---
title: The Digital Hygiene Checklist: 30 Recurring Jobs and How Often
source: https://tended.mintbyte.app/digital-hygiene-checklist
description: Every recurring digital maintenance job — backups, breaches, updates, storage, privacy — 30 of them, with intervals and reasons.
---

# The digital hygiene checklist

August 2026 · 30 items, from the Tended catalog

Digital hygiene comes down to 30 recurring jobs: backups, breach checks, updates, storage, privacy settings and the accounts you have forgotten you have. All of them are below with how often each is due.

Security advice is usually written as a one-off — set up two-factor, pick a password manager, done. The parts that actually decay are recurring: a backup that silently stopped, an old account in a fresh breach dump, a phone three updates behind.

These are the recurring ones, with the intervals Tended schedules.

## Digital 30

| What | How often | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Unsubscribe from junk | Every 2 weeks | A bloated inbox is camouflage. The scam email hides among fifty perfectly legitimate promos. [FTC](https://consumer.ftc.gov/articles/how-get-less-spam-your-email) |
| Clear downloads folder | Monthly | 77% of Americans hoard more digital files than they need, and only 10% feel safe deleting any. |
| Install software updates | Monthly | Attackers exploited unpatched software in 20% of breaches, up 34% in a single year. [CISA](https://www.cisa.gov/secure-our-world/update-software) |
| Restart your router | Monthly | The FBI once asked everyone to reboot their router after malware infected 500,000 of them. |
| Review free trials | Monthly | 42% of people admit they kept paying for a subscription they had already stopped using. [FTC](https://consumer.ftc.gov/articles/getting-and-out-free-trials-auto-renewals-and-negative-option-subscriptions) |
| Tidy photo library | Monthly | The average phone holds about 3,000 photos, and 80% of people never look at some of them again. |
| Audit app permissions | Every 3 months | Seven in ten smartphone apps share your data onward. That flashlight app asked for location. [CISA](https://www.cisa.gov/resources-tools/training/manage-application-permissions-privacy-and-security) |
| Audit browser extensions | Every 3 months | Extensions change owners. An honest tool sold to a shady buyer becomes spyware, already installed. [Google](https://myaccount.google.com/connections) |
| Check dormant accounts | Every 3 months | All 3 billion Yahoo accounts were compromised in one breach, including inboxes long abandoned. [CISA](https://www.cisa.gov/audiences/high-risk-communities/projectupskill/module2) |
| Delete unused apps | Every 3 months | People use about nine apps a day. Phones commonly carry eighty, each with live permissions. |
| Update router firmware | Every 3 months | The FBI has warned that outdated routers get hijacked and rented out, with your IP on the paperwork. [Consumerreports](https://www.consumerreports.org/wireless-routers/outdated-router-firmware-poses-security-risk/) |
| Verify backups | Every 3 months | 54% of people have lost data, and backups fail silently. One you've never restored is a guess. [CISA](https://www.cisa.gov/sites/default/files/publications/data_backup_options.pdf) |
| Audit password reuse | Every 6 months | 66% of Americans reuse passwords. One leaked gym app can unlock the email that unlocks everything. [CISA](https://www.cisa.gov/secure-our-world/use-strong-passwords) |
| Audit subscriptions | Every 6 months | People guess they spend $86 a month on subscriptions. The real average is $219, or $1,600 a year. [FTC](https://consumer.ftc.gov/articles/getting-and-out-free-trials-auto-renewals-and-negative-option-subscriptions) |
| Check active sessions | Every 6 months | A stolen session cookie walks straight into your account with no password and no 2FA prompt. [CISA](https://www.cisa.gov/audiences/high-risk-communities/projectupskill/module2) |
| Check for data breaches | Every 6 months | Over 17 billion breached accounts are now catalogued. Statistically, some of yours are in there. [CISA](https://www.cisa.gov/secure-our-world/use-strong-passwords) |
| Check old cloud storage | Every 6 months | Google deletes personal accounts after two years of inactivity, old photo archive included. [CISA](https://www.cisa.gov/sites/default/files/publications/data_backup_options.pdf) |
| Check recovery contacts | Every 6 months | 66% of recycled phone numbers still reach the previous owner's password reset codes. [CISA](https://www.cisa.gov/audiences/high-risk-communities/projectupskill/module2) |
| Close unused accounts | Every 6 months | The average person holds passwords for 168 accounts. Each abandoned one waits for a future breach. [CISA](https://www.cisa.gov/audiences/high-risk-communities/projectupskill/module2) |
| Free up storage | Every 6 months | About 22% of phone users run out of storage monthly, which quietly blocks backups and updates. [CISA](https://www.cisa.gov/sites/default/files/publications/data_backup_options.pdf) |
| Opt out of data brokers | Every 6 months | One data broker was found holding about 3,000 data segments on nearly every US consumer. [FTC](https://consumer.ftc.gov/articles/what-know-about-people-search-sites-sell-your-information) |
| Review connected apps | Every 6 months | Third parties were involved in 30% of breaches last year, double the year before. [Google](https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/3466521) |
| Review social privacy | Every 6 months | Scams that start on social media cost Americans $2.1 billion in 2025, more than any other route. [FTC](https://consumer.ftc.gov/search-terms/social-media) |
| Save 2FA backup codes | Every 6 months | With 2FA on, a lost phone can mean no password reset at all. The backup codes are the way back in. [CISA](https://www.cisa.gov/resources-tools/resources/multi-factor-authentication-mfa) |
| Document account access | Yearly | Americans value their digital assets at $191,516 on average. Almost nobody writes down the keys. [Google](https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/183723) |
| Download platform data | Yearly | MySpace lost 50 million songs in one botched migration. Twelve years of uploads, gone for good. [FTC](https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/events/2020/09/data-go-ftc-workshop-data-portability) |
| Review Google data | Yearly | A 2025 glitch permanently wiped Maps Timeline history for everyone without backups switched on. [FTC](https://www.ftc.gov/business-guidance/privacy-security/consumer-privacy) |
| Set legacy contacts | Yearly | 48% of Americans leave no instructions for their digital accounts. Families get locked out. [Google](https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/183723) |
| Update key passwords | Yearly | 88% of attacks on web apps use stolen credentials, most already circulating from old breaches. [CISA](https://www.cisa.gov/secure-our-world/use-strong-passwords) |
| Verify 2FA coverage | Yearly | Over 99.9% of compromised accounts had no multi-factor authentication switched on. [CISA](https://www.cisa.gov/mfa) |

---

### Related

- [How often to back up your phone](https://tended.mintbyte.app/how-often-back-up-phone)
- [How often to change passwords](https://tended.mintbyte.app/how-often-change-passwords)
- [Everything a rented flat needs](https://tended.mintbyte.app/everything-a-rented-flat-needs)

---

## About Tended

Tended is an iOS app that ships with a researched catalog of 241 recurring maintenance
items across six areas of life: home, health, digital, car, supplies and finances. Every
item carries a recommended interval and the reason it matters, and most cite a named
source. The intervals quoted on this page come from that catalog.

Setup is a short conversation: you pick the part of life to start with and answer up to
seven questions about it, and the app spreads the items that apply across the next twelve
months. $39.99 a year with the first month free, or $6.99 a month. iPhone, iOS 26 or later.

https://tended.mintbyte.app