Saturday, 22 June 2013

Spring Cleaning - App Review



If, like me, you are squirrel and find it difficult to throw things away... even if it's euphemistically called recycling, chucking an iPhone/iPad is just too wrenching.

That said, if you carry out your own recycling and use the old iOS device as 'just' a media server (posh way of saying you only use it for music and/or video(still or not)) then, you need to do a bit of housekeeping.

The first part is to delete all the things you do not want. This is straightforward, except for your contacts. The Contacts App, like many others, is part of iOS, so cannot be deleted itself.
In their infinite wisdom, Apple have not provided a simple way to delete the content of your contacts.

Drum roll, fanfare, enter Spring Cleaning.

Now for the ACIDS test:

Aesthetics
Your contacts are listed. Either choose your contacts one at a time, or use the tick at the top left of the screen to select them all. A counter at the bottom of the screen will confirm how many have been selected out of the total number in your contact list.

Press 'Delete' when you are happy. You will still have a chance to change your mind.

It's as easy as that... all you have to do is wait for the operation to complete, which could take a few minutes, depending on the number of contacts and ancillary information you have stored.

Cost
The App is free as it is an example of the work at Newton Academy.

Indispensability
If you're 'recycling' an iOS device, this is an absolute must.

Dependability
The App works fine but, a word of warning. If you do not allow Spring Cleaning to access your contacts, you're in for a very frustrating time. If you did not accept the access when first launching the App, go to Settings/Privacy/Contacts and ensure Spring Clean has access.

Security
Be careful when deleting that you have a backup... just in case.

ACIDS Test Rating:

An extremely useful utility.

To find out how the ACIDS Test works, click here.


You can get Spring Cleaning here and support for the App here.


5 comments:

  1. The developer advises that there has been an update to version 1.1 of the App.

    This includes the following enhancements and alterations:

    * FINALLY updated for iPhone 5 screen size! *
    * Bug fixes. *

    ReplyDelete
  2. The developer advises that there has been an update to version 1.1.1 of the App.

    This includes the following enhancements and alterations:

    Bug fix.

    ReplyDelete
  3. The developer advises that there has been an update to version 1.1.2 of the App.

    This includes the following enhancements and alterations:

    Critical bug fixed. For real this time. We promise!

    ReplyDelete
  4. It used to work great, but now it won't even open without crashing. Deleting and reinstalling did not work. And the app's support link just takes you to a training school to develop apps.

    Mica
    Visit my site for Senior Housing Seattle resource

    ReplyDelete
  5. Wow, cool post. I'd like to write like this too - taking time and real hard work to make a great article... but I put things off too much and never seem to get started. Thanks though. Mop

    ReplyDelete

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