Spring-cleaning your home is a great way to start fresh and feel the rebirth of the new season after a long winter. While it is certainly helpful to spring-clean your house and perhaps your vehicle, yourgadgets can also use a refresh. Spring-cleaning your tablet can help it perform faster by freeing up extra space.
Plus, physically cleaning your tablet and accessories can prolong the lifespan and make it that much easier to see through a clean,smudge-free screenand debris-free Magic Keyboard.
Spring cleaning: How to make your laptop feel like new again
Laptops are easy to clutter with unnecessary apps and files, but with the right knowledge, you may clean them up, digitally and physically.
We compiled our best tips on how to clean your iPad or other tablet and how to clean up your tablet to free up storage for faster performance.
Free up internal storage and memory to breathe new life into an old device
Many new tech releases come out in the spring, so it can be tempting to buy the latest iPad or Android tablet, but if you need to save a few bucks and want to spend your money on another tech upgrade, you may give your current tableta good refresh.
Here are some tips for improving the performance of your iPad or tablet:
Delete apps from your home screen
The easiest place to start freeing up storage on an iPad or tablet is by deleting unused apps.
How to delete an app from your home screen:
Remove large apps
You may be surprised by how much storage a single app can take up, especially games with HD graphics. I like to do an audit of all the apps downloaded on my iPad and remove any that I haven’t used recently.
One tip I suggest if you aren’t sure how often you use the app or how much internal storage an iPad app is taking up, is to actually look into the used and unused storage on your iPad or tablet.
Continue reviewing all of your apps until you have cleared out the ones that you are not using frequently or that are eating up a significant amount of storage.
How to see available storage and which apps use the most storage:
When you tap on the app listing, you will see various options such as Documents and Data, Offload app, or Delete app. For apps that you haven’t used in a long time, you can offload or delete the app.
After you make your selection for an app, hit theback arrowto return to the iPad storage list. Continue reviewing all of your apps until you have cleared out the ones that you are not using frequently or that are eating up a significant amount of storage. Remember, you’re able to always re-download an app from the app store if you decide you need it again.
Clear your cached data
Another good way to free up some excess storage is toclear your cached data.Most of the cached data comes from information saved when you visit a website for the first time. Clearing this data will free up some storage in the short term, but will rebound as soon as you use an app or website for the first time again.
However, I still recommend doing this periodically because it is a good way to improve theprivacy of your personal information.
To clear your Safari or Chrome cache, follow these steps:
You can follow the same steps for Chrome.
Remove photos and videos
Almost everyone loves taking photos and videos. But, before you know it, the endless pictures of your cat lounging in the sun or daily videos of your baby growing up can eat up a significant amount of storage on your tablet or device.
One important thing to keep in mind is that when you delete a photo or video from your Camera Roll, it doesn’t immediately free up space because these files are moved to the Camera Roll trash for 30 days. You have to manually empty the trash to actually remove the photos.
To remove your deleted photos and videos, follow these steps:
you may enable cloud storage for your photos and videos. This means that your photos and videos will automatically be saved to your iCloud account, which uses your Apple ID.
Here is how to enable cloud storage with iCloud on an iPad:
Close extra website tabs
Most people are surprised at how many tabs they have opened on Safari or Chrome. These tabs can use up working memory and slow the performance of your iPad or tablet.
To close unnecessary tabs, follow these steps:
All you need is a microfiber cloth
In addition to freeing up storage, you should manually clean your iPad and accessories as part of your tablet spring-cleaning. Wiping down the screen will clear smudges and oil residue that builds up from your fingers. Moreover, removing debris from an attached keyboard can prevent getting sticky keys.
You clean the inside and outside your tablet case similarly. Use compressed air to get all the debris along the inner edges of the case. If you have a Magic Keyboard, you can use a microfiber cloth with a little bit of 70% isopropyl alcohol. Be gentle on the keys and wipe down the front and back. I use compressed air to loosen any dirt or debris under the keys.
To clean your Apple Pencil or tablet stylus, use a microfiber cloth with a tiny bit of water. Hold the pencil at the far end and drag the cloth from the tip to the far end. Do not wipe the Apple Pencil tip itself or the USB connector.
How to clean your TV, monitor, and laptop displays the right way
There’s nothing more distracting than a pesky smudge on your screen. Here’s how to clean your TV, PC monitor, or laptop display the correct way.
Physically cleaning your deviceand freeing up storage by offloading apps and photos is a great way to refresh an old tablet. I also suggest using this time to check the app store for one or two new productivity apps that might help you make better use of your time on your device or streamline your processes.
What is Apple iCloud+, how much does it cost, and what’s included?
Apple released an upgrade to its iCloud paid subscription service with iOS 15. That upgrade is called iCloud+ (or iCloud Plus).
