I want less apps (among other things). Is there an app for that?
October 12, 2015 1:31 PM Subscribe
I need an app to help me organize my folders on my phone and help me know which to delete (I'm an app hoarder who is certain they'll all come in handy) . I remember on PC having a program that broke down how often I used each app and how much space it took up. Stuff like that. Mass deleting the apps that aren't necessary and organizing the ones I want to keep are all things I'd like to be able to do - What's the best app for this?
What anonymisc said - this question needs clarification.
On the iPhone, at least, running iOS 9, you can try Settings -> General -> Storage and iCloud Usage -> Manage storage. That will show you a ranked list of what apps are consuming space and how much, so that you can assign priorities for deletion.
(For example, I expected Music and Photos to top my list - no surprise - but had no idea until I looked this up for you that Vizzywig was using 3 GB on my phone for some long ago video project. Huh.)
posted by RedOrGreen at 1:51 PM on October 12, 2015 [1 favorite]
On the iPhone, at least, running iOS 9, you can try Settings -> General -> Storage and iCloud Usage -> Manage storage. That will show you a ranked list of what apps are consuming space and how much, so that you can assign priorities for deletion.
(For example, I expected Music and Photos to top my list - no surprise - but had no idea until I looked this up for you that Vizzywig was using 3 GB on my phone for some long ago video project. Huh.)
posted by RedOrGreen at 1:51 PM on October 12, 2015 [1 favorite]
I don't know about other phones, but on iOS I don't believe apps have the ability to even find out what other apps are installed, never mind collect statistics about them, or move them around on the home screen.
However, on the Settings -> Battery page, you can see how much you've used them in the last 24 hours or last 7 days (tap the clock icon to see actual screen time instead of just power usage). Additionally unless you explicitly use it to close things, the app switcher will have all the apps you've ever run, sorted from most recent to least recently used. Just double press the home button.
posted by aubilenon at 2:13 PM on October 12, 2015 [1 favorite]
However, on the Settings -> Battery page, you can see how much you've used them in the last 24 hours or last 7 days (tap the clock icon to see actual screen time instead of just power usage). Additionally unless you explicitly use it to close things, the app switcher will have all the apps you've ever run, sorted from most recent to least recently used. Just double press the home button.
posted by aubilenon at 2:13 PM on October 12, 2015 [1 favorite]
Best answer: I read this article from Lifehacker a million years ago, and I've used that folder naming system ever since.
All of my apps, except for the half a dozen on my home screen go into folders, which start on my second screen.
Right now, I've got Count, Create, Eat, Exercise, Learn, Listen, Meditate, Play, Read, Shop, Socialize, Travel and Watch.
And, being an apple guy, the only folder that goes against this convention is my "Unused" folder, which contains a great many of iOS's standard apps and lives at the very end, on it's own page.
My recommendation would be that you do the same, and any app that doesn't go into a folder, gets deleted.
posted by Major Matt Mason Dixon at 2:41 PM on October 12, 2015 [2 favorites]
All of my apps, except for the half a dozen on my home screen go into folders, which start on my second screen.
Right now, I've got Count, Create, Eat, Exercise, Learn, Listen, Meditate, Play, Read, Shop, Socialize, Travel and Watch.
And, being an apple guy, the only folder that goes against this convention is my "Unused" folder, which contains a great many of iOS's standard apps and lives at the very end, on it's own page.
My recommendation would be that you do the same, and any app that doesn't go into a folder, gets deleted.
posted by Major Matt Mason Dixon at 2:41 PM on October 12, 2015 [2 favorites]
Response by poster: Sorry, iOS on iPhone 6. Thanks a lot for your answers so far! I hope this is close enough to my original question but is there a good photo deletion app? They usually present lookalike photos for deletion but I have no idea what they're called. I'm guessing that would help some with my space as well. Thanks again and if my answer changes your answer please let me know.
posted by jitterbug perfume at 8:31 PM on October 12, 2015
posted by jitterbug perfume at 8:31 PM on October 12, 2015
When it comes to photos, I recommend having your phone download them to your Dropbox.
If you don't have a dropbox, I would get one! It comes with 2GB of space for free.
My own process goes like this:
1) Take photo
2) Connect phone to computer, or, open dropbox app on phone
3) Photos are duplicated into Camera Downloads folder on Dropbox.
4) Delete photos on phone, open up some space
And the photos are always there in your Dropbox folder.
Hope this helps!
posted by Major Matt Mason Dixon at 4:32 AM on October 13, 2015
If you don't have a dropbox, I would get one! It comes with 2GB of space for free.
My own process goes like this:
1) Take photo
2) Connect phone to computer, or, open dropbox app on phone
3) Photos are duplicated into Camera Downloads folder on Dropbox.
4) Delete photos on phone, open up some space
And the photos are always there in your Dropbox folder.
Hope this helps!
posted by Major Matt Mason Dixon at 4:32 AM on October 13, 2015
Response by poster: I checked and the thing taking up the most battery is my home & lock screen - is that normal? Is there a way to reduce that?
Major Matt - I don't think Dropbox has an option to display photos that are very similar to one another for deletion. Or does it?
Thanks again. Last update!
posted by jitterbug perfume at 7:48 AM on October 13, 2015
Major Matt - I don't think Dropbox has an option to display photos that are very similar to one another for deletion. Or does it?
Thanks again. Last update!
posted by jitterbug perfume at 7:48 AM on October 13, 2015
Photo deletion: I've heard good things about Flic. Currently free, so it couldn't hurt to try.
Home and Lock screen consuming most power is perfectly normal. (Oddly enough, I just checked and it comes in 9th on my list, maybe because Touch ID is *so* much faster now that I hardly see the lock screen any longer?)
posted by RedOrGreen at 9:11 AM on October 13, 2015
Home and Lock screen consuming most power is perfectly normal. (Oddly enough, I just checked and it comes in 9th on my list, maybe because Touch ID is *so* much faster now that I hardly see the lock screen any longer?)
posted by RedOrGreen at 9:11 AM on October 13, 2015
Home and Lock Screen is only about 6% of my power usage, but then I haven't spent any time recently sifting through all my old apps and organizing and deciding what to delete or not. Plus I have spent a bunch of time looking things up and navigating and reading tweets and playing games. In the last 7 days the Home and Lock Screen has actually been on screen for me 34 minutes.
However, looking at this more carefully, I realize that the battery usage page is not helpful for determining which apps have been run in the last week - anything that uses less than 1% of your battery is simply not shown. Using the App Switcher I can find a bunch of things that I didn't use much but I did run that aren't on the list. Like I used the calculator a little bit. So I rescind the battery usage suggestion. I stand by the other suggestion though: the app switcher does show all the apps you've used (that you haven't closed with the app switcher), in order of how recently you've used them.
posted by aubilenon at 10:25 AM on October 13, 2015
However, looking at this more carefully, I realize that the battery usage page is not helpful for determining which apps have been run in the last week - anything that uses less than 1% of your battery is simply not shown. Using the App Switcher I can find a bunch of things that I didn't use much but I did run that aren't on the list. Like I used the calculator a little bit. So I rescind the battery usage suggestion. I stand by the other suggestion though: the app switcher does show all the apps you've used (that you haven't closed with the app switcher), in order of how recently you've used them.
posted by aubilenon at 10:25 AM on October 13, 2015
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by anonymisc at 1:42 PM on October 12, 2015