c/everyday-tech-hacks

PSA: I thought the 'use your phone as a level' trick was a total joke

Honestly, I was putting up a shelf last week and my actual spirit level was in the garage. I remembered seeing the tip about using the compass app's level tool and figured it was pointless. I opened it on my iPhone, laid the phone flat on the shelf, and it was dead on. It even beeped when it was perfectly straight. I've used it three times since then for small jobs and it's saved me a bunch of trips. Has anyone found a good free app for this on Android?

A customer in Denver showed me a phone shortcut that saves me like 10 minutes a day

Bought a $15 smart plug for my coffee maker. Thought it was dumb. Now I'm never going back.

Saw a guy at the library in Springfield use a simple shortcut I never knew about

He was using the public computer and showed his kid how to close a browser tab by just tapping the scroll wheel click on the mouse. I always right-clicked or used the keyboard. It's a tiny thing, but I've been doing it wrong for years. What other basic computer shortcuts do most people not know?

My roommate roasted my phone charging setup and I had to admit he was right

I used to just plug my phone into the wall outlet behind my nightstand, so the cable was always a tangled mess and I'd knock stuff over reaching for it. He walked in, pointed at it and said 'dude, that looks like a rat's nest, just get a $15 cable organizer from Amazon and run it under the bed.' I zip-tied the cable to the leg of the nightstand and ran it up the back, and now my whole side of the room looks way cleaner. What's a small, cheap tech fix that made a big difference in your place?

Shoutout to the 'send tab to device' button in Chrome that saved my recipe last night

I was cooking and my phone died right when I needed the next step, so I sent the tab from my laptop to my tablet in the kitchen in about 3 seconds. Has anyone found other browser tricks that are actually this handy?

Lost a whole afternoon trying to fix a printer with a bad YouTube guide

My home office printer jammed last Tuesday, and instead of calling for help, I followed a video that said to take apart the whole feed roller assembly. Ended up breaking a small plastic clip inside, and the repair bill came to $120. What's a better first step when a basic printer acts up?

Warning: My old way of backing up photos was a total mess

For years I just dumped all my pictures onto a single hard drive and called it a day. Last month that drive failed and I lost about 200 photos from a trip to Seattle. My new system uses a free cloud backup service plus a second physical drive I update every Sunday. The difference is having two separate copies in two different places, so one failure can't wipe everything. It's a simple change but it saved me from a real headache. What's your backup plan for personal stuff like photos?

Update: My brother convinced me to stop clearing my phone cache every week

He's a network engineer and said modern phones manage memory so well that manual clearing can actually slow things down by forcing apps to rebuild data. I stopped doing it a month ago and haven't noticed any performance drop at all. Has anyone else found a routine tech maintenance task that turned out to be pointless?

Pro tip: Don't just close your laptop lid when you're done for the day

Last week in Denver, my laptop battery swelled up overnight because it was always plugged in and asleep, not fully shut down. Anyone know a good app to schedule a weekly shutdown?

Question about using your phone's flashlight as a main light

Everyone says to use your phone's flashlight in a pinch, like if a bulb blows. I did that for a whole week in my kitchen after the overhead light went out. I thought I was being smart, just propping it up on the counter. But my friend came over and pointed out my electric bill was way up. I checked, and it was about $15 more than usual. He said it's because the phone uses a lot of power to run that LED bright, and then it needs to charge more often, which adds up. I never thought about the hidden cost! Now I just keep a cheap plug-in LED light from the hardware store in a drawer for emergencies. Has anyone else noticed their phone battery draining super fast when they use the flashlight a lot?

Warning: my neighbor's simple phone trick saved me from a huge headache

I was complaining to my neighbor, Jerry, about my phone always running out of space. He said, 'Just go into your camera settings and turn off 'Save Original Photo' for HDR shots.' I did it right there on his porch, and it freed up over 8 gigs instantly. I had no idea my phone was storing two copies of every picture for years. What other simple settings are people changing that make a big difference?

