Guide: Protect Your Digital Privacy with these Android Features!

Joaquin Victor Tacla, Tech Times 02 May 2022, 10:05 am

As we fully immerse in the digital world, protecting one's personal privacy is an imperative for a safe consumption of the Internet.

(Photo : JOSEP LAGO/AFP via Getty Images)
The Android logo is displayed at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona on February 26, 2019.

Google's profits, for example, largely depends from data-driven advertising businesses that are focused on user information and majority of them are actually Android users.

However, it must be noted that Google has now enabled its users more freedom on how the search engine can access into Android-related data by using various security features and privacy protections embedded into the software.

The Basics

To ensure that your digital privacy is protected while browsing the Internet, here are the basics that you must take into consideration.

1. Ensure that your device is updated with most recent security patches.

2. Choose a strong PIN that consists of both alphabet and numeric elements, work with capitalizations as well to secure your device.

3. Enable a two-factor authentication for your Google account because this will effectively prevent you from getting hacked.

4. Check your app's built-in security features since most of them are already switched on by default. Regularly check the Settings in your apps.

5. Use Google Play Protect , which serves as an in-built app scanner that protects the user from malicious apps such as spyware and stalkerware.

Effective Measures to Protect Android Users' Digital Privacy

1. Remove old and unused apps

It is important that you have a regular check-up on all the apps that you have installed. Uninstalling old and unused apps will prove to be beneficial since it will free up your storage device (which makes your system work faster and smoother) and ultimately improve the security of your device because even if you have not been using these apps, they are still running in your system's background, which means that it can still gather and share your personal data.

You can also go to Google Play Store for easier way to delete these unused apps by simply opening the store, tapping the Menu and the "My apps and games" where you can easily select the old apps that you need to delete from your device.

2. Regulate the built-in permissions of your app

Taking control and having an immense sense of awareness is key to protecting your privacy. After deleting your old and unsed apps, check all your remaining apps on a regular basis and check what they can access, such as your location, photos, texts, social media accounts, and many more.

This will let you adjust and disallow or allow some of the permissions and access of the apps to your personal data.

Go to your Settings, click Privacy and security, and head on to the Permissions Manager. This will let you know the data that each app has access to and you have the option to allow or limit them.

3. Do not show personal or sensitive details on lock-screen

Keep your lock-screen discreet since all of your notifications will pop-up on it.

Go to your Setting, click Privacy and security and choose Notifications on lock screen. You will have the option to switch the option to show sensitive content only when you have unlocked te device. You can also choose not to show sensitive notifications at all.

4. Private browsing is essential

Google has a built-in safe browsing mode which is enabled by default but for more protection, it is highly recommended that you use the Enhanced Safe Browsing feature that protects you from malicious websites and dangerous downloads.

Go to your Google Chrome app, tap the three dot menu located in the top right of the browser, open Setting and choose Privacy and security and Safe browsing. You can easily switch on Enhanced browsing through this process.

This article is owned by Tech Times

Written by Joaquin Victor Tacla