Most people use their smartphones on a daily basis for various functions. However, there are certain hacks that can help you get even more out of your phone, whether it’s making a custom phone case or repairing a damaged charger. Additionally, there are app genres that can provide helpful features to make your smartphone even more useful.
Fix Your Cracked Charger
One of the major drawbacks of using a smartphone is when your charger stops working due to damage or malfunctioning. The frequent issue in this case is the cracking of your charger, specifically near its ends.
By using heat shrink tubing and yarn, you can come up with a clever solution to address this issue. Firstly, wind the tubing around the damaged part of your charger. Subsequently, utilize a hairdryer to contract it in order to fit snugly. Finally, wrap the yarn around the same area to provide additional support.
Super Charge Your Phone
Most of us are aware of the main trick to speed up phone charging. It involves turning off the device while it’s plugged in so that all of the energy is focused on charging rather than running the usual functions.
There is an additional trick that you can trust. Rather than completely shutting off your smartphone, you can reduce charging time by 50% if you activate airplane mode. Additionally, it is recommended not to use your phone while it is being charged, as per the well-known advice.
Clean Your Phone with Alcohol
Since you use your phone on a daily basis and handle it frequently, it tends to accumulate a lot of germs and other impurities due to exposure, and therefore requires cleaning.
Merely wiping your phone with a dry cloth is insufficient. Therefore, employ this hack by preparing a mixture of water and isopropyl alcohol in the ratio of 80:20, which is highly effective in eliminating germs from your phone surface. Transfer the mixture to a spray bottle, generously spray your phone, and wipe it clean.
Create a DIY Phone Holder
Although smartphones are handy for providing directions and crucial details, it is crucial to avoid holding your phone while driving at all times.
It’s recommended to use a phone holder, and you can create your own using a simple trick. To make it, you only require a rubber band or hair tie. Place the rubber band/hair tie around the AC/heater’s vents and use it as an anchor to hold your phone securely on display. This will keep your phone safe while driving.
Protecting Your Smartphone from Water Damage
Water is the biggest risk factor for smartphones and many other technological devices. If exposed to moisture, your phone can easily become unusable, making wet surroundings hazardous.
Just because you’re planning to go to the pool or beach, it doesn’t imply that you can abandon your phone. A useful tip is to place your phone in a plastic sandwich bag and seal it, allowing you to use some features while keeping it safe from liquids.
Adjusting Background Data Preferences
If you are concerned about saving battery life, you may tend to focus on the apps that you frequently use. However, it’s important to be aware that background apps that continue to run when not in use can also drain your battery.
This trick recommends reducing the usage of background data to preserve your smartphone battery. You can locate the background data in your phone’s settings. Upon checking, you might discover that there are some pre-installed or unused apps running in the background.
Save Battery with Lower Brightness
Nowadays, smartphones serve more purposes than old-fashioned cell phones, and as a result, the battery life may not meet our anticipated standards.
There are various tricks that you can employ to enhance the battery life of your phone, but the simplest and most dependable measure is to minimize the brightness of your phone display. This option is usually accessible through the pull-down menu on your mobile device, but you can also locate it within your device settings.
Use Your Phone Camera’s Shutter
Although a few individuals might be familiar with this function, it is worth mentioning again as it is a useful trick for capturing many photos. Ultimately, it is an intelligent method to take advantage of.
To perform this hack, you simply have to press and hold the button while capturing an image. This will prompt your phone to capture multiple pictures instead of just one. Your phone’s capability to take up to 20 shots per second will vary depending on the model.
Restart Your Phone Thrice a Week
We tend to overlook the fact that our smartphones, despite being technological devices used for daily tasks, also require periods of rest.
To maintain the efficient performance of your phone, it is recommended to follow the suggestion provided by this hack and reboot your phone thrice a week. This will not only update your phone but also provide a rest to your apps when they reset. Adding to your routine, it will be beneficial for you.
Pen Springs and Damaged Chargers
We’ve previously talked about how a faulty charger can temporarily render a smartphone non-functional. However, there are several solutions available to rectify the situation.
This trick only requires a pen’s spring to work effectively. You can locate this particular type of spring in a pen that you click to open and close. It is essential to handle the spring with care, bend it to fit snugly over the charger’s head and then bend it back into shape. This will strengthen a weak charger.
Use Your Smartphone Cameras Appropriately
Usually, smartphones come with a pair of cameras – the front-facing and rear-facing ones. However, it’s important to note that these two cameras have different modes of operation.
