Blank Slate
Today I’m wiping my iPhone and starting again from scratch. I’m getting rid of all of the apps and data and only reinstalling them if and when I need them.
I’m doing this for several reasons:
Try out something new:
I haven’t used many of Apple’s own apps like Mail, Maps, Calendar for years and they have had plenty of updates since. Now is the time to give them a go, as coupled with the updates to OS X El Capitan and watchOS 2, there are some great benefits for using all of Apple’s own apps. Plus, worst case scenario, Mailbox, Google Maps, Fantastical etc., aren’t going anywhere!
Declutter:
I have apps that I keep around because I someday might, possibly, maybe use them. Many of them I haven’t used for months or years, but I keep them around as a safety net. But really they take up space and it’s time for them to go. Then, any apps I do reinstall, I know the ones I actually use.
Space-saving:
I only have a 16GB iPhone 5. It really only has about 11–12GB of available space once the OS and Apple’s apps are taken into account. This means space is at a premium and apps and their data really do take up large percentages of its available space. For example, I’m a massive fan of podcasts and keeping several hour-long podcasts in Overcast often goes over 2GB itself!
Faster:
I really does ‘feel’ as though an iPhone with more free space in its flash storage does run faster. There have been times when Overcast has auto-downloaded some podcasts and the device is virtually unusable as its free space drops to 150MB. Hopefully this will make this a little bit quicker.
Fresh start:
I’ve just installed the iOS 9.1 beta, and it will be good to start from scratch and see if I can cope with iOS 9 on this device for a while before I upgrade to a newer device. I’m also testing the Zombies, Run! beta software, and that has a lot of audio files which take up space too, just like Overcast. To be able to do this properly, I have to be able to have enough space for it.
You can see what I learned from wiping my iPhone here:
Originally published on 11 September 2015 at www.dcxiii.com.
