With the advent of smartphones, our way of communicating and our routines in general have changed profoundly. On the one hand there is the positive technological progress, but on the other hand there are growing fears related to privacy , since unfortunately the bad guys always come up with new methods to try to obtain sensitive data.
It is therefore more important than ever to understand how to protect the privacy of your mobile , avoiding falling into those classic traps that could jeopardize the security of your trusted device. However, there are not only the bad guys involved, as over the years users are acquiring an ever greater awareness in terms of data processing.
In short, the issues to be explored are certainly not lacking and I am going to provide you with all the relevant information in the following chapters. You will see that, once you have finished driving, you will be more aware of your privacy. That said, there is nothing left for me to do but wish you a good read!
Index
- Take advantage of the operating system options
- Use a secure release system
- Hide notifications from the lock screen
- Do not access public Wi-Fi networks
- Download the apps from the official stores
- Do not perform cell phone unlocking procedures
- Read the privacy policy of services and apps
- Don’t lend your smartphone to strangers
- Resort to VPNs
- Install an antivirus
- Hide or lock apps
Take advantage of the operating system options
Concerns related to privacy concern an increasingly large slice of public opinion, so the big players in the tech world can no longer ignore it. Among the giants of the sector who first “rode” this issue is Apple which has the merit of offering its users numerous functions related to the protection of privacy.
For example, if you have an iPhone you can go to the operating system Settings (using the gear icon on the Home screen) and move to the Privacy and security section , where you will find all the appropriate options relating to the processing of your data.
Here, by clicking on the App privacy report item and then on the Activate app privacy report option , you can start monitoring the app activities and get summaries of how often the applications use the various permissions you have granted them (e.g. the one for localization ). There is also a summary of network activities : for more information, you can refer to Apple’s official guidelines .
Excluding the possibility of obtaining potentially useful information, it is also possible to act on the tracking of the activities you carry out on apps and websites of other companies . More precisely, by going to Settings> Privacy and security> Tracking you can move the lever linked to the Request activity tracking option to OFF , so that all new tracking requests from apps are automatically rejected . If you’re looking for more details, you might be interested in taking a look at Apple’s official FAQ .
On Android , the situation becomes a little more “intricate”, given the number of different models on the market, but again I recommend that you access the System Settings and take a look at the Privacy section : on a good number of devices you may find the so-called Privacy Dashboard , as well as other useful options, for example, to manage app permissions .
For the rest, do not underestimate the security updates that are released periodically (in this regard, you may want to deepen my tutorials on how to update Android and how to update iPhone ).
Use a secure release system
Using a secure unlocking system is another step in protecting the privacy of your mobile . Since your smartphone hosts sensitive data – contacts, appointments, reminders, web history, and so on – you need to make sure that no one can access it freely.
Therefore, avoid unsafe unlocking systems (such as the pattern, a method that could be easily intercepted by those around you) and use a PIN or password that is difficult to guess . If your smartphone provides for the possibility of unlocking via a biometric sensor , such as the one with a fingerprint or face recognition , enable it: it is even more reliable and secure.
How do you say? Have no idea how to enable one of the above unlocking systems on your mobile phone? I’ll explain it to you right away: if you have an Android smartphone , generally you just need to go to the Settings and then select the item relating to the unlocking methods , for example Security . Here will be present all the options of the case. If you have an iPhone , on the other hand, go to Settings and tap on Face ID / Touch ID and code> Add code / Change code .
For more details, you can in any case refer to my guides on how to unlock a phone , how to fingerprint Android and how to configure Face ID .
Hide notifications from the lock screen
The smartphone lock screen , or the lock screen where, for example, the time and the latest notifications received are shown, may reveal some sensitive information . For this very reason, it is important to hide notifications from the lock screen .
How can you do this? If you have an Android smartphone , generally just go to Settings> Security> Screen Lock> PIN , set a PIN and select the option to hide only sensitive content . However, it depends on the type of template you have: for example, you may find these options on some notification screen .
On the iPhone , on the other hand, go to Settings> Notifications , tap on the name of the app for which you do not want to view notifications on the lock screen (for example, WhatsApp ) and move the switch located next to the Screen icon to OFF block . You may also want to delve into the options in the section below, which is LOCK SCREEN APPEARANCE .
For the rest, if you want to deepen the matter, you may be interested in consulting my tutorial on how not to show messages on the lock screen .
Do not access public Wi-Fi networks
Connecting to public Wi-Fi networks can potentially put your device’s privacy at risk.
For what reason? Well, public Wi-Fi networks are notoriously more vulnerable to cyber attacks and, in fact, cybercriminals use them to perpetrate so-called data sniffing .
If you need to connect to the Internet when you are away from home, the advice I can give you is to use your carrier’s 4G / 5G connection or to connect to a protected Wi-Fi network .
