Getting Your Smartphone Ready for the Colder Months

Most people only open their phone settings when something goes wrong, and in a prairie winter that moment tends to arrive at the worst time: a cold parking lot, a delayed bus, a dead screen. Mid autumn is quieter. The days are still mild enough to sit at the kitchen table, put the kettle on and go through the phone without any pressure.

In our Smartphones Made Simple lessons we set aside a short session each season for exactly this kind of tidy-up. It is not a technical overhaul. It is a handful of small checks that take perhaps half an hour in total, done at your own speed, and that make the next few months noticeably calmer.

Think of it the way you might think of changing the tires or checking the furnace filter. Nobody enjoys it much, but nobody regrets it when the first cold snap arrives.

Cold air makes a phone battery behave oddly. A phone that showed half a charge in your warm kitchen may switch itself off within minutes once you are outside walking to the car. The charge is not lost; the battery simply struggles to deliver power when it is chilly, and it usually recovers once the phone warms up again.

The practical habit is to keep the phone in an inside pocket close to your body rather than in a coat pocket or a cold car. Avoid charging it right after it has come in from a very cold place; let it sit for a few minutes first.

It also helps to look at the battery settings. Most phones have a low power mode that dims the screen and pauses background activity. Practise turning it on and off now, so you know where it is before you need it.

• Keep the phone close to your body when outdoors
• Carry a small charging cable in your bag
• Learn where low power mode lives in your settings
• Let a cold phone warm up before charging

Autumn and early winter fill a phone quickly. Harvest dinners, grandchildren in costumes, family gatherings and the first snowfall all mean photos and short videos, and a phone with no space left will refuse to take any of them just when you want them most.

Start by opening the storage page in your settings. It shows what is using the room, and the answer is nearly always photos, videos and old messaging attachments. Delete blurry duplicates and screenshots you no longer need. Many phones keep deleted photos for a while in a recently deleted folder, so empty that too.

If you want to keep the good pictures, ask a family member or a classmate to help you copy them to a computer or a backup service you trust. We practise this step together in class, because it is easier the first time with someone beside you.

Winter driving and walking make a phone's map and weather apps far more useful. Before the roads turn icy, practise searching for an address, choosing between walking, driving and transit, and reading the estimated time. A familiar route is a good place to test, because you already know whether the answer makes sense.

Try saving the places you visit often, such as the clinic, the pharmacy and a relative's house, so they are one tap away. Also learn how to share your location with one trusted person for a particular trip. It is optional, it can be switched off, and many of our learners find it reassuring on long drives.

The weather app deserves a few minutes too. Add your own town, and look at the hourly view as well as the daily one.

• Save three or four places you visit often
• Practise a route you already know well
• Add your town to the weather app

Short days and icy sidewalks mean more time indoors, and the phone becomes a main way to stay in touch. Autumn is a good moment to make sure messages, calls and video calls work smoothly with the people you care about, before the long evenings set in.

Check that your contacts are up to date and that the people you call most are easy to find, perhaps marked as favourites. Test a video call with a family member while there is no urgency, so you know where the camera button sits and whether the sound works.

Also take a moment to look at notification settings. A phone that buzzes constantly is tiring, while one that is silent may hide a message from a grandchild. Choose which apps may interrupt you, and silence the rest.

You do not need to do everything in one sitting. Pick one item each day over a week, and stop whenever it stops being pleasant. The aim is a phone that feels familiar and ready, not a perfect one.

Update the phone's software while you are on home wifi and the battery is well charged, since updates sometimes take a while. Review your passcode or fingerprint settings and make sure you can remember the code without looking at a note taped to the back.

Finally, write down the few things you tried and what was still confusing. Bring that list to a lesson or to a family member who can help. A short list of honest questions is the best way to learn something new.

• Update software on home wifi
• Check storage and delete what you do not need
• Test a video call with someone you trust
• Keep a short list of questions for later