The cell phone is becoming more and more an ally of people for their daily lives and keeping it well configured is essential so that data does not fall into the wrong hands. So, to help you, Olhar Digital separated some simple tips to make your Android more secure.
The tips, for the most part, are minor configurations to be performed on the system itself, but others involve installing applications that will prove to be of great help. Check out!ADVERTISING
Leave only the necessary permissions
When installing an application on a cell phone, for it to work correctly, many times permissions need to be granted. Although this is not always a problem, certain programs may ask for more permissions than necessary and gain access to your sensitive data.
Fortunately, checking and even blocking access to such features can be done on the phone without having to install anything. To do this, in the “Settings” of Android, just go to “Privacy > Manage Permissions”. Depending on your cell phone manufacturer, this path may change.
Once you are in the menu shown in the image above, when selecting a type of permission, you will be able to block the application’s access to them or not. Also, for other more specific cases, and when Android allows it, always choose to grant permission “only when the app is open” and not all the time.
Put passwords on apps
Leaving your cell phone with a password or pattern is essential so that people cannot access your content freely. Still, when having to pass your device to show something to someone, your apps, and other services can often have data exposed.
To avoid these setbacks, in Google Play, there are options in addition to the cell phone unlock pattern, the applications also ask for a password to be opened. A good option, for example, is the “ LockX: Lockdown Lite ” application, which Olhar Digital has already shown how it can be used and configured in this tutorial.
In addition to performing the configuration to protect the programs, when using a program of this type, as shown in the tutorial, do not forget to also protect it so that it cannot be uninstalled from the system without your credentials. Not only that but remember that other programs like WhatsApp also provide a native function of this type to be unlocked using digital or facial biometrics.
Use a VPN
When surfing the internet, especially on an unknown Wi-Fi network, malicious people can know what you accessed and what your other activities were. So, for this and other situations, using a VPN can be a good alternative to make you more protected.
The process to use a VPN on Android itself turns out to be quite simple and Google Play is full of free and paid options for this. The tip from Olhar Digital is to use Cloudflare’s VPN, a renowned company in terms of security that offers this service for free, but also with a paid plan for those who need more data to browse and perform other activities.
Keep an eye out for spy apps
A common practice in recent times is to install spy apps on cell phones, which, as the name suggests, end up reporting practically everything you do on your device. Usually, when this happens, you can notice some signs such as the battery draining quickly or the cell phone heating up even without performing activities on it.
To get out of this situation, in addition to always keeping an eye on the list of installed applications, using an antivirus such as Kaspersky or Avast can help you remove them.
Use a browser that collects less data
By default, Android phones have Google Chrome as their default browser, which brings many features to make life easier for its users. Despite this, those who are more concerned about privacy probably don’t like the way this browser works for several reasons.
So, to browse the internet without having so much data collected, a good solution is to change Google Chrome for other options. For this, Olhar Digital has this list of the 5 best browsers with a focus on privacy for Android.
Keep default system encryption enabled
To make your files a little more secure, natively, Android is able to encrypt them. In fact, in most cases, this option is already activated by default, but it is always good to make this small confirmation in the “Settings” of the system.
This encryption item, as shown in the image above, is usually located in the “Lock screen and security” part, but this can change according to your cell phone manufacturer.
Control which notifications appear
The notifications sent by the apps are very useful so that you don’t have to open them all the time, however, anyone who sees your cell phone can know what’s “happening” on it through them. Thus, in the Android settings itself, it is always good to define which apps can or cannot send you notifications, as well as configure whether or not they should appear when the device is blocked.Popular In The Community