacy > Tracking. Here you’ll see a list of apps that can track you. Disable the ones that you don’t want tracking your every move.
Not Canceling Subscriptions
You know all of those “free trials” you signed up for various apps weeks ago? Well, if you’re not paying attention, those trials turn into costly monthly or yearly subscriptions fast. Make sure you cancel any subscriptions you don’t want by heading over the the home screen of your phone, tapping on your name, and then tapping on Subscriptions. Here you’ll see a list of active subscriptions on your phone. Tap on the ones that don’t serve you and cancel to save money.
Allowing Apps To Access Your Location
Similar to the previous tip, allowing any old app to access your location is a possible privacy risk. And some can see your location even when you’re not using the app. Go to Settings > Location Services > and now adjust which apps you want to “always” have access to your location, and which you want to turn off completely (never) or only allow access to your location when you’re using the app (like navigation apps).
Leaving Too Many Tabs Open In Safari
How may tabs do you currently have open in your Safari browser? There’s a way to control how many tabs you have open in your settings. Go to Settings > tap on Safari > scroll down and search for closed tabs. Tap on that and select whether you want to close tabs manually, after one day, after one week, or after one month.
Leaving Background App Refresh On
Background App Refresh is a very convenient setting to have for certain apps, like Messages, because it allows new content to be refreshed constantly. If this is important to you, keep it on for only the apps that need it. But leaving Background App Refresh enabled for all apps is simply a waste of battery resources. Go to Settings > General > Background App Refresh. Now you can go through your list of apps and decide for yourself which apps you want to keep enabled or disable.
