Who doesn’t want to squeeze out the last drop from a lemon to make a refreshing lemonade? We all expect efficiency from our tools and often fish for tweaks or ‘hacks’ that can sharpen our tools and make them more efficient. It’s the same with smartphones, where people download a lot of apps to delete unnecessary data and kill battery-intensive processes.
While software tweaks are reversible, a lot of people try physical adjustments to make the phone’s hardware perform better. It’s during such ‘operations’, people become careless and end up damaging the phone by following unverified claims on the internet.
To help you and warn you against making literally phone-melting mistakes, we bring you the top 5 ‘smartphone hacks’ that you should look out for.
Internet trolls are getting more creative day by day. In 2014, a 4chan troll uploaded an Apple advertisement that promoted an iOS 8 exclusive feature: ‘Apple Wave’. This online post suggested that an iPhone running iOS 8 can be charged using microwaves. Readers were told that the new iOS 8 drivers would synchronize the iPhone’s power source with electromagnetic radiation and promptly charge the phone to 100% in a matter of minutes.
The sceptics who didn’t fall for the prank in poor taste were saved from a possible catastrophe. The gullible ones ended up with an inferno in the oven. An unverified source says it also led to blasts.
Using Snails to clean your phone
Snails are good aquarium pets and a greater delicacy in some parts of the world, especially France. Scientists are even experimenting with them to create high-end and effective skin products. Yet still, Snails are gastropods that carry colonies of microbes and bacteria on their bodies. Snails particularly act as hosts to flatworms that can cause Snail Fever. A parody YouTube video claimed to make an iPhone look brand new using Snails’ slime trails.
The video shows a man letting Snails crawl over an iPhone 7 screen. The slime-smeared phone is then wiped using a microfiber cleaning cloth, revealing a shiny iPhone 7. This could have severe implications on the user’s health as the dirty smartphones are placed near the ear and mouth. A lot of people on Twitter thought of it to be an actual phone hack and decided to do the same. Luckily no one was reported sick.
Coiling phone charger
https://youtu.be/r3iSRAcqI6Q?t=118
Phone chargers and earphones have a habit of tangling and forming knots when they’re put away. It’s a big hassle to unknot them, making you rage and wish you had a pair of scissors. A YouTube video found a potential solution in the form of a coiled charger hack. When a thick wire or a cord is in coils (like in landline phones), they have fewer chances of forming knots.
A YouTube crafts video decided to apply this principle on an iPhone charger. The charger cord was wounded around a thick marker and heated using a hair dryer to set in the shape. In practice, the hack can damage the inner wires and leave the plastic jacket vulnerable. One of the YouTube users complained in the comments of the hack ruining the charger.
Water droplet Macro lens
https://youtu.be/r3iSRAcqI6Q?t=587
According to another YouTube video, a really cool way to take macro pictures using simple camera phones instead of DSLRs is to put a drop of water on the camera lens. The method works but can damage the lens by slowly seeping in the camera through really small crevices. It can also cause water vapour to form behind the camera’s glass, not to forget the damage it can do to the surface if the trick is frequently used.
Put your phone in the freezer
It’s well known that gadgets work better at lower temperatures. Some netizens took this fact to the next level and decided to chuck their smartphones in the freezer. What they didn’t know is that air contains water vapour. Freezing the phone cause them to solidify and expand the phone components, breaking them in the process. Moreover, the glass get really fragile at low temperatures. Your phone should be best left at room temperature. If you do not understand what I am talking about, take a look at this video.
Bonus:
Social media tips and tricks
This prank won’t cause harm to your smartphone but will compromise your social media account for sure. According to the prank post, if you write the password of your social media account on a comment box provided by the platform, the account will recognize it as your password and replace it with asterisks (like ******). This is not true and caused several of my Facebook friends to post their passwords on the forum. Funny but dangerous!
Did we miss something? Let us know in the comments!
