How to secure your mobile: Android and iOS

How to secure your mobile: Android and iOS

Let’s face it, mobile phones store a vast amount of sensitive information from our passwords, emails, access to our social media accounts and more.

If you aren’t protecting either your Android or iOS device, you’ll run the risk of someone tracing and stealing your information.

At Circles.Life, we understand the importance of mobile phone security and have put together some tips on how to go about strengthening both your Android and iPhone security.

Having a pin on your phone is a great way to keep it secure, but the best pin you could use is a random one.

Don’t use your birth date, phone number, ID number or anything that might be related to your personal information.

For Androids, you can also use Android’s Smart Lock feature. It allows you to keep your mobile phone unlocked at home or other trusted places and only locks your phone when you’re out in public etc.

Have two-factor authentication

To make both your iOS and Android safe from hackers, two-factor authentication (2FA) is a must. It keeps your account safe from hackers as it adds another layer of security.

Just something as simple 2FA can help with decreasing the risk of someone accessing your device or account.

Download apps only from the Google Play / App store

While it might be tempting, do not use third-party app stores as it’s an easy way for hackers to access your device.

At the same time, there’s also been a significant growth in mobile threats such as fake apps pretending to be legitimate ones on the app stores. If you’re not familiar with the developer that’s making these apps, avoid them.

Fake apps are a way for criminals to trick individuals into providing personal information such as credit card information, contact details and more. Take the time to check the legitimacy of the app before downloading.

Fake apps are a way for criminals to trick individuals into providing personal information such as credit card information, contact details and more. Take the time to check the legitimacy of the app before downloading.

Don’t use Wi-Fi or Bluetooth connections unfamiliar places

This is a hard one - especially if you’re in urgent need of a Wi-Fi connection. By connecting your iPhone or Android to Wi-Fi or Bluetooth connections in unfamiliar places, however, you run the risk of a “Man in the Middle’ attack where you’re tricked into joining a separate access point instead.

Need more data? Get a flexible, customizable one here so you’ll never have to rely on iffy hotspots again.

Use a password manager

One of the best and easiest things for you to have, a password manager can both generate and store strong passwords. This will prevent you from using common and weak passwords that make accounts easy to take over.

Preferably, you’ll want to use a password manager that also requires 2FA for extra protection.

Be careful of permissions

There’s no better time to be particular about the type of permissions you’re granting apps. Accessibility permissions are powerful and you could be granting harmful malware into your phone.

If there isn't a good reason to be granting permission to an app, avoid it. If you’re not sure, ask the developer for more information before granting access.

Keep your apps updated

Ever received a notification from an app asking you to update it to the latest version? While it might be easier to dismiss it, not having the latest version means you’re also not having the most secure version of your app.

To prevent your phone from being exposed to security threats, go ahead and update your apps or phone software whenever required.

Make sure losing your phone doesn’t turn into a security disaster

These days our phones have greater access to sensitive information - whether that be apps, mobile banking, debit cards on our phone and more. You don’t want your phone to fall into the wrong hands unprotected.

Whether it be your iPhone or Android, make sure that you’ve got settings in place to protect the data on your phone if it gets lost. Some examples include:

• Encryption of information on your device.
• A lost device tracker.
• Deleting or wiping all of the information on your phone if the wrong passcode is used time and time again.

Avoid jailbreaking or rooting

As a rule, do not jailbreak your iPhone or root your Android. While it allows you to install apps that aren’t available on the Apple store or Google Play, these apps typically don’t conform to the required levels of security and may have malicious intent.

You could be downloading malware onto your device that allows remote extraction of your sensitive information.

Keeping your mobile secure

In this age, we’ve not only got plenty of personal information on our mobile phones, but they’re also an easy target for hackers.

For that reason and more, it’s important to ensure that you’re offering your iPhone and Android devices the right amount of protection.

The tips above will help you improve both your security and privacy, allow you to stay ahead of hackers, and ultimately secure your device effectively.