James' World 2

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You likely use your Android phone’s web browser every day to look up everything, and as a result, it may be filled with data accumulated when you browse the internet. This data serves a few different functions, typically filing your web browser’s cache and cookies. It can help improve how quickly your browser loads by saving assets from websites you frequently visit as well as saving preferences, such as letting you stay logged in to websites.

However, cookies can also be used by websites to track your browsing history, often with the intention of serving personalized advertising nearly everywhere you go. (I’ve recently been seeing ads for eyeglasses after visiting a few online stores to compare prices and styles.)

Plus, the larger your browser’s cache, the more bloated your browser app becomes with data from websites you might not even be visiting anymore — and yet some of their assets and possibly a few tracking cookies could be sitting in there.

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Every so often, it’s good practice to clear the cache of your phone’s web browser and remove cookies. Pictured here is the Galaxy S21.

Sarah Tew/CNET

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While we can’t predict what 2022 will have in store, you can get your year off to a slightly better start by performing a digital detox on your smartphone by deleting apps that are no longer working for you.

Everybody’s wants and needs are different, so it’s possible that you’ll decide to keep some of the apps I mention below. Even so, it’s a useful year-end exercise to step through all the apps on your phone and ponder whether each one deserves a spot there. Here are some types of apps you might conclude have more downside than benefits:

Messaging apps that could be more private

Let’s start with the easy ones. Messaging apps are among the most-used apps on any smartphone. But many of them don’t provide you as much privacy as they could. Skype, for example, is still one of the few major messaging apps that doesn’t offer end-to-end encryption by default.

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Every cloud backup service we tested is a pain to use for one reason or another, but we still recommend using one. A good backup system starts with a local backup but should end with a subscription to an online backup service. After years of testing, we think Backblaze is the easiest to use and the best cloud backup service for most people.

Offering unlimited online storage for one computer for $70 a year, Backblaze is the most affordable backup service we tested. It’s easy to use on both Windows and Mac. With the software installed and the settings at their defaults, uploads start immediately and include the most commonly used folders that need backing up. Backblaze keeps file versions around for 30 days—less than we’d like—but it offers paid upgrades to adjust that retention period if you want to keep your backups available for longer. Backblaze supports external drives connected to your computer and has a good combination of online support tools. But its implementation of private encryption keys sacrifices some security for usability, and its restoration process is way too slow.

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Photo: Rozette Rago

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These memories have tormented Cowley his whole adult life. For 30 years he suffered from flashbacks and insomnia. He had trouble working but was too ashamed to talk to his wife. He blocked out the worst of it by drinking. In 2004 one doctor referred him to a trainee therapist, but it didn’t help, and he dropped out after a couple of sessions.

But two years ago he spotted a poster advertising therapy over the internet, and he decided to give it another go. After dozens of regular sessions in which he and his therapist talked via text message, Cowley, now 49, is, at last, recovering from severe post-traumatic stress disorder. “It’s amazing how a few words can change a life,” says Andrew Blackwell, chief scientific officer at Ieso, the UK-based mental health clinic treating Cowley.

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Karolin Schnoor

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What happens after you die doesn’t need to be a mystery. At least when it comes to your email, that is.

As we move through life there are few things that we truly take with us. A family heirloom, perhaps. Your loved ones, if you’re lucky. And, more and more frequently, one of those things happens to be an email account steadily filling up with personal correspondence, bills, medical records, and embarrassing moments from your past.

And thanks to the modern wonder of cloud computing, that collection will likely long outlast you. Unless you set your entire Google account to self-destruct after your death — which, thanks to Google’s Inactive Account Manager, you can do.

Why you should enable Inactive Account Manager

Take a moment to think about the contents of your email account. Likely spanning from the quotidian and mundane to the extremely revealing, as the years progress your email account will accumulate evidence of the life you’ve lived.

Which can be extremely useful. It’s also extremely personal. Once you’re gone, is there really a reason for this compendium of deeply revealing data to sit for who knows how long on Google’s servers?

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