If you’re like most people, you probably have a lot of cords and devices connected to your iPad. Whether it’s a charging cable, an extra cord for your headphones, or even an extra set of batteries for your device, there’s always something taking up space in your home. To help reduce the amount of clutter and cords in your home, we’ve put together a few tips to help you get the brightness and storage that you need on your iPad.

  1. Disable Background Refresh on Your iPad One way to keep your device running smoothly is to disable background refresh on it. This will stop the device from refreshing its screen every time you wake it up or change screens. This can make it difficult to keep track of what’s going on on your device and can lead to some slowdowndowns when using certain applications. If background refresh is enabled on your device, we recommend using an app like Airplane Mode or turning off Wi-Fi when not in use so that data isn’t being used unnecessarily.
  2. Use Dropbox Storage Space Wisely Another way to reduce the amount of space used by devices connected to them is by using Dropbox storage space wisely. By default, Dropbox sets aside a certain amount of space for each file that it stores in its cloud-based service. If you’re frequently uploading large files or pictures, then setting up Dropbox storage space so that only files that need room to grow are stored can help save a lot of space in the long run. Additionally, if you have multiple devices connected to your iPad and want them all access to the same Dropbox account so they can share files and folders easily, then we recommend setting up multiple Dropbox accounts so each one has its own individual storage area (or setting up iCloud Drive if you have iCloud). We also recommend disabling background sync so that devices don’t try and sync across different accounts while they’re off (this can slow down some apps). Finally, be sure not to overuse

Quick Access to Screen Brightness Via the iPad Multitray

Nick writes in with the following tip:

Well Nick, we’re not going to lie. We’ve been using SBSettings for so long we, like you apparently, never even looked for this new feature since we had everything we needed in SBSettings. Thanks for sharing!

Score 4.5 GB of Free Dropbox Storage

Kelly writes in with the following Dropbox tip:

As far as scoring free storage goes, that is pretty darn painless. Nice tip!

Banishing Charging Cable Clutter by Packing Multi-Use Cables

Courtney writes in with the following cable decluttering tip:

It seems elementary, but you’re right Courtney: it’s easy to forget to check your cables and just get in the habit of hauling along the cables that came with the devices. If you’re trying to pack light it pays to take a moment and do an inventory of your charging and cabling needs before leaving the house.

My point, if I’m getting a little long winded, is that she had gotten so used to everything needing a cable and a charger that she hadn’t stopped to look and see that they were all virtually interchangeable. After helping her par down the pile, all she really needed was her laptop charger, a USB wall wart (from the iPhone), one micro USB cable and one Apple sync cable. In reality very few of her devices needed to be charged constantly (like the Kindle and her Bluetooth headset), so it wasn’t necessary to bring a powerstrip’s worth of cords.