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By Ravie Lakshmanan

Smartphone Privacy 101

A quick guide to improving privacy on your smartphones...
  1. Improve passcode strength by choosing a 6-digit or alphanumeric PIN (turn off biometric authentication if necessary).
  2. Disable cloud backups.
  3. Opt out of personalised ads (Limit Ad Tracking setting in iOS) and analytics, which includes interest-based ads, usage, analytics and diagnostic information, and reset advertising identifier periodically.
  4. In System Services toggle off everything except for Compass Calibration, Find My iPhone, Setting Time Zone and Status Bar Icon. (iOS only)
  5. Turn off hotword detection (Hey Siri, Ok Google), and also limit "Ok Google" to just Google app and widget.
  6. Turn off access to Siri and other apps from the lock screen. (iOS only)
  7. Remove widgets that accidentally leak personal information. (iOS only)
  8. Reduce lock screen timeout by setting it to 30 seconds or lower.
  9. Fine-tune your notifications and disable notification previews to prevent sensitive content from being displayed on the lock screen.
  10. Reset app location settings to use them only while using the app, and limit location sharing with others. (Bonus: Carry your phone in a stronghold bag to block out wireless signals, or even better, switch it off when not absolutely required.)
  11. Switch to Firefox Focus, Bromite (Android only) for a private web browsing experience, and change default search engine to StartPage or DuckDuckGo.
  12. Change Safari settings to enable Do Not Track, block pop-ups and cross-site tracking, and turn off Fraudulent Website Warning (it is a small security risk, but more privacy driven as Safari sends the website address to Google/Tencent Safe browsing to check if the website is fraudulent.) (iOS only)
  13. Enable setting wipe phone data after 10 failed unlock attempts.
  14. Set up Find My iPhone/Find My Device.
  15. Fine-tune app permissions by selectively turning on/off access to features like location, microphone etc.
  16. Turn on device encryption (Android only, iOS devices are encrypted by default).
  17. Turn on Google Play Protect to routinely scan installed apps for any security threats. (Android only)
  18. Prevent unauthorised apps from being installed (Android only, unless you have jailbroken your iOS device) by turning off option to install apps from unknown sources.
  19. Download apps outside of Play Store (Android only) using F-Droid (a catalogue of open-source applications for Android), Aptoide, Yalp Store or Aurora Store (apps to download apps available on Google Play Store as .apk files).
  20. Lastly, ensure the Android and iOS versions are always up-to-date.
Check out more Android privacy settings here, and more online privacy options here.

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