Nowadays, the smartphone has become an important part of our life. It’s the thing that most of us keep on us all the time and where we store a lot of sensitive data. If you aren’t careful, someone can attack your smartphone and exploit that data.
More importantly, if you don’t secure your smartphone, people with physical access can get into it, read messages & emails or steal important accounts. They can also do a lot of other things as they have full access without any restrictions.
In this post, we are going to share with you six essential security tips that every Android user should know. If you are using an Android smartphone, these tips will help you to secure it against many types of threats out there.
1. Install System Updates Regularly
Take some time to download and install new updates when they’re available which will help to fix bugs on your Android smartphone. Besides, those updates also bring new features and improvements to your phone.
In fact, it doesn’t take much time. When you connect to a wireless network, those updates will automatically be downloaded and stored on your phone. Subsequently, you can choose to install them when you have free time. For example, when you are charging the battery of your phone, you can opt to install the updates as well.
2. Download And Use Antivirus Application
With the growth of Google’s Android, attackers have created many types of viruses and malware that can infect your smartphone and exploit the data. For example, some malware can install itself on your smartphone and redirect some specific websites to fake places to collect your information, especially email, password, or even credit card numbers.
When you visit those sites to place an order and enter your financial information, attackers will receive those details instead of the real website. Sometimes, your browser, such as Google Chrome, will alert you with an error message: Your connection is not private, but sometimes it doesn’t. So, the best way is to protect yourself first.
There are many free antivirus software that you can find in the Google Play store, such as AVL, Avast, Bitdefender, or McAfee. Pick one to protect your Android smartphone against viruses and malware.
3. Do Not Download And Install Apps From Unknown Sources
Most Android users don’t know that the fastest way to get infected with viruses or malware is to download and install apps from unknown sources. When the developer sends an application to the Google Play store, the team will check and verify before making it available to users. That’s why searching for needed apps from this official Android store is more secure than downloading from third-party sources.
4. Set Protected Password Or PIN To Secure Your Android Smartphone
Apart from online threats, you also need to protect your smartphone from physical threats, like someone can steal your phone and exploit sensitive data. To protect against this type of threat, you need to set a PIN or password to protect your Android device.
The person who stole your phone will never be able to access it without knowing the passcode. Google’s Android offers several methods to protect your device, including simple PIN, Pattern, Face Unlock, and complicated password.
5. Enable Android Device Manager
Have you ever heard about Find My iPhone? It’s a feature that helps users to find their iOS devices when they put somewhere but don’t remember. It’s also helpful when your iOS device is being stolen as you can locate the location of it as long as it’s still connected to the Internet.
The Android Device Manager feature is quite similar to Find My iPhone, which allows you to track the location of your smartphone, lock it down remotely, as well as wipe all the data in the case you lose your phone. We would recommend enabling this feature as it’s quite handy, which will assist you in finding your smartphone in the case you can’t remember where you left it.
6. Beware Of Unsecured And Public Wi-Fi Networks
When your mobile data bandwidth runs out, connecting to public wireless networks to access the Internet is a suitable replacement. However, you should be aware of those unsecured and public Wi-Fi networks as they can be exploited to intercept users’ information. As a result, attackers will be able to view all the data, which you are transmitting through those wireless networks. Those details could be your personal information, passwords, or even credit card details. So, we would suggest avoiding using wireless networks that you don’t trust. But if you need to use them in urgent cases, using a VPN connection would be saferusing a VPN connection would be safer. Otherwise, avoid entering sensitive data as we mentioned above.
Applying these tips will help to keep your Android device more secure against many types of threats, including online and offline. However, you shouldn’t rely on these security tips and use your smartphone carelessly. Safe or not, it’s mostly based on the way you use it.