What features do you need to disable in your smartphone so that you are not hacked or eavesdropped
Global IT giants, application developers, and cyber scammers often spy on smartphone users. How to protect yourself and your data on smartphones running Android and iOS, remove metadata from photos or protect applications with an additional password.
Where am I now
The first thing to be wary of is that applications determine the user's location. Navigators and marketplaces need locations for easier use of applications so that the user does not manually enter the city and address. However, access to geolocation can also be requested by some photo editors, the motives of whose creators are unknown.
Apps that don't need to know your location are better off not giving these permissions.
To do this, on Android-based smartphones, you need to find the necessary application on the desktop, hold down its icon and select the "Details" item in the pop-up window or click on the icon with the letter "i". Then, in the "Permissions" section, you should revoke access to determine the location.
In the case of the iPhone, you need to open "Settings" - "Privacy" - "Location Services". After selecting the desired application, prohibit it from tracking geolocation.
It would also be useful to indicate the accuracy of the definition for applications that still have access. In iOS, this is done in the same section - just turn on or off the item "Exact location". On Android, this item is also in this section.
Important addresses
If you don't want Apple and Google to know your favorite places, home, and work addresses, you should turn off location tracking.
On iOS, just open "Settings" - "Privacy" - "Location Services" - "System Services" and go to the "Important Locations" section. At the end of the movement history, click on the "Clear history" item, and then turn off tracking.
For Android users, turning off detection is a bit more difficult. This is done in the Google Maps settings under Timeline - Location History. To clear the history, just in the "Chronology" click on the icon with the image of a trash can.
Access to photos and videos
Most users do not store compromising photos in their smartphone gallery. But even in this case, it is better to take care of the safety of personal data and prohibit applications from accessing the gallery, besides, for example, games and other entertainment programs are useless.
On iOS, you need to open "Settings" - "Privacy" - "Photos". There, you should already select a specific application and either completely deny it access to the gallery, or allow it to see only selected pictures.
In Android, for this, you need to hold down the icon of the desired application and go to the "Permissions" section. There you should deny access to the storage with media files.
Metadata
Often, users, when sending photos and videos to someone, do not think that along with them they also transmit information about the date, location, and even the device on which the file was created. Attackers can use this data for their own purposes - for example, in order to make sure that you are on vacation, which means that no one is at home.
You can use the Metapho app to turn off metadata transfer on your iPhone. It not only cleans the metadata but also allows you to correct them. For Android, the Photo EXIF Editor application carries a similar functionality.
Camera and microphone
In order not to worry while talking about something important and intimate, it will not be superfluous to turn off the camera and microphone on your smartphone.
In iOS, all you need to do is open Settings - Privacy - Camera or Microphone and select the appropriate applications that should be prevented from turning on the corresponding sensors.
In Android, everything is a little simpler - on the desktop, you need to select the desired application, hold down the icon, and, by going to the application details, open the permissions section and revoke access to the camera and microphone already there.
In addition, with Android 12, smartphones have the ability to quickly disable the microphone and camera at the system level - this can be done directly from the quick settings menu. Basically, this feature is only available for smartphones running "pure Android".
Other permissions
To increase the level of your own security, it is worth going through all the applications in the ways described above to disable other permissions. For example, reading SMS, access to contacts, and call logs can be denied to any application. So you will lose the automatic entry of SMS passwords and other amenities, but none of the applications will get access, for example, to a message with a confirmation code from the bank.
Application Lock
Despite the fact that in the modern world almost all smartphones are protected by a password or biometric data of their owners, additional protection will be useful. Most manufacturers of Android smartphones offer built-in utilities and a security system with the ability to set passwords to access applications. Moreover, in this case, you can set a password different from the one that protects the gadget itself.
For example, in Xiaomi, the "Security" program allows you to set a graphic password, a digital code, or a full password from different characters to access the application. This solution is an excellent additional measure to protect the device - if an attacker finds out the password of a smartphone, it is not a fact that he will be able to cope with the second one.
There is no such protection in the iPhone, but Apple fans have found several more complex schemes with which you can implement a similar function.
For example, using the Shortcuts application, you can create a script to lock your smartphone when you open an application that you want to protect. To do this, you need to open the program, create a new automation and select an action - when the application is open - start a timer for 1 second. It is important to turn off the “Ask before starting” toggle switch and in the “Clock” application on the “Timer” tab, select the action “At the end” - “Stop”.
Thanks to this scheme, when the selected application is launched, a timer will be started for one second, followed by blocking the smartphone. To continue, you will need to enter your passcode or open your iPhone using Face ID or Touch ID.
Remote removal
No one is immune from losing their smartphone. Android and iOS provide the ability to remotely delete all files from the device.
Android owners need to log into the Google Find My Device website using the same Google account that is on the lost device. Then you need to select it in the list and select "Delete all data from the device." It is important to remember that in this case, the smartphone will no longer be displayed on the map since when it is cleared, your account will be logged out.
To clean up a lost iPhone, you need to log in using the same Apple ID in iCloud, go to "Locator", select the desired device in the "Devices" section and click "Erase this device".
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