How to Ensure Your Phone Is Safe
For many of us, our phones are expensive lifelines that hold our personal information, cherished memories, browsing history, and so much more. This makes them a valuable object for thieves to take, a treasure trove of data for hackers, and an item we’d be upset to lose or break. Therefore, investing our time and energy into keeping our phones safe is important. By following the steps below, you can ensure your phone and all its information and personal items are as safe as possible.
Set Up a Password and Biometric Identification
Your phone password is the first line of defense in keeping the information on your phone safe. If it gets lost or stolen, it’s hard for people to break into it and find information or get into your accounts. Typically, you want a password that’s at least six digits and challenging to guess. Many phones also allow you to unlock your phone with personal identifiers such as your fingerprint or face. These biometrics give your phone an extra layer of protection that’s difficult for malicious actors to replicate.
Turn on Multi-Factor Authentication for Apps
Two-factor or multi-factor authentication is another way to add a layer of protection for apps that hold sensitive data, such as your banking or credit information. Doing this means you must verify your identity using two different sign-in methods: the account sign-in information and a text or email verification code. If your phone falls into the wrong hands and they manage to bypass your device’s password, there’s another factor in keeping information more secure. It also helps protect your phone from hackers, making it more difficult to bypass security measures.
Keep Your Phone’s Software and Apps Updated
Although updating your phone and its apps may be frustrating and even take up a lot of time, it’s well worth making a priority. These updates often contain bug or security fixes that better protect your device from hackers, viruses, and other harmful tech.
Install Anti-Virus Software
For a long time, people believed that iPhones and Apple products were impervious to viruses. This belief wasn’t unfounded, as the company has protected its devices from malware and digital threats. However, even with these in place, these devices can get viruses, as can any other type of phone. Because of this, adding anti-virus software to your phone can help keep your browsing safe from infecting your phone with something that may compromise your data.
Set Up “Find My Device”
Most phones have a “find my device” feature in the settings. It’s a good idea to set this up after getting a new phone so that it’s easier to track down if it’s ever lost. If it’s ever stolen, this feature can also protect your data by locking access to your device or even wiping its data.
Use a VPN
A virtual private network (VPN) keeps your phone safe and less accessible to hackers by encrypting your data for a more secure connection to an internet provider. It’s possible to use a VPN on your mobile device through your phone’s app store. A VPN not only adds protection to your information, but it also enables you to access content from different geographical regions, such as movies or shows only available in the UK or another country. It can even give you access to online games from other regions, although here are a couple of suggestions you can play in the US without having to work around these regional or legal restrictions.
Use Public Wi-Fi Cautiously
More and more places offer free Wi-Fi for people to use. While this is convenient, it can also pose a safety risk for your phone. On public networks, particularly unsecured ones, your online activity and device are more easily targeted by malicious actors, putting your information at risk. When using public Wi-Fi, always aim to use a secure connection and avoid carrying out activities that require sharing your personal details, such as online shopping or banking. A VPN does help protect you when using public Wi-Fi, but it’s still a good idea to be cautious.
Be Careful With Links and Sharing Personal Information
Be wary whenever you receive messages, phone calls, or emails with links or that ask for your personal information or money, especially if these requests come from an unknown contact. If a message or email claims to be a service provider, such as your bank, it’s better to contact the company and find out if they need anything from you. It’s not uncommon for phishing scams to come in these forms.
Back Up Your Data
It’s always a good idea to back up your phone’s data. If it’s ever lost, damaged, or stolen, you’ll still have access to your photos, videos, contacts, and other precious information stored on your phone. Many platforms and plans are available for this, and they are relatively low-cost.
Use a Phone Case and Screen Protector
While many of these tips will help protect your data from hacks, viruses, and scams, your phone can still suffer physical harm—you never know when you might drop it or have something unexpected damage it. Therefore, investing in a quality phone case and screen protector is a good idea. Paying a few dollars to protect your device is better than having it at the mercy of the elements if it lands in a puddle or cracks its screen. A phone case costs significantly less than a new phone. It also may be worth getting phone insurance so that if something damages your phone or it’s defective, you can get it repaired or replaced at no cost, or at least at a reduced cost.
Summary
From using a secure password and a phone case to setting up a VPN and anti-virus software, there are many ways to protect your mobile device physically and digitally. Hopefully, you’ll never need these protections, but it’s far better to be safe than sorry.
