If your smartphone is your life, here’s how you can keep it safe

We give a lot of thought when we think about upgrading our phones, but we often don’t give the same amount of consideration when it comes to our smartphone’s security. That’s a great pity because the prevalence of smartphones has made it a favorite target for all sorts of cybercriminals.

Think about it. You probably use your smartphone way more than you use any other device. By virtue of it being on your person the entire day, the device can hear everything around you. There’s an astounding amount of personal information your smartphone has about you – from your financial information to details of every person you’ve ever contacted. It’s not without reason that experts have argued that your smartphone knows you better than you know yourself.

You don’t want such a powerful device to fall into the wrong hands, right? That’s why, if you haven’t already done so, it’s time to take a good, hard look at how you can keep your phone safe – both physically and digitally.

Keep your smartphone safe in public places

Don’t be careless with your phone especially in a public place or a crowded area. Make sure it’s in your pocket or inside your bag. Chances of misplacing it are high if you hold it in your hand all the time. Also ensure you are prepared for the worst-case scenario – set up location-finding applications on your phone, keep everything stored in secure vaults and ensure you have the option to remotely wipe your device.

Quick Heal Total Security for Android has a range of features to keep your device safe including Anti-Theft which prevents your phone from being misused if it is stolen. It has a Motion Alarm which notifies the user instantly if the phone is moved from its current position along with a Pocket Alarm notifying the user if someone attempts to steal a phone from their pocket.

Download and use only verified apps

A recent report highlighted that 70% of applications in common use had security flaws. In many cases, these flaws could potentially be used by third-party threat actors to hack into your phone, steal your data, or hijack your device. The best way to avoid this is to ensure you only use and download applications from official app stores: Google Play for Android or App Store for iOS. These stores verify all applications on their stores which provides an added layer of protection.

Assess the permissions you give to your apps

The apps we store can detect and store a whole lot of information about us. It’s helped by the fact that when we open a new app for the first time, we don’t think twice about giving it all the permissions it asks for. But do they really need all those permissions? Does every app need to know your location even when you are not actively using it? Give some time to go through the permissions you provide to your apps. The immediate benefit is that it will probably make your phone faster; the long-term benefit is that you will be providing less information about yourself.

Use and update a mobile security solution

We don’t think before securing our laptops or desktops, do we, so why shouldn’t we extend the same protection to your smartphones, especially considering we use them a lot more nowadays, right? Keep a powerful mobile security solution on your smartphone and regularly update it.

You could consider Quick Heal Total Security for Android which offers advanced protection from all sorts of harmful threats through features like Security & Privacy Advisor, regular scan, Anti-Theft, and a lot more.