For iPhone enthusiasts, the device is a double-edged sword; it’s indispensable for work yet can be the biggest distraction. Thankfully, strategies exist to leverage your iPhone’s functionality, ensuring you stay on track. We’ll help you improve your iPhone organization and increase your productivity.
How to Organize Your Phone for Productivity?
1. Turn on Do Not Disturb
Time management expert Anna Dearmon Kornick swears by the iPhone’s Do Not Disturb function to keep distractions at bay. “The great thing about Do Not Disturb is that it syncs with my laptop, so I’m not interrupted by notifications there either,” she remarks.
Do Not Disturb stands out from Airplane Mode, which cuts off all cellular and Wi-Fi connections; it gives you the flexibility to permit some notifications. Kornick points out this selective connectivity is what lends it an edge for focused work.
2. Declutter
Our smartphones have become repositories for an assortment of free and inexpensive applications, daily deals, and featured apps of the week, which span across numerous screens, consume valuable memory, and hinder the performance of our devices. It’s wise to designate a day each month as ‘declutter day’ to eliminate unused or unnecessary apps, including those you’ve purchased. Keep in mind that any app you’ve downloaded is stored on your computer and in the cloud, allowing you to re-download it without incurring additional costs.
In between cleanings, you can use Apple cleaner. The cleaning picture app helps you remove duplicate photos in a couple of screen taps, even if they are not identical, but very similar. Everyone chooses for themselves how to clean up your phone, but the automatic method wins in terms of efficiency of time spent. It is enough to run Phone Cleaner – CleanUp App once every 3-4 days and your smartphone will not accumulate garbage. For less active users, once a week is enough.
3. Enable the One-handed Keyboard
Your smartphone often becomes a repository for an eclectic mix of free apps, daily deals, and weekly highlights. With each addition, they pile up, consuming valuable storage and diminishing your device’s performance. Make it a routine to designate one day each month as your ‘Digital Cleanup Day,’—a day set aside for decluttering your phone by deleting unnecessary apps, including those you’ve purchased. Keep in mind that once you download an app, it’s saved not just on your device but also on your computer and in the cloud. This means you can always re-download any app without having to repurchase it.
4. Use the Notes App to Scan Documents
Laura Vanderkam, the writer behind “Tranquility by Tuesday,” shares a productivity hack for those swamped with paper forms requiring manual signatures—enabling you to bypass the hassle of scanners and printers. With your iPhone’s Notes app, swiftly transform any document into a PDF and dispatch it via email directly.
Here’s a step-by-step guide to digitizing documents on your iPhone:
- Launch the Notes app and either choose an existing note or start a fresh one.
- To scan the document, hit the camera icon located in Notes and ensure your document is positioned within the camera’s viewfinder.
- If your camera is set to Auto Mode, it will automatically scan the document. Otherwise, hit the Shutter button to manually scan.
5. Set up Text Replacement
Here’s a productivity hack that has proven indispensable to me. The iOS feature that allows for the creation of text replacement shortcuts significantly expedites your typing experience. These shortcuts could be a mixture of characters or symbols that represent the words or phrases you find yourself typing out time and time again.
Take this scenario, which I’ve personally encountered: I frequently discussed technology featuring edge-to-edge screens. Typing “edge-to-edge” with proper hyphenation became a cumbersome task on my iPhone. That’s when I decided to set up a text shortcut. By assigning “e2e” as my shortcut, the iOS system now knows to automatically convert this string into “edge-to-edge” whenever I input it.
6. Set up Reminders
Investing a few minutes to input reminders not only safeguards against slipping schedules but also nurtures a serene mental state, freeing you from the anxiety of possibly dropping the ball on pivotal tasks or meetings. A well-set reminder system is a lifeline for organization and focus, which lays down the groundwork for regular breaks to stave off exhaustion and keep you refreshed.
Setting It All Up Is a Breeze:
- Launch the ‘Reminders’ app, and hit `New Reminder`.
- Enter your task’s specifics in the ‘Title’ and ‘Notes’ sections.
- Hit `Date and Time` to select deadlines. Add a photo if it serves as a good cue by tapping the `Photos` button.
- With `Location Services` activated, get savvy with location-based alerts, choosing to be reminded upon entering or exiting an area.
Conclusion
Implement these strategies for arranging your iPhone to enhance efficiency and minimize stress. Keep in mind, success lies in devising a tailor-made system and periodically refining it to suit evolving needs.