This is your complete guide to the best iPhone care tips that will maximize its lifespan. Like a car, there is routine maintenance you should perform so that you can save money — not actively, but in the long term. Spending a little time and energy now will save you from more costly repairs and replacements later on.

Instead of making your phone an invincible piece of technology, proper maintenance is more about spending your 2 year contract not hating your phone. You will still want to upgrade eventually, but it is more a question of whether you will do it on your own schedule or when the your battery is shot. You could be forced to sign another contract because your phone is broken and you don’t want to shell out money to fix it.

Following these simple iPhone care tips for maintenance will allow you the freedom to upgrade when it makes the most sense for you. When you do upgrade, you can also sell your old phone for the highest amount possible. This could mean huge savings in the long run. The higher the quality of your phone, the more money you’ll get back when you sell it and Orchard offers the most money for your used iPhone.

iPhone Care Tips

Daily Tips for Charging

• Charge wisely: It’s a good idea to keep your battery between 50% and 80% charged. Running it too low or too high will gradually damage your battery. Draining the battery to zero and then charging to 100% does nothing to save your long-term battery life, it’s a common myth. Don’t worry about leaving it plugged in when it’s fully charged. Your phone is smart enough to prevent any damage to the battery.

Bad battery life is usually the biggest concern people have about their phone. A battery replacement starts at $99 through Apple, while third party providers might not offer high quality repairs.

• Keep it cool: Running a phone when it’s too hot can damage the insides. If your phone feels hot to the touch, take off your case, put it down, and let it cool off for a bit. While heat isn’t good for your phone, neither is cold weather. Sudden cold can cause your iPhone battery to run out. Apple’s says an iOS device should run between 0ºC and 35ºC. Ensure your iPhone is within this range to extend the lifetime of your battery.

Monthly Cleaning

• Clean the exterior: First turn your iPhone off. Use a soft lint-free cloth to wipe away the dirt and fingerprints. It’s okay to use a slightly damp cloth, but don’t use aerosol sprays, solvents, or abrasives. Avoid getting moisture into any of the openings and never spray a cleaner directly on the phone.

• Inside the case: Even if you use a case, dirt can get between the case and your iPhone which can cause damage to the exterior. A tiny amount of dirt will actually wear away bits of the exterior over time, damaging your phone from inside the protective case.

Even though your phone might work fine, the cosmetic condition has a big impact on its value. At Orchard, a well kept phone is worth $110 more than one with a lot of physical imperfections.

• Clean the ports: Gently insert a toothpick or use canned air to avoid a build up of debris in the headphone jack and charging port connections. Over time, dirt in these ports can cause poor charging and audio connections. Taking the care to clean them regularly will save you from problems later. Just avoid using any metal tools as these could damage the port connections.

A lot of people bring their phone in for service, complaining that their battery isn’t charging or sound is not coming from their headphones. Repair shops, e.g. iRepair, might charge up to $80 for dealing with these problems, though it’s only a matter of cleaning to sort it out. 

Monthly Tips for Data Management

• Free up space: Try to keep around 10% of your total storage space and memory cleared up on your phone. Just like on your computer, some apps need that space to work fastest. iOS automatically clears memory when your device has less than 1 GB of available storage. Your phone might become slow and sluggish before this even occurs.

• Clean storage: Go through and delete any unused apps, clean out your deleted photos, or move some things to your iCloud, Dropbox or Google Drive.

• Clear memory: Press and hold the power button until “Slide to Power Off” appears. Instead of swiping, press and hold the Home button. After a few seconds you’ll return to the Home screen and the memory will be cleared.

You can find out how much free space you have left by following: Settings > General > Storage & iCloud Usage > Manage Storage. Here, you can see the size of each app. Selecting an app reveals the additional “Documents & Data” associated with it.

iPhone Troubleshooting

• Reboot regularly: Your iPhone is a complex piece of hardware, which runs a full operating system. Like a computer, it will benefit from regular rebooting to reset any wonky or frozen apps. To fully reboot your phone, hold down the home and sleep buttons until the Apple logo appears. You should notice your phone runs more smoothly after a reboot.

You may already be in a situation where these iPhone care tips can’t save your phone, but don’t stress out. Orchard can help you get connected again, offering to buy or sell your used iPhone.