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  • Welcome to Quick Fix, the show where I answer

  • your most commonly asked tech questions in 90 seconds or less.

  • Today, we're turning it on and off again.

  • Start the clock.

  • We've all heard this advice before, right?

  • "Restart your phone on a regular basis."

  • But, does that actually do anything?

  • Well, sort of, it depends.

  • The number one reason to restart your phone is to fix a glitch.

  • Maybe an app won't open up, or it froze up on you.

  • Maybe your GPS is acting all wonky.

  • All very good reasons to restart your phone,

  • which will close down any processes

  • or apps that might be acting buggy.

  • But, why restart your phone if everything

  • seems to be working fine?

  • The answer is RAM, or random access memory.

  • Think of RAM like a storage room.

  • Every time you do something on your phone,

  • some amount of data is stored in this room.

  • Modern phones are very good at managing this room

  • and moving things around when necessary.

  • Every time you restart your phone,

  • this room gets emptied out,

  • and that's why restarting your phone can be helpful.

  • It helps clear out that room every now and then,

  • so random bits of data don't start piling up in there,

  • as if you're some sort of RAM hoarder.

  • So, to answer the question, the most common advice

  • around restarting your phone

  • says to do it about once a week.

  • To me, that seems like overkill,

  • especially considering how good modern phones are at managing RAM.

  • It's definitely the first troubleshooting step

  • you should take if something feels buggy or sluggish,

  • but you don't need to set a weekly reminder.

  • Hey, thanks for watching this video.

  • If you have other tech questions

  • that you want me to try and tackle in 90 seconds or less,

  • leave a comment below or email me.

  • And, as always, subscribe to Lifehacker on YouTube.

Welcome to Quick Fix, the show where I answer

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