The ultimate guide to secure your android phone [2019]

Android is one of the most popular mobile operating systems in the world. According to statcounter.com, it has nearly 80% of the market share of around 2 billion + active monthly users. Naturally, the bigger the audience you have, the more dangers you face. In this article, we’ll try to quickly brief you about five steps you can do in order to maximize your Android device security. 

1. Constantly update your phone

As usually updates associated with new fancy or even unnecessary features, it is important to keep your Android version as new as possible. New Android software updates often include security-related bug-fixes, so it is important to constantly check and renew your software.

2. Download only from the Google Play store

One of the best things about Androids is that you can download a variety of different and cool apps that are not available on the Play Store. It is important to know that all the apps that are uploaded to the Google Play Store are checked and are malware-free. 

However, if you’d decide to download some apps from unknown sources, there is a big chance that your phone will be at risk. The majority of the malware for Android OS comes from unknown and unapproved third-party application sources (Torrent sites etc.). Of course, there are exceptions, but you should be aware that a sexy premium app for your phone could bring way more damage than benefits.

3. Use a Virtual Private Network (VPN) while browsing the internet

A VPN service is the all in one protection that you may ever need. The app allows you to communicate over an unsecured or unencrypted network more confidentially. Also, it hides your location by altering your IP address. You don’t need to turn it on/off every day. You don’t even need to have the app opened – just simply connect once and forget about it.

A good VPN may cost you some additional charges but it is the surest way to protect your data. You should consider exploring the best VPN reviews before making the purchase. Moreover, changing your virtual location may give you some nice extra features, such as access to those Netflix movies that are restricted in your country.

4. Be aware of what kind of data is collected by the apps

Nowadays, different game or app providers are constantly looking for new ways on how to monetize their traffic/user base. We are used to the fact that app developers outlast by just selling their actual product or service. However, this has changed a few years ago, as more and more apps are provided for free. Ads inside their products became a good source of revenue. Now some of the app development companies even provide free software just to collect as big user base as possible. Why? To collect the data and to sell it for more cash than the actual app would cost.

Of course, we know that reading privacy policies and terms is a very boring thing to do, but we definitely suggest you look at the app/service subscription before you download or use it. You can also do that in settings by checking on what kind of data the app wants to collect. It must say what kind of data is logged and stored, so you will be aware of what kind of risk you’re putting yourself into. If it’s not – you should not be using it.

5. Set up a strong password to unlock your phone.

As new Android devices offer a variety of different phone-unlock methods, it still requires one of three traditional lock types: 9 dot pattern, PIN or password. 

You should understand that all of these three methods have a different level of protection. The easiest to unlock is the 9 dot pattern, so we recommend to avoid using that. 

A 6 digit pin code is, of course, better, but the best way to protect your phone is a unique password. Of course, it would take if you’d like to unlock your phone, but that is definitely the best protection possible.

There are two main rules that you have to follow:

1) The password should be unique and it should NOT overlap/duplicate other accounts or websites. Of course, having lots of information in your head is difficult, but we’ll speak on how to solve this issue just a bit later.
2) Do not use the most popular passwords. There is a list of officially most commonly used passwords. You can find it here.
Your password should not contain any of this information:

– First or names
– Birth dates/months

– Pet names

What is a strong password?

A super-strong password consists of at least eight characters ( the more symbols you have, the stronger it is). You should include at least one upper case letter, a number and a symbol such as @, #, &, ! or any other you like of prefer.

Okay, as nowadays people use lots of different social media sites and platforms, how to remember all the passwords you created? Simple! Since 2017, password manager applications became really popular and more and more people start using them. A password manager is simply a wallet for all the passwords and accounts you created in one place.

The best free password managers in 2019

• LastPass.
• Dashlane.
• Keeper Security.