Replacing a smartphone every two years is partially why billions of phones go into landfills each year. If stacked flat atop one another, that many handsets would reach farther than the ISS. But weve become accustomed to that 24-month time frame because wireless carriers often push an upgrade on biennial contracts, and many smaller phone makers only offer software support for two years. But now, with longer software commitments from major manufacturers, along with growing right-to-repair legislation, many newer phones can stay in our pockets for closer to seven trips around the sun. Heres how you can extend the lifespan of your smartphone and avoid shelling out hundreds before its absolutely necessary.How to make your smartphone last longerAmy Skorheim for EngadgetUse a caseIts a flashy move to carry a naked phone around, but the chances of a handset making it through a tumble go up dramatically when you employ extra protection. We recommend a few in our guide to iPhone cases. In my family, weve been happy with Mous cases. Though weve never subjected our phones to the brutality seen in the companys ads, I can say that these cases have seen my partners aging Samsung Galaxy through some pretty gnarly spills and I credit the cases for getting my iPhone 11 to 2025 in working condition.Take care of the built-in battery (or use a power bank)Since a phones battery is often the first thing to show signs of age, its worth it to follow recommendations for extending its lifespan. Lithium-ion batteries dont perform well in heat and you should avoid charging them if its hotter than 95 degrees doing so can degrade the battery quickly and even cause them to malfunction. Theyll tolerate cold weather better, but can get sluggish when things get too chilly.If youre storing a phone for a while, its best to do so with the battery at half charge, rather than full or empty. In fact, Li-ion cells last longer when they spend less time being either completely discharged or full thats why battery optimization features in iPhones and Pixel phones delay overnight charging to 100 percent until about an hour before you typically grab your mobile. And while its sometimes necessary to charge a battery quickly, a slower charging method when speed isnt critical will put less stress on the ionic components and help extend the cells life.But over time, any battery will eventually wear down. The cell powering my iPhone 11 can make it through a typical day, but if Im traveling, relying heavily on navigation or using the phone as a hotspot, itll need a top-off before bedtime. I have a slew of them on hand after testing for our best power banks guide and the two I grab most often are the Nimble Champ Pro, because its crazy fast and the Anker Prime because its massive and I know itll always have a charge to lend.If you really want to give your phone a new lease on life, a new internal battery could be the ticket. For Pixel phones, you can go through Googles official channel for either a walk-in or mail-in repair, you can look for an authorized repair partner or you can pick the DIY route with iFixits Pixel repair kits and instructions.For iPhones, you can start with Apples official page, go through Best Buy or other authorized third-parties, or try iFixits methods. Samsung also has an in-house option but both iFixit and Best Buy ended their repair relationships with Samsung in 2024. Depending where you go and the model of your phone, the price for a new battery and installation will likely run you between $60 and $150 still far less than ditching your handset for something brand new.Clean up your phones storageMost advice on how to declutter your phone and make it run faster centers on one thing: freeing up space. Your phones OS will likely have suggestions for clearing up storage space, like automatically offloading unused apps or deleting year-old messages. You can also do things manually by deleting any apps you dont use. Next, consider the photos and videos youre storing locally and either opt to pay for cloud storage or transfer the files to a computer or an external backup device. You can also consider getting rid of any music and movies you may have downloaded for offline use, and deleting old messages and large attachments. A good rule is to keep your storage at around 80 percent capacity. Once youve deleted and transferred what you can, restart your phone to give it a chance to clear up its temporary memory.Why you can (and should) extend the life of your smartphonePhoto by Sam Rutherford/EngadgetThe e-waste stream grows each year and doesn't do great things for human or planetary health. Smartphone companies are offering better and more consistent trade-in deals, but even some electronic recycling has its faults. Simply hanging onto a device instead of opting for a new one is the most efficient way of cutting back on a phone's environmental impact plus it'll save you money.While every giant phone maker would like you to believe that upgrading annually is critical, its worth noting that new generations of phones often bear strong resemblance to the prior years model. Engadget editors see this time and again with the countless smartphones they review theres a new button, a few new AI tricks, but the technology generally doesnt leap forward each year to create something wildly different than what came before.With only minor hardware upgrades, the more exciting new features come via over-the-air software updates. Starting with the release of the Pixel 8 in 2023, Google promised security and software updates for a full seven years. So those who buy a Pixel 9 in 2025 could still be using the same phone in 2032. Samsungs Galaxy S25 from this January has the same length of promised support. Apple hasnt made the same pledge, but when the launch of iOS 18 last year cut support for the iPhone 8 and iPhone X, both models had enjoyed around seven years of updates from launch.When Apple launched the iPhone 15, the company doubled its estimation for the handsets battery life saying a handset should retain 80 percent of the original full charge after 1,000 cycles. And Apple said the placement of the larger battery in the iPhone 16 makes replacing it easier. Overall, battery technology has improved in capacity over the years, but longevity hasnt gone up across the board, as a study by PhoneArena makes clear.More advancements in battery life spans may be on the horizon particularly as the EV industry grows, which also relies on lithium-ion cells. For now, declining battery health is usually the most noticeable issue affecting older phones. In 2023, the European Council of the European Union adopted new guidelines for battery-powered devices, which includes a mandate to allow consumers to easily remove and replace batteries. That wont go into effect until 2027, and there will be plenty of interpretation as to what easily means. But EU mandates are what made Apple finally ditch Lightning ports on iPhones in favor of USB-C, so this could eventually be a step towards (once again) having smartphones with swappable batteries.Even in the US, legislation could compel companies to make repair a better option. Right-to-repair bills were passed in 2022 in New York, Minnesota and other states. California has the strongest rule, and it even garnered Apples support. And Google has voiced its support for Oregons law. Some of these laws have already gone into effect, and will require manufacturers to do things like providing repair tools and documentation, and selling components for a number of years after the last new model for higher priced devices.Currently, a number of phones have decent repairability scores, according to the online repair community iFixit (The FairPhone 5 gets the highest marks.) It even appears Californias law is having an impact, considering that iFixit gave the iPhone 14 a repair score of 4, but the iPhone 15 and 16 gets a 7. Unfortunately, the scores for Googles Pixel 9 phones went down compared to previous models. Until more companies start making it easier to fix things ourselves, authorized repair is an option, while self-repair remains an option for the more industrious.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/how-to-make-your-smartphone-last-longer-120014817.html?src=rss