Small changes in the way you use your smartphone can go a long way. Without realizing it, you may be slowing down your iPhone or damaging your phone's battery. INSIDER's beauty writer Brianna Arps learned this the hard way.

Arps, who spends much of her time taking pictures of products or snapping the perfect selfie, lost about 33,000 photos in February, after charging her iPhone 6 incorrectly.

The sixth time, however, Arps' phone did not turn on when she plugged it into a charger. Eventually, after 25 minutes and a hard reset, her screen lit up. But this time, Arps saw the iPhone Recovery Mode screen, prompting her to connect her phone to iTunes.

After following the steps of setting up her phone, Arps immediately went to her Photo Album. However, while she saw the selfies she had just taken, she couldn't find any of the other 33,000 pictures she had saved — pictures from her college graduation, senior year, and more.

"I freaked out," Arps said. She soon realized her entire phone had been wiped; she lost everything from data stored on apps to contact information to "precious memories from videos." All she had left were a few Notes and the selfies she took before her phone died.

So whether you have an iPhone or Android device, it's important that you back up your phone regularly. Not only will you avoid losing all your data, you'll also protect yourself against ransomware attacks in which hackers steal your data and demand a price for its safe return.

Source: businessinsider