I had various ideas of what I intended to get through on Monday morning while the 4-year-old was at preschool. But when I attempted to charge my iPhone, it refused to charge. Like, not just via the charging port, which I already knew was broken. My handy flat chargers (which you can rest the phone on) were no longer working either. I’m not sure what happened, as I’d been able to charge the phone overnight. But something just gave up the ghost. I was one draining battery away from being completely phone-less.
I knew my phone had been living on borrowed time. It’s an XS, purchased (I believe) at the very end of 2018 or beginning of 2019 — making it 5.5 years old. That’s a lot in phone years! I kind of liked the idea of stretching out its useful life. I’d been able to solve some earlier annoying problems (a good cleaning helped) and the flat chargers had bought me another 5 months or so. But this seemed like a harbinger of the end. Like, the very-soon-to-come end.
So I drove over to the Apple store to purchase a new iPhone 15 Pro. Very exciting. I figured it would be relatively easy to switch over with my Apple ID. But when we went to do that, it turned out that the automatic back-ups on my phone were turned off. I don’t remember doing this but obviously I must have. Who knew when it had last been updated. We started a back-up, but the store people helpfully told me that if the battery was under 50 percent that could be problematic. (I am not entirely sure why, but that made me rue that I had been scrolling while waiting for a sales person to help me! I was just under…)
So we jerry-rigged a charging set up where if you held a plug into the port at an angle and pushed, it would charge. So I was stuck at the table holding it as I started the back-up… and then the time remaining estimate kept going up and up (I guess I have a lot of photos…). At first I thought I could finish it there, but I needed to get to preschool to pick up the 4-year-old at noon. Also, a contractor came to get in the house while I was gone (I had thought this would be a 30-minute errand, not a 90 minute one!). Sigh.
Anyway, eventually I had to leave and abandon the project. I got to the preschool a little late and fetched my son with both phones still in transition. I had a brief moment of realizing how much my phone is intertwined with my life as I was not able to do the proper preschool check-out procedure as I didn’t have the check out app working. Normally my trainer FaceTimes me at 12:30 on Mondays but none of his calls were going through either to either phone. Fortunately, my (new-ish) laptop gets the FaceTime calls too, so I used the laptop instead of my phone for my training session. And then, after that, I saw that the back-up had been continuing while I was running around, despite the battery draining. I was able to sign in to the new phone and get whatever had been backed up over to the new place.
The good news is my photos made it. My contacts did too. My apps don’t seem to have. But I guess that’s not a terrible thing. I’ve been figuring out which ones I use and have been reloading them and retrieving my passwords. My Yahoo email account was the first thing I added. Amazon made the cut quickly (I had to buy a phone case and chargers…). So did Venmo (I had to pay folks). I’ll need to do my bank’s app to deposit a check. I’m debating on the social media ones. I have a few books in my Kindle app that I haven’t read but I guess I wasn’t dying to read them as I haven’t made that happen yet.
After making do with a falling-apart phone for the last year I have to say it is quite nice to have a shiny new one! I bought a violet phone case and — even better — violet-colored chargers so now I will know if anyone has taken my chargers. (Charger theft is a pretty frequent crime in this house…)
So…should I put Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter back on my phone?
No. My vote from a place of love. 🙂 I took the apps off sometime around when SHU did and I feel so much more whole. I can’t remember what you picked for your summer of Laura fun but maybe get the app that gives you sonnets or Bach…
@Nicole – A Bach app would be fun! I’m not anti-social media as I think I’ve found some cool things there (and met some folks too) but I imagine spending less time there isn’t a bad thing…
My family is small and scattered here and there, so the occasional FB tag is a good way to stay in touch. I also have a group of friends who meet almost exclusively in a private group on FB to greet each day and share our goings-on. So, I’d consider FB essential on both my phone and laptop. The other two you mention I can do without. I find myself reading on Substack more and more, so I’d need/want that.
I need a new phone. I should maybe do some preemptive cleanup and get rid of unused apps before I make the leap. Love the idea of the lilac chargers to match your phone case.
@Holly – yep, I wish I’d done a bit of prep with my phone before the switchover but I guess we never know when it will suddenly be urgent…
I removed all social media apps from my phone in Jan 2018 with a committed test run of 30 days. I never put them back and am still living happily ever after.
@Jammy- good for you!
Do NOT put those wretched time sucks back on your phone! Reddit is much better anyway lol, and doesn’t make me feel bad about myself. I also love TikTok also but you could do YouTube if you want to watch videos / shorts without the data security risk.
@Omdg – I’ve been doing a lot of YouTube (videos of performances of Bach) but I just search online and those come up — so I haven’t put the app on my phone.
I need to take your tip of buying myself colored chargers! Somehow we are always short of chargers even though I swear we have 17???
@Megan – oh yes, the white ones disappear all the time. But there will be no question whose the violet ones are! Amazon has several different colors, so buying a different color for each phone-owning household member will make the situation a bit more transparent…
Oy…. must be planetary alignment, same thing happened to my laptop last night (of course when hubby, aka my IT, is traveling!). So much surrender…
What a stressful day, but hooray that the new iPhone is now working and shiny and new! I think if there’s any social media you find particularly addictive/time suck id leave off, otherwise ok to add. So for me I leave Twitter off, but Instagram on because I’m just not that drawn to it. I love YouTube these days so I do have that app, entertaining but not that addictive. It’s so individual though hey.
@Sophie – I haven’t put the Insta/FB/Twitter back on the phone yet…holding out for a while and seeing how it goes…
the lesson i take from this is to make sure the auto-back ups are on!!
i say don’t bother with the social media for a while – so much upside to be explored without and let’s face it , it will still be there patiently waiting if/when you chose to return – but this feels like a gretchen rubin fresh start opportunity – an upside of this little phone drama!
ohh and instead of social media, why not try the 1 second every day app – a great savouring tool
@Maya – yes, that would have made everything much quicker and easier. Well, lesson learned! I have my photos and my contacts so I don’t care too much about everything else…
One day my iphone was working – late April 2023 – and the next morning when i had to put in my password (I had not activated the Face recognition yet), it wouldn’t accept the digits on the right of the screen only middle and left (4 of the 6 are on the right). Switched completely off and on and then nothing worked.
So I put my SIM card in an even older iphone that still works (I actually keep it around for emergencies), bought one and it was delivered the following day.
I was amazed that when it asked if i wanted everything transferred and I said yes, it did exactly that (it felt like magic because everything was EXACTLY the same and even in the same position). Thank God for iCloud backup which I now HAPPILY pay for every month.
Do what makes you happy but you know this already. Also, you are great at boundaries so I think you’d only allow a time suck to a point.
@Marcia – so glad your transition was seamless! Mine has not been but I am seeing what I use and what I don’t…