User Guide – Avoid Common iPhone User Mistakes

Are you sure, that you are doing everything right with your iPhone? Since the release of the first iPhone in 2007 a lot of typical mistakes and numerous rumors about the usage of iPhones have been built up. The opinions about the “proper” usage of iPhones can drift apart widely within the iPhone community. We will shed light on the dark and clarify, which common mistakes iPhone users make and why you should avoid these mistakes.

Close apps with the App Switcher and save battery

The assumption to save battery by using the app switcher to close apps is a widespread misconception. Even the Apple manager Craig Federighi, who has been in charge of the software development, denied this assumption recently. According to this, the forced closing of apps in the multi-tasking view has no advantages, because the background apps are put in an efficient standby mode. The manual closing of the apps will drain even more battery next time, because iOS has to load all data again.

iPhone Jailbreak

An iPhone jailbreak is handy, if you want to exempt the iPhone from the usage restrictions of the stiffed Apple operating system, iOS, so that you can download third-party apps, not available in the App Store. Thanks to the tweaks you can configure your iPhone individually and personalize it according to your needs. The disadvantage: As soon as the iPhone is jailbroken the security mechanisms are deactivated. So it will be easier accessible for hack attacks. Because of this, we recommend to avoid jailbreaks and keep security tight on your iPhone. In the meanwhile Apple has adopted some features to iOS that only had been available for jailbroken iPhones. Hence, the topic jailbreak will lose its importance in future.

Installing an antivirus app

Virus protection apps are pretty unnecessary, because of the unity of iOS, the security of the system and Apple’s strict control behavior in relation to apps. The built-in security mechanisms in Apple’s operating system are working as an automatic antivirus protection. So you can spare the installation of an additional antivirus app. Even though they promise protection for your iPhone, they have no purpose at all.

Exploiting the iPhone storage space

iPhones with a small amount of storage space are often filled with images, videos and apps until the capacity is reached. If you reached the limit, you might not be able to update your iPhone to the latest iOS version. We recommend to keep at least 10% of your storage capacity free to always have the space for updates. Open your “Settings” and go to “General”. Now go to “iPhone Storage” you can keep an eye on your available storage space.
Check iPhone storage space:
Settings → General → iPhone Storage

We have summarized gadgets that expand your storage space, if you have more problems in leaving some space on your iPhone.

Creating no backup

You usually have a lot of apps, music and photos on your iPhone, as well as personal data, information and setting configurations. Without a backup all data may be lost if you loose your iPhone, your iPhone was stolen or just a surprising mishap of any sort. Don’t make this mistake and create a backup regularly via iTunes or iCloud. This way you always have your data and information available in case you have to restore your iPhone or get a new one because of a defect or loss. If you don’t want to create a backup manually in iTunes every time, you can activate the automatic backups via iCloud in your iPhone “Settings”. Go to your Profile reading“Apple ID, iCloud, iTunes & App Store” and tap on “iCloud” now go down to “iCloud Backup” and activate the toggle next to “iCloud Backup”. 
Backup your iPhone:
Settings → Apple ID,iCloud, iTunes & App Store → iCloud → iCloud Backup → activate

Learn more about how to backup your iPhone.

(Dis-)Charging iPhone battery fully

Another popular mistake is to (dis-)charge the iPhone completely. The electrodes inside the lithium-ion battery are strained, when the battery is very low, as well as when it is fully charged. This can deteriorate the battery lifetime significantly. A battery status between 30 and 70% is recommended. Within this percentage the battery is not strained as much and has a higher amount of charging cycles in total. Generally a constant high battery level strains the lifetime and durability of the iPhone battery. Learn how to check your iPhone battery health.