Many smartphones have a front-facing camera that has an airbrush effect, which is absent in the back camera. This feature aids in making selfies look more natural. However, understanding this trick enables you to use both cameras wisely. The front camera is ideal for producing gentler images, while the back camera is more suited for capturing detailed scenes.
Save Money with Skype
Although unlimited data plans are more widely available nowadays, they are still not universal. Therefore, it is advisable to use your mobile call minutes prudently to reserve your data for when it is truly necessary.
To save on data usage without paying extra, consider forwarding some calls to Skype or Google Voice when connected to Wi-Fi. Remember to only use this method while on Wi-Fi for it to be effective.
Create an Easy Lanyard
Over time, smartphones have increased in size which has the advantage of expanding screen space and features, but it now makes it more difficult to fit them into a pocket.
Moreover, carrying your phone in your pocket can lead to unintentionally damaging it. To carry and safeguard it more effectively, you can craft a lanyard using a sheet of silicone or foam. These can be obtained from craft stores and can be easily cut to size with a traced pattern. After cutting the appropriate size, you only need to attach it to a lanyard using hot glue.
Another Use for Plastic Bags
We just looked at what a plastic sandwich bag can do to help keep your phone dry in wet environments. They hold more potential than that, though.
You can also use a plastic sandwich bag to make your flight a little more bearable. If you don’t want to hold your phone up while you watch your shows or movies on it, you can create a quick DIY phone holder to hang your phone off of the seat in front of you.
Erase Away Smudges
Getting smudges on your smartphone screen can be difficult and frustrating. They obstruct your view and they just don’t look tidy but they can seem pretty stubborn sometimes.
When you have stubborn smudges, an easy hack is to use an eraser. The best choice here is the big, pink erasers like the ones elementary school students have. You can just run it evenly over your screen to remove smudges. They work well to pick up oil and dirt from your fingers.
Use a Second Phone Number
If you have a job where you take or make a lot of calls, you might not want it linked to your personal number. On the other hand, buying an extra phone isn’t cheap.
There are apps that work as an easy hack instead. With a second phone number app, you can link another number to your phone. This way, you can make and receive calls and texts for either number. Suddenly, you have some separation within one device.
Avoid In-Game Ads
If there’s one huge downside to playing mobile games, it’s that they’re often loaded with ads. This goes double for games that are free to download and play.
You can avoid these ads by turning on Airplane Mode while you play, although this could be a problem if you need mobile data to play. To help out with this product, some phones even have a built-in hack of their own. If your phone has a “Game Mode,” turn it on to avoid in-game ads.
Use Your Phone as the Remote
Ever since TVs started to use remotes rather than panel dials, a common problem has cropped up. That is, we’ve been trying to find lost remotes for years.
You can skip this problem altogether by installing a TV remote app on your smartphone. There are a lot of options for it. On top of that, it’s a great way to centralize the devices in your home the way that smart home technology is doing as it becomes more popular.
Amplify Your Alarm
If your phone doesn’t project sound very well or if you’re just a particularly deep sleeper, your alarm may not wake you up in the morning. If this is the case, what do you do?
For this hack, all you need is a spare cup. Before you go to bed, put your smartphone in the cup with the speaker closer to the bottom of the cup. The shape of the cup and the position of the phone will work together to amplify the sound.
Improve Your Service with Airplane Mode
If there’s one thing that any smartphone needs more than anything, it’s a signal. Without a signal, your phone won’t be able to perform a lot of its basic functions.
Actually, there is an unexpected hack that you can use to help boost your phone’s signal. All you have to do is switch your phone into airplane mode and turn airplane mode back off again. This will help reset your phone’s signal search and boost its chance of discovering a local tower.
Screenshot Your Maps
Once upon a time, it was common to jump online and print off directions before apps like Google Maps became popular. Phone GPS systems made things much easier.
However, there is a downside. Especially on long road trips, using your phone GPS can drain a smartphone’s battery rather quickly. So, as an alternative, you can map out your route on an app before you go and take screenshots. This will let you swipe through directions without the same battery cost.
Improve Your Audio
The audio that phones record varies widely in variety. This can make it frustrating when you have stunning images but crackling and unreliable audio.
As counterintuitive as it sounds, this piece of advice can actually help you improve your smartphone’s audio features. For this hack, place your finger over the microphone while you take a video. This helps to muffle background noise and to help your primary audio source shine. Not to mention, it’s an easy hack to perform!
