You know how it is, you depend on certain tools to go about your ministry: your bike, your attaché case, … your phone! (Don’t leave home without it!)

If you haven’t stopped to take care of this important tool, make some time soon to start new charging habits or to clean up your apps; your phone will serve you efficiently for a longer time. I’ll post about the different things you could and should do for your phone and tablet in this Love Your Phone series so you can make “byte-size” changes. The series includes previous posts I’ve written.

The following post will give you a general idea so you could start now if you want to. More specifics will be coming…

Love Your Phone: Love Your Battery

This is one of the key tips: manage your battery well. After you read this post, why not head over to Gizmodo’s How to Take Care of Your Smartphone Battery the Right Way and start changing the way you charge your battery (and other advice).

One thing I would add to that article is if you notice your phone gets warm when charging, try taking off your phone cover. You want to avoid heat in order to prolong your battery’s life.

I used to let my phone go down below 22% or lower and charge it to 100%. Something I’ve done recently is charging my phone in the 30 to 90% range.  Years ago, I stopped charging overnight. I know these two ideas might not be practical for you with your schedule and lifestyle, but what else could you do to prolong your battery’s (and your phone’s) life?

I highly recommend  you install the Battery Doctor app on your phone and tablet to help you.

• Android / Google Play
• Apple iTunes

Love Your Phone: Disconnect

I upgraded my phone in February and noticed how short my battery life seemed to be. I checked to see what default settings might be using the battery. I don’t need bluetooth, wi-fi, or GPS to be on continually, for instance. I turned these off and only turn them on when I need them.

This step will look differently for you than it did for me. It’s very likely you don’t need your GPS on all the time, but maybe if you’re prone to misplacing your phone, you may want to keep this feature on and download an app like Lookout to help you find your phone. Another easy step for you could be to disconnect your wi-fi and just turn it on to check in a few times during the day instead of having a continual drain on your battery.

Recently, I took off the Weather Channel app I had installed because it was constantly running when I actually use my desktop to check the weather. I removed my Fitbit app as well; I don’t need to use their bluetooth feature with my phone, instead I use Strava when I want to map a new walking or biking route.

TIP: Fitbit Flex tracks my movements. Strava tracks my new routes with GPS on my phone. Fitness Syncer syncs them together for me to check on a dashboard on my computer. Since I tend to use the same routes, I know how many miles I’m walking by checking my saved routes.

Love Your Phone: Put It on a Diet

I checked yesterday, and my phone came with more than three wallpaper options and an app, talkback, for visually impaired users and a HTML viewer app to see the HTML code behind a website. I didn’t need any of these and uninstalled them.

Love Your Phone: as a Group

• passwords and encryption
• locate lost device
• lock and remote wipe
• policies for using roaming and other charges

Love Your Phone: Coming Soon

Please comment to let me know the topics you’re interested in for this series for phones and tablets.

I already included these topics in the series: apps and security issues for photos.

NOTES:

• This post is part of the Love Your Phone series for phones and tablets.
• I love this photo of the Italian priest on the phone from Wikimedia Commons.