Smartphones have become an integral part of our daily lives. Every day we use them for different types of things such as reading news, texting, calling, paying bills, entertainment, and many others. But, using a smartphone also comes with a vulnerability. If you’re not vigilant enough, cyber attackers can easily steal your data. They can hack your online accounts and cause serious information damage. In order to avoid such instances, you should educate yourself about the right way of using your Android. One of the main elements of a good smartphone usage is simply tightening the security settings. While, you may have already enabled the obvious features, there are still some hidden or unpopular security features that you should enable immediately on your Android device.
Top 10 Android Security Features to Enable
Here’s a look at the security settings that you should enable to strengthen the security of your Android:
- Make use of Google Play Protect: As an in-built feature of Android, Google Play Protect keeps track of all the apps in your smartphone. This feature, if enabled, alerts you of any type of suspicious activity by any app. So, make sure that enable this feature to safeguard yourself from any malicious app that you may have installed in your Android.
Read Also: Biggest Cybersecurity Threats of 2018
- Enable Smart Lock: Many people don’t use security lock features due to the need of entering a password whenever they want to unlock their device. Such silly decisions may prove to be costly in the long run. So, as a better alternative, Smart Lock can offer you great security level along with much-needed convenience. This feature makes sure that your Android device stays unlocked whenever you’re connected to a trusted device or in a trusted place.
- Chrome’s Safe Browsing: Most of us usually prefer Chrome as our default Android browser. But not many people use the Safe Browsing feature of it. If you enable this security feature, it will intimate you whenever you’re browsing a malicious website. By doing so, you can avoid any type of possible cyber attacks.
- Enable 2FA: Since your Android device is connected with a Google account, it’s very important to take care of its security. Two-factor Authentication should be enabled in this case, as it provides an extra layer of security to your Google account, thus protecting your Android as well.
- Review App Permissions: Until a few months ago, the commoners are not really bothered about granting information access to the apps they use. But, after the recent Facebook data leak, everyone is now bothered about this aspect. In order to tighten your smartphone’s security, you should regularly review the app permissions. If you think that an app unnecessarily asks permissions to your personal info such as messages and calls, disable it.
- Limit your Lock Screen notifications: With Android, you can access notifications on your lock screen without unlocking your device. But, sometimes this feature may lead to astray, as anyone can see sensitive information by simply looking at your locked device. So, review and limit notifications that may contain confidential data from appearing on your lock screen.
- Pin your Screen: Many smartphone users are not aware of this Android feature called Screen Pinning. Well, have you ever handover your phone to a friend and regret it after they have gone through some of your sensitive information? Well, Screen pinning can help you in such situations. If enabled, this feature sticks an app to your screen. Until further authentication, nothing can be accessed except the pinned app.
- Encrypt your Phone: Android offers a feature called Encrypt Phone. By doing this, you can safeguard all your accounts, settings, apps, media, and other types of files. Even if someone manages to access your device, they simply can’t steal or access your information if it’s encrypted.
- Enable Find My Device: This Android feature allows you to lock and erase your smartphone, if lost. Many people don’t really bother about this feature until they lose their phone. So, don’t be that person and enable this feature, so that your information remains secure even if your device is lost.
- Use Biometrics: Passwords and Patterns are an old thing for your Android locking system. They can be predicted by someone if they look at your screen while unlocking. Many latest Android devices offer biometric unlocking via fingerprint and facial recognition. If your device offers such feature, switch to it.
Read Also: How to Protect Your iPhone From Thieves
Final Verdict
Many of these above-mentioned Android security settings are often neglected by most of the people. But they usually regret doing so after a disastrous data theft or cyber attack. If you want to strengthen your Android’s security, make sure that enable all of these features. Along with these features, try to always monitor your device’s performance. Since most of the cyber attacks slow down the performance of your phone, you can detect it by auditing your device regularly.