Invest in Offline Reading
Once again, while unlimited data is available now, not everyone has it. This can make reading online a costly experience if it drains your smartphone’s resources.
To counteract this, use this hack and download apps that offer offline reading. This way, you can stay up to date on any information you may need without having to jump online to read an article. For an extra boost, download these apps while you’re connected to Wi-Fi so you don’t use data there either.
Sunglasses for Better Pictures
One of the biggest complaints that users will voice about a type of smartphone is if it takes poor pictures. After all, there’s a camera installed for a reason!
You can use a pair of sunglasses as a hack to take better images. This is particularly useful if the problem you’re dealing with is a strong glare. Just hold the sunglasses so that you can aim your image through them. This reduces the strength of the light.
Android Users and Recycling Bins
If you delete something off of your computer, it doesn’t disappear right away. iOS phones also have a Recycle Bin feature to retrieve deleted data if necessary.
Android phones don’t really have this feature built-in. By downloading a Recycle Bin off of Google Play, you can hack your way around this shortfall. In addition, this will allow you to retrieve deleted data that you didn’t mean to delete in the first place, offering a failsafe just in case you need it.
Create a Phone Station
If you have a habit of losing your phone or knocking it off of your nightstand at night, you aren’t doomed to just repeat the cycle. Try this hack for keeping your phone in place instead.
All you’ll need for this hack is a strip of velcro. You can attach one side to your nightstand and the other side to your phone or phone case. This way, you can lock it into place whenever you want to.
Create a Phone Stand with Glasses
If you don’t have a phone stand or PopSocket, it can be hard to watch things on your phone while your hands are busy. So, what can you do instead?
After you learn this hack, that won’t be a problem again! Rather than investing in something new, you can grab a spare pair of glasses or sunglasses to do the trick. When you fold the glasses and place them upside down, it creates a perfect prop for your smartphone.
Quick Fixes in Your Calculator
When you’re using a physical calculator, you can look in your memory or even backspace on some to correct mistakes. Typing in long chains of numbers on your smartphone can be more complicated.
It doesn’t have to be with this hack. If you’re using an iPhone and you type in the wrong number, you don’t have to delete and start over. While there isn’t a backspace button, exactly, you can swipe back on the screen to correct your typing.
See in the Dark
When it comes to taking pictures or seeing at night, your smartphone, at its bare essentials, has a flash or flashlight. Luckily, you can upgrade it with a simple hack.
Well, that is, you can upgrade it with a hack of knowing there are apps available to help you out. When you want to see in the dark, try acquiring a night vision attachment, like this one. Then, you’ll be able to see the world in front of your phone camera as if you’re wearing night-vision goggles!
Forgetting Your Charging Block
Anymore, most phone chargers come in two pieces. This includes the main charger with a USB end and a detachable charging block that allows you to plug it into an outlet.
If you’re relying on the USB charger alone, you might find that there isn’t a charging dock in your hotel room. That doesn’t mean you’re out of luck and have to go buy one so long as you remember this hack. Check the back of the TV for a USB port!
Without Even a Touch
Our smartphones aren’t operated by keys like cell phones used to be, for the most part. Instead, smartphones rely on the use of a touch screen to use apps or answer calls.
This can pose a problem when your hands are busy. No one wants to get flour on their phone while they’re in the kitchen, right? That’s why it’s so handy that there’s an app that you can download as an easy hack to answer a phone call by just waving your hand over the screen.
Storing it Together
When you leave the house, you probably have quite a bit to keep track of. For instance, you need your wallet and your phone, maybe even a purse.
You can consolidate some of this by keeping items like cards in with your phone. With this hack, you have a few options such as keeping the cards within the phone case or on an attached carrier on the back of the case. Of course, if you’re using this hack, make sure not to lose your phone!
Easy-to-Handle Cords
While smartphones have come with a lot of changes, there’s one that you may not think of often. That is, smartphones don’t have the same spiral that home phones once did.
These cords do have the benefit of tangling less and taking up less extra space. With this hack, you can wrap your smartphone charger around a marker and run a hairdryer over it (on low heat!) so that it keeps the shape. Now, you have a manageable cord that can still stretch out fully.
Use Black Wallpaper
Have you ever noticed that when you use the dark mode of certain apps that your battery drains slower? The same is true when you have the brightness down on your phone.