Download the apps from the official stores
Another important precaution that you can take to safeguard your privacy is to download the apps from the official stores . Before they are published on the stores, in fact, the applications must go through a rather long analysis process that verifies their security and, above all, any risks to users’ privacy.
If you use an Android smartphone, therefore, I suggest you avoid going through third-party stores and APK files . Put simply, I’m suggesting that you go only to the Google Play Store (pre-installed on many Android devices) or in any case on the official store present on your smartphone model, for example HUAWEI AppGallery .
If you use an iPhone, however, avoid those applications that can be installed by connecting the phone to the computer or visiting potentially dangerous websites: download only the applications published on the App Store (i.e. the pre-installed store).
Do not perform cell phone unlocking procedures
The procedures for unlocking Android ( root ) and iOS ( jailbreak ) favor the installation of spy apps , software that control in all respects the activity that the user performs on his mobile phone: from calls made to Web browsing, passing for the text typed on the keyboard (I showed you how some of these applications work in the guide on how to spy on a cellphone ).
Therefore, if you want to sleep reasonably soundly, do not go through cell phone unlocking procedures . In fact, although they may be useful in some contexts, even if they make less and less sense with the passing of the years, these procedures expose the device to a concrete danger .
Read the privacy policy of services and apps
Before subscribing to a service and / or downloading an app, you may want to carefully read the privacy policy . Some services, in fact, may ask for your permission to share your data with third parties , not clarifying in which cases they could carry out this operation.
If the terms regarding the protection of your privacy are smoky or otherwise unclear, I advise you to move towards other services and other similar apps that guarantee greater attention to your privacy.
Furthermore, when you download an app, pay attention to the permissions it requires to function properly: the higher the number of permissions you must grant to an app, the more (potential) risks there are for your privacy, especially if the app in question wants to access your device’s camera, microphone and contacts, just to give examples. In this context, the operating system options I mentioned earlier may come in handy. You may then want to check out Google’s guidelines and my guide on how to whitelist an app on iPhone .
Don’t lend your smartphone to strangers
It may seem like a trivial piece of advice, but not lending your smartphone to strangers is always a good practice. In fact, you must know that a growing number of users fall into a rather effective and devious trap called social engineering .
How is this particular technique perpetrated? Simple, the cybercriminal approaches his potential victim and uses his feelings about him to steal his cell phone (for example, he asks his victim to lend him the cell phone to contact his family). The user, thinking of doing a good deed, willingly gives in to the request by giving up his smartphone and the cybercriminal, thus, has the green light to steal confidential information present on the user’s mobile phone or, worse still, to download spy software. and monitor it remotely, without them noticing.
If you want to avoid falling into a situation similar to the one I have just described, be careful not to lend your smartphone to complete strangers or to people you have known for a short time. As they say in these cases: prudence is never too much.
Cybercriminals also use another technique related to social engineering that is somewhat insidious: phishing . What’s it about? Also in this case, the users’ feelings are targeted, by sending links via chat or e-mail that refer to fake websites that push the unfortunate to enter confidential information or download malicious files and applications, perhaps leveraging an alleged urgent situation. . The only way to avoid falling into this social engineering trap is to ignore suspicious links and messages .
Resort to VPNs
Using VPNs (short for Virtual Private Network ) is a great way to protect your privacy when browsing the web with your smartphone, and more.
Thanks to a particular system called tunneling , in fact, it is possible both to make your online activities invisible to malicious people, Internet providers and to the VPN managers themselves, and to mask the IP address (i.e. the identification address) from which you access the Web. thus being able to overcome regional censorships and restrictions.
This result is obtained by creating a sort of private network that is accessible only to authorized users. Since the network in question is not created with the help of physical devices, but through an Internet connection, it is defined as virtual .
There are several VPN services. Among the main ones, I point out NordVPN (my review here ) and Surfshark (my review here ), as well as don’t forget Atlas VPN (my review here ), Express VPN and Privado VPN . These are services that all offer cross-compatibility between devices and operating systems and guarantee the use of numerous secure (and fast) servers scattered all over the world.
Install an antivirus
Another aspect that you may want to consider is the installation of an antivirus , so as to have an app that can scan the files on the device and so on.
However, it must be said, to tell the truth, that protection options are already present on the various devices . To be clear, on Android there is Play Protect , the antivirus developed by Google, which verifies the reliability of applications downloaded from the Play Store. However, you can also resort to third-party solutions, such as those you find in my tutorial on the best antivirus for Android and in my article on how to understand if your phone has a virus .
If you have an iPhone , the malware danger – unless it’s a jailbroken device – is next to nil. I explained the matter to you in my tutorial on how to remove viruses from iPhone .
Hide or lock apps
Finally, one last piece of advice I would like to give you to protect your privacy is to hide or block the applications that host your banking, health and other confidential information .
In this regard, both Android and iPhone include native solutions to do this; I told you about it in my tutorials on how to hide apps on Android , how to hide apps on iPhone , how to fingerprint apps and how to password applications