Android mobile phone: If it falls down it goes broken, if it is stolen, all data are lost. It does not have to be. We provide you with valuable tips that make your smartphone safe. Smartphones now accompany us everywhere, know almost everything about us and organize our days. Reason enough to secure its smartphone comprehensively. We trust our smartphones that contains all our data, and often forget to take the Android Security measures if in case it gets into the wrong hands. For this reason, you should pay particular attention to good safety precautions for your smartphone.
There are cases where practically every hope is in vain. This includes a fall of the smartphone from heights or a theft by a professional. But in all other cases, you can do very much to make your smartphone safer. Just follow our tips!
Theft protection
If the smartphone is stolen or lost, then you will feel less like you have lost your wallet. Therefore, we advise all smartphone users to install and activate the anti-theft protection. Such a possibility is provided by most anti-malware solutions, which we also present in this Android user edition. If you only want to use the anti-theft protection, we recommend the application Cerberus anti-theft of the developer LSDROID. It brings a lot of possibilities and can be controlled via SMS or via a web front end.
Save important data
Connect the mobile phone to the PC, start the app and back up data. But which data is really valuable to you? Contacts, SMS messages and the photos… There are solutions for automatic backup. You secure the contacts via your GMail account. We recommend this even if you are not actively using GMail.
To save the photos, you create a Google+ account and activate the instant upload via WLAN. If you are photographing relatively little, then you must definitely activate the upload in original size. This gives you "only" 5 GB of storage space, but your photos are kept in the original (and you can later purchase additional storage, if desired). If Google+ is really only a backup, select the default size in the settings for the Instant Upload of Google+ under Store Size. This allows you to back up as many photos as you want in the Google Cloud, but with a maximum of 3 megapixels. All photos remain private and you do not need to actively use Google+ for this service.
PIN code or pattern
Even if it is cumbersome to unlock your own smartphone again and again with a PIN code, password or pattern: make the effort! This is the only way to avoid theft or loss of the data on your smartphone. To set the display lock, enter the settings and select Security -> Display lock. If you choose a pattern, avoid obvious such as Z or N and set a reciprocal motion. This prevents someone from recognizing the pattern due to streaks on the touchscreen. Also make sure that the Make visible checkbox is not set. So you see at most a wrong pattern, but never the right one.
Viewing angle protection film
The best password or the best unlocking pattern will not be useful if someone is watching you unlock the Android device. The fact that someone looks over your shoulder can prevent you in most cases, but what about side looks? Here is a viewing angle protection film, also called privacy filter. Once mounted on the display, you can practically no longer see what happens on the touchscreen from the side.
Protective covers
Admittedly, many protective covers do not look great, but most of them protect your smartphone from glass breakage when the smartphone falls from the breast to the ground. Make sure that the bumper is made of a soft material and provides an additional edge around the display so that it will get ground contact on impact, not the touch screen.
Two-way authentication
Do you use simple passwords or do you often log on to other computers on Google? Then you should use two-step verification from Google. To do so, log in to your Google Account and then set up the confirmation. In the simplest case, you will get an SMS on your mobile phone, but there is also an offline application for Android Security, which generates the necessary codes for the login. This does not make your mobile phone safer, but it will protect your Google account. The details explain our free article on the website
Protection in WLAN hotspots
Do you like surfing at McDonald's, Starbucks, or other hotspots with many unknown users? Then you should be aware that it is easy with every rooted Android smartphone and the appropriate apps to "hijack" even HTTPS encrypted connections and thus intercept login data and passwords. The App DroidSheep Guard by Andreas Koch protects you against this danger. The app notices, if someone tries to divert the network traffic over its own device and switches in such a case automatically the WLAN from. As the only app on Google Play, it performs this task reliably, free of charge and without ads.
Safe mode
You have the feeling that something is wrong with your smartphone, you may have installed a malicious app, or someone fiddled with your smartphone? Then restart it in safe mode. To do this, hold down the power button on the touch screen until a dialog box appears to select Safe Mode. Your Android device then only offers the apps to the start, which were packaged by the manufacturer on the mobile phone. So you have time to check the installed apps and delete malicious software. The mode is also an excellent way to find a good deal. If the running time is much better in safe mode, then one of the additionally installed apps must be responsible for the high battery consumption. Safe mode will automatically stop when you restart the smartphone.
Install anti-malware software
Even if there are currently no really bad apps on Google Play, there are enough dangerous apps in Google Store that you will not be able to install. To be protected against such and other malware, you should install anti-malware software. For a basic protection the free version is sufficient for most providers. For Android users, AVG AntiVirus Mobile Security PRO is available free of charge in this edition for one year.
Encrypt the storage
Since Android 4.0, there is the possibility to encrypt the complete smartphone. The file system is fragmented in such a way that it can only be re-assembled with a password or PIN code. This feature provides high data protection when the phone is switched off. In operation, the encryption is nothing to remember, all files are normally available. Since the process takes about an hour, you must first fully charge the mobile phone and leave it on the charger until the encryption is finished. You can find the setting under Security -> Phone Encrypt. Here you also define whether the mobile phone is to query the PIN code of the SIM card at startup.
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