This is because higher brightness – including brighter colors and shades – take more battery to display accurately. To try and save just a little more battery in everyday use, you don’t have to squint at a dimmed screen. You can also use this hack and use a solid black home screen background.
Creating an Emergency Light
When you find yourself in an emergency, creating light is important. That’s why many people reach for candles first when a storm knocks their power out.
Phone lights are useful for this but they’re also pretty harsh to look at and have a directly aimed light source. For a gentler and more general light, use this hack and place your phone on a flat surface with the lit flashlight facing up. Cover this with a glass of water or water bottle to disperse the light.
Don’t Call with Weak Signal
Calling someone while you have a weak signal seems like a no-brainer. It only makes sense since it means your call is more likely to drop.
As this hack shows, there is another reason to not make calls when you have a low signal. When you do this, your phone expends more energy on making a call. This means that you’re actually draining your battery quite a bit more when you try to make a call without the proper signal strength.
Use Your Phone to Remember Parking
This is a hack that’s aimed more at using your smartphone to make your life easier rather than altering your phone itself. Still, it’s a pretty handy hack to know.
When you’re enjoying a day out but have to park in a crowded lot, the last thing you want to do is lose your car. To save time later, snap a picture of something identifiable to tell you where to go. This could just be a label marking “Lot A” or a recognizable landmark.
Delete Messages Over Time
Smartphones have ever-expanding memories. It seems like every model that comes out holds more information for you but that doesn’t mean that memory is and will be limitless anytime soon.
There are quite a few things that you can do to increase your storage space but if you use this hack, you don’t have to put in much effort. You go into your phone’s settings and adjust how often you delete your phone messages. By using this automatic feature, you can delete old messages regularly.
In Case of Lost Phone
Losing your phone can be an anxiety-inducing experience. Many of us rely on our smartphones to maintain professional and personal contacts and complete daily tasks.
To help someone return your phone if it’s lost, change your lock screen to important contact information. This way, as soon as they open the phone, they can see who they should call when they find the phone without having to worry about the hurdle of a lock screen. Now, you just have to hope someone helpful finds it!
Find My Phone
Losing your smartphone is always a pain. We don’t just mean losing it when you’re out but even not being able to find where in the house you put it is a major inconvenience.
This particular hack for this situation is catered to Android. Android has a feature called “Find My Phone” that you can use when you need to track your phone down. It will even allow you to call the phone to ring at full volume, no matter what setting you had on.
Use Call and Reply Reminders
In the modern era, an unanswered phone call or a text left on read can have some unfortunate implications. There’s a hack that you can use to avoid this circumstance.
This particular hack is more suited to phones with a built-in feature, such as iOS phones. These types of smartphones often have an auto-reply or “Remind Me Later” feature that can prompt you to answer at a set time or send out an automated text to tell people you’ll get back to them.
Keyboard Shortcuts for Emails
Even if you don’t use your smartphone for work, you’ll probably still find yourself entering your email quite a bit. You need this for everything from logging into apps to making online purchases.
Typing your email in over and over again, though, can get tiring. You can get ahead of the game by saving any emails you might need through a keyboard shortcut on your phone. While some phones may do this automatically or over time, it’s a good thing to double-check with this hack.
Hot Glue Smartphone Case
Now that almost everyone has a smartphone, people can’t stand out as much just by phone design alone. A custom case is a great way to do this.
However, buying custom cases can be expensive. That’s why this hack is here to help – it’s a low-budget and creative alternative. To start this hack, put wax paper over the back of your phone. From there, decorate the wax paper with hot glue. When it dries, you can pull it off the wax paper.
Use Nail Polish for Phone Cases
Earlier, we took a look at how you could decorate your phone with a phone case made up only of hot glue. However, that isn’t your only option.
You can also rely on this handy hack of using nail polish to decorate your phone case. This is a great choice because nail polish is designed to dry quickly but still hold up to daily wear and tear as it does on your nails. You can even add emergency contact details with nail polish.
Don’t Tangle with Cords
One of the most inconvenient things about the accessories for a smartphone such as chargers and headphones is that they easily get tangled. They often come out of pockets as puzzles.
Not to mention, frequent tangling can also contribute to wearing down wires. To avoid this, we recommend this hack that utilizes a glasses case. When you have to travel and take your accessories on the go, put them in a glasses case rather than shoving them in a pocket for more order.
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