My phone was dying every afternoon until I checked the battery settings

I realized I had like 15 apps running location services in the background for no reason. Turned most of them off and now I get to bedtime with 40% left. What other battery killers should I look for?

Saw a coffee shop in Portland using a smart plug for their window sign

I was grabbing a latte at this place called Stumptown Roasters yesterday and noticed their neon 'open' sign was plugged into a little white box. The barista told me it's a smart plug on a timer, so it turns on at 7am and off at 8pm automatically. She said it saves them from having to remember every single day and probably cuts a bit on their power bill. Has anyone else set up something simple like this for a home business or even just a porch light?

Saw a guy at the Denver airport using his phone as a hotel key and my mind is blown

I was waiting for a flight and watched this dude just tap his phone on the door lock at one of those airport pod hotels. He told me he added his digital key to his phone's wallet app and it's been way better than carrying a plastic card. I always thought that stuff was just a gimmick, but seeing it actually work smoothly changed my view. Anyone else ditched physical hotel keys for good?

Appreciation post: I thought voice typing was just a gimmick until I had to write a long email

Honestly, I used to see people talk to their phones and think it looked silly. I was sure it would mess up every other word and be more trouble than it was worth. That changed when I had to write a really long, detailed email for work last year. My hands were tired and I was just staring at the blank screen. I finally tried the voice typing on my laptop, just speaking normally. Ngl, I was shocked. It got almost everything right, even some tricky names. It saved me probably an hour of typing and editing. Now I use it for all sorts of stuff, like quick notes or even drafting forum posts like this one. Has anyone else found a tech feature they avoided that actually turned out to be super useful?

My neighbor saw me struggling with my phone in the sun and said 'just invert the colors, dummy'

Showerthought: My neighbor insisted I needed a smart plug for my coffee maker.

He said it was a game-changer, but I just use a $15 outlet timer from the hardware store. Anyone else think some 'smart' tech just overcomplicates a simple fix?

Heard a guy at the library say he never uses his phone's timer for laundry anymore

He said he sets a Google Calendar event for 45 minutes with a loud notification instead, because it works even if he leaves the room. Honestly, I tried it yesterday and didn't forget my wet clothes in the washer for once. What other simple app switches like this have you guys found?

I just hit 1000 saved photos from my phone to my computer without a single cable

For years I'd let my phone storage fill up because I hated digging out the cord to plug it in. Last month I set up a simple auto-sync with a free cloud folder on my computer. It runs every night at 2 AM over wifi. I checked today and it's quietly moved over a thousand pics and videos, mostly of my dog and work projects. It feels like a tiny robot just fixed a problem I kept putting off. Has anyone else set up something like this with a different app? I'm curious if there are better free options.

Rant: My phone's auto brightness keeps going too dark at night

I set my phone to auto adjust brightness, thinking it would be smart, but every evening in my living room it dims the screen so much I can barely read. I learned you have to manually tweak the setting in a dark room for it to learn your preference. Does anyone have a better fix for this?

Can we talk about how a smart plug fixed my printer for good?

My brother-in-law was over last month and saw my old printer flashing an error light, and he just said, 'You know, those things just need a hard reset sometimes.' I plugged it into a smart plug I had lying around, set it to turn off for a minute every night at 2 AM, and it hasn't given me a single error since. Has anyone else tried this with other finicky gadgets?

My neighbor in Austin told me to put my router on a smart plug set to reboot at 3 AM every night, and my Wi-Fi has been solid for 3 months straight.

I thought it was a pointless extra step until my video calls stopped dropping and my smart lights finally stayed connected, so has anyone else tried a similar schedule for their gear?

My smart thermostat decided it was 90 degrees in my house last night.

The Nest in my living room went haywire around 2 AM and cranked the AC down to 60. Woke up freezing. I had to do a hard reset by pulling it off the wall for 30 seconds, which fixed it. Is it better to just use a basic programmable thermostat for reliability, or stick with the smart features and hope updates fix the bugs?

My smart plug fried itself trying to run a space heater

It happened Tuesday night when the temp dropped below freezing, and I had to reset the whole circuit. Anyone know a safe wattage limit for those things?