Smartphones have become the most necessary tool of the modern age, and one cannot imagine a life without them. From your official documents to all your personal details, your phone keeps everything intact. One could argue that your phone is a miniature version of yourself. It’s obvious that you take good care of yourself, and if your phone is an extension of you, then it is mandatory for you to take good care of your phone as well. So here are the biggest smartphone mistakes you might make and be unaware of.

Not using a phone protector

This one is the most obvious of them all. If you are spending a hefty amount on a smartphone, then why cheap out when it comes to protecting it? Although we know that you take care of your phone like it’s your child, you can still drop it by mistake, and that mistake can burn a hole in your pocket. Imagine this: you get home from a long day of work, you get on the bed, you take out your phone and start looking at reels, your eyes are heavy, you unknowingly close them, and bang! You drop your phone straight on the hard marble flooring. Yes, we have all been there. So it’s better late than never. Invest in a good phone protector.

Downloading apps from malicious websites

This one is especially for gamers, because your installed games will now show you ads for a variety of different things in exchange for freebies such as gaming money or extra lives. As a gamer, in order to secure your loot, you tend to watch the full ad. When you see an ad for a different game and think that’s a game you’d like to play, but instead of a brand new game, you end up downloading a virus. Now you never know what kind of harm this file will do to your phone; it can slow it down or just take up a lot of space, and if you try to transfer files to your computer via USB, this virus can transfer to your computer too. So be very cautious and only download apps from reliable sources such as Google Play or the Apple Store.

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Not updating your phone regularly

In today’s day and age, we want our phone to work 24×7; we want to access it all the time, be it for official or personal reasons. So we ignore the updates and go about our lives, until one day we notice our phone has slowed down or isn’t showing certain features that we see on other phones. Now what could be the reason for that? Take a guess. It’s because you are not updating your phone regularly, and you keep stalling and wondering why your phone is not performing at its peak. It should not take more than 5 minutes to update your phone, and the smartphone companies know that the users don’t want to spend hours on updating their device, so they also make sure this process can be finished as soon as possible. So do not forget to update your device next time.

Not switching off your phone’s bluetooth

This one is kind of underrated, but believe us, a lot of people make this mistake. You may be wondering how switching off your bluetooth can harm your phone. For starters, keeping your bluetooth on can quickly drain your battery, but it can also allow people to airdrop malicious apps or malicious links on your phone. You might end up clicking on them by mistake and getting a nasty virus on your phone, which will definitely harm your phone. People who go to events like music concerts or amusement parks have reported that such things happen to them. It’s possible that this will never happen to you, but it’s better to be safe than sorry. Keep your Bluetooth off if you are not using it.

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Poor charging hygiene

Last but not least, the way you charge your phone has a lot of influence on the lifetime duration of your smartphone device. If you use an unauthorised charger, keep your phone charged for an extended period of time after it has been charged, or keep it on another electrical device, such as a UPS or CPU your computer while charging then you may experience heating issues, causing your device’s battery to bloat. These days, you cannot even change the battery of your devices because they come preinstalled, hence, it will be very difficult to come back from this damage. So make sure you use a company-approved charger and other such devices, and charge your phone regularly.

Many other factors that smartphone users frequently overlook include jailbreaking the device, using public wifi, not locking the phone with a strong password, and so on. If you use your phone while keeping all the points in mind, then it will definitely run smoothly and for a long period of time. Using cheap alternatives such as batteries or headphones can also harm your precious devices. So use your smartphone smartly and enjoy the fruits of technology responsibly.