How to clean up your phone: storage, apps and permissions

Most phones pick up clutter the way a kitchen drawer does. Apps you downloaded once for a car park. A game the grandchildren played. A torch app that, for some reason, wanted your location. Each one is a small door left open: it can collect data, send you adverts, and ask for permissions it doesn't need.

This is a one-hour spring clean, done in plain English, for iPhone and Android. Nothing here needs technical knowledge, and nothing here deletes your photos, messages or contacts. At the end there's a short bit on cleaning the phone itself, the way Apple and Google say to.

Step 1: Update the phone first

Updates fix security holes, so start here. It's the single most useful thing on this list.

iPhone

1. Open Settings, tap General, then Software Update.
2. If an update is waiting, tap Download and Install.
3. While you're there, tap Automatic Updates and turn on Automatically Install. Your iPhone will then update overnight while it's charging on Wi-Fi.

Android

1. Open Settings, tap System, then Software update (on a Pixel it may say Software updates).
2. Follow the steps on screen if an update is available.

Then update your apps. On Android, open the Play Store, tap your profile picture (top right), tap Manage apps and device, and under “Updates available” tap Update all. On iPhone, apps update themselves as long as automatic app updates are switched on in the App Store settings.

One honest note: phones stop getting security updates eventually. Our guide on how long your Pixel gets updates explains how to check.

Step 2: Delete the apps you don't use

Scroll through every screen and ask of each app: have I opened this in the last three months? If not, it goes. You can always download it again later, usually without paying twice.

iPhone

1. Touch and hold the app on the Home Screen.
2. Tap Remove App, then Delete App. (Choosing Remove from Home Screen only hides it; the app is still there.)

Android

1. Open Settings, then Apps (tap See all apps if needed).
2. Tap the app, then Uninstall.

Step 3: Take back the permissions you gave away

Every app asks for permission the first time it wants your location, camera, microphone or contacts. Most of us tapped “Allow” years ago and forgot. Here's how to review them all in one place.

iPhone

1. Open Settings and tap Privacy & Security.
2. Tap Location Services and go through the list. Most apps only need “While Using the App”, and many need “Never”.
3. Go back and do the same for Camera, Microphone, Contacts and Photos. Turn access off for any app that doesn't obviously need it.
4. Tap Tracking. To stop every app asking to track you across other companies' apps and websites, turn off Allow Apps to Request to Track.

Apple also has a guided version called Safety Check (Settings › Privacy & Security › Safety Check). Its “Manage Sharing & Access” option walks you through the people and apps you share with, one screen at a time.

Android

1. Open Settings, tap Security and privacy, then Privacy, then Permission manager.
2. Tap a permission, such as Location, Camera or Microphone, and change any app that shouldn't have it to Don't allow.
3. For apps you rarely use, open the app in Settings › Apps and turn on Pause app activity if unused. Android will then take its permissions back if you leave it alone for a while.

A good rule of thumb: a torch doesn't need your location, a game doesn't need your contacts, and hardly anything needs your microphone. When you see the green or orange dot at the top of an iPhone screen, that's the camera or microphone in use.

Step 4: Check which apps are connected to your accounts

When you tap “Sign in with Google” or “Sign in with Apple” on a website or app, it gets a link to your account. Those links stay until you remove them.

• Google account: visit myaccount.google.com/linkedapps, look through each list, tap an app you no longer use and remove its connection. Removing “Sign in with Google” doesn't delete your account on that app; it just stops the automatic sign-in.
• Apple account: on your iPhone, open Settings, tap your name, then Sign in with Apple. Tap any app you're done with and tap Delete.

Step 5: Clear out storage

A full phone runs slowly and can struggle to install updates, which brings us back to Step 1.

• iPhone: go to Settings › General › iPhone Storage to see what's taking up space. You can also go to Settings › Apps › App Store and turn on Offload Unused Apps: when you're low on space, the iPhone removes apps you don't use but keeps their data, so you can reinstall them later with one tap.
• Android: go to Settings › Storage › Free up space and work through the categories. Downloads and old videos are usually the big ones.

Before you delete any photos to make room, make sure they're backed up somewhere you trust.

Step 6: Clean the phone itself, safely

Phones get handled all day, so give them a proper wipe now and again. Apple and Google give the same sensible advice:

• Unplug it first, and use a soft, lint-free cloth (not kitchen roll or a towel).
• To disinfect, a 70% isopropyl alcohol wipe is fine on the screen and the hard outside surfaces. Ordinary household disinfecting wipes are OK too.
• Don't use bleach, don't spray anything straight onto the phone, and don't let moisture get into the charging port or other openings.
• Wipe gently. Scrubbing a screen doesn't clean it any better.

How often should you do this?

Updates: let them happen automatically. The rest, every few months is plenty. Put a reminder in your calendar for the change of the clocks in spring and autumn, and you'll never have much to do.

If you're doing this for a child's phone, our parents' guide to locking down a phone goes further, with time limits and app approvals. And if you'd like to stop your phone reporting back to Google altogether, our free de-Google guide shows you how.