4 tips to extend the life of your smartphone

Having a smartphone is expensive, and when you allow yourself this pleasure, you want to keep it for several years. Here are 4 tips to extend the life of your phone. Zoom.

At a time when (almost) every individual on this planet has a smartphone and where major electronic brands unveil a new version of their phone with each new season, it is sometimes difficult not to sink into the consumer society. According to an INSEE report established in 2021, “94% of French people aged 15-29 own a smartphone”. Despite this certain enthusiasm for new technologies, the environmental impact of this type of telephone is not enviable.

And for good reason: according to ADEME, the ecological transition agency, a smartphone will travel around the world four times before being in the hands of the consumer and its happy owner. Furthermore, the materials used to assemble a smartphone are very polluting (plastic, synthetics, etc.). Result: it is essential to extend the lifespan of its smartphone to avoid having to repurchase one every year. The good news is that by adopting a few habits such as optimizing the battery, protecting the screen or regularly updating your operating system, it is possible to limit your environmental impact and the production of electronic waste.

So, how can you finally use your smartphone responsibly? Here are the actions to adopt immediately!

Smartphone: the 4 actions to adopt for responsible use

It often takes just a few small actions to change everything. And this also applies to using your smartphone. Among the actions that really make a difference in terms of responsible use, we note:

• Battery optimization: to keep your phone's battery in good health, you avoid unnecessary full charges, you use energy saving mode, you reduce the brightness of your device, you limit energy-consuming applications.
• Screen protection: to extend the life of your phone, you must first of all protect it. How ? By adding a screen protector, a solid shell and preventing bumps and drops.
• Updates: they are essential for the long life of your smartphone. It is advisable to update the operating system regularly. This helps improve the performance and security of the phone.
• Sorting through your phone: certain applications, photos or other content take up space and consume energy unnecessarily. So, it is advisable to uninstall unnecessary applications to free up memory and reduce power consumption.

Smartphone: repair as a second life

You have the impression that your mobile phone is working less well than when it started and you are thinking of changing it? Before buying a new smartphone, go through the repair box. A few changes can often give a second life to your phone. In addition to limiting your expenses, repairing your smartphone, rather than repurchasing it, helps reduce electronic waste, save money and thus extend the life of the smartphone.

For this, there are many independent repairers, or the after-sales services of the brands. The ideal is to find out about the repairability index of your smartphone. Since 2021, repairers have been required to communicate on the repairability index of a device. This consists of giving a score out of 10 in order to “inform the consumer about the more or less repairable nature of their purchases”, as indicated by Économie.gouv. A good way to know if it is worth the cost to repair it or not and to often limit a new purchase. Bouygues Telecom's WeFix store allows consumers to have their smartphone repaired and give them a new lease of life.

Initiatives from manufacturers and traders

The good news is that today there are many initiatives carried out by manufacturers to allow consumers to extend the life of their devices. Most offer take-back and recycling programs.

Bouygues Telecoma telephony giant, offers its customers the opportunity to take back their old smartphone. Which can offer significant savings. Devices are completely cleaned and 100% of personal data removed. After tests and repairs, each device will find a second life with a new user and will avoid the emission of 50kg of CO2 compared to the purchase of a new phone. A good gesture for the wallet and the planet. On the manufacturers' side, more and more efforts are being made to use recycled and biosourced materials.
You will have understood that to extend the life of your smartphone, you must adopt the right actions on a daily basis, such as screen protection, battery saving, updates. Before saying goodbye to your smartphone, you can also give it a second life by repairing it or opting for refurbished devices. Having a smartphone and reducing your environmental impact is possible! The proof…