How to Stop Mobile Phone Hacking

Smartphone users spend on average three hours every day doing non-voice activities on their devices, and in this time they need to be protected.

Mobile phones have become a prime target for hackers and ‘phishers’, attempting to access your private information.
Emails, social media, software updates, apps and open public Wi-Fi are all easy ways for hackers to breach your security but are also easy to prevent.
Here are a few tips to help prevent against an attack on your handheld device.

1. Firstly, review your phone

 

Android or iPhone, spyware could be anywhere, even in plain sight. Search through your apps and delete those you don’t recognise or haven’t used in a while.


Revoking access to apps for components such as the camera or microphone is also an option that helps prevent the app from collecting personal information.


Don’t use an alternative file cleaner app, they advertise faster performance but more often than not clog your device. Instead delete apps and files manually.


In addition, you might want to check the credibility of the browser you are currently using as many won’t encrypt user search queries, allowing tracking, collecting geolocation data, and leaving any sensitive information entered unprotected.

2. Secure your email

 

 

 

In the age of the smartphone email has remained the main form of communication, with most of us being found ceaselessly ‘on the grid’ or ‘plugged in’.


‘Phishing’ - the action of masquerading as another to gain sensitive information - is still the mobile hacker’s most frequent and effective tool. A scam varying from modest local bank to illustrious Nigerian Prince, it is very easy to get caught out, but also very easy to prevent.


To prevent such attacks don’t open any attachments or web links unless you are sure of its legitimacy. A two-factor authentication is advised, further reducing the risk of a breach.


And remember that authorised companies should never ask for you to complete an embedded form or offer direct links to free downloads away from their own website.


‘Spear phishing’ - where a hacker targets you personally via a fake social network account - can also be prevented by contacting and validating the friend through another means of communication before giving away any personal information.

3. Don't be caught out by false software updates

 

 

Touch-screen devices come with the risk of being liable to one-tap ads. These ads can contain dangerous malware or even harmless adware/freeware that increase our vulnerability to fake software updates.


Don’t be caught out by a false software update by only downloading updates directly from official sites. iOS support recommends we keep our devices up-to-date as hackers tend to target older tech.


This is easily achievable for both Android and iPhone by turning on auto-update in ‘settings.’ Due to this, we need never manually update our devices and won’t fall risk to a fake software update.


You should also consider a mobile antivirus, here is everything you need to know about mobile antivirus.

4. Monitor the apps on your phone

 

With the app store ever increasing, so too is the likelihood downloading an app that can be potentially damaging.


When aiming to download an app look up its details online. Check the author, when it was last updated, and its reviews; all can give clues as to the legitimacy of the application.


Always install any app from the official store, and limit the number of how many you use.
Remember to keep your apps up-to-date, especially those used for messaging and banking.


Both Apple and Google recommend we do not save our passwords for these important applications, as it makes security redundant if a hacker were to access our phone.

5. Be safe on public Wi-Fi

 

 

 

Public Wi-Fi has become one of the most common ways hackers attempt to gain access to your details, or even remotely control your device. The easy way to prevent this is to not use public Wi-Fi at all, but there are also other methods to reduce the risk.


You should also invest in a VPN (virtual private network). By encrypting the user's information, it allows for a secure connection and transaction within a public network. Here are some of the best VPNs.


However, the most effective form of prevention is to turn off Wi-Fi when making personal transactions from a public place.

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5 Easy Ways to Free up Space on Your Smartphone

Free up space in your smartphone with these 5 easy methods.

Are you all the time worried about storage space in your smartphone? Does the inadequate storage message trouble you? Well, everyone of us comes across this perennial downside whereas making an attempt to take new photos, or save movies or songs.


For individuals who frequently find themselves running out of space and have to handle it, it is strongly recommended to get a smartphone with extra storage next time. Nonetheless, for those, who want to proceed with their present smartphone and want to free up space in their phones, we’ve got some space-saving suggestions for their gadget.


On this article, we attempt to bring you some fast approach to free up space in your smartphone. Nonetheless, please notice that the following tips don’t include deleting motion pictures and TV shows.

Delete pictures and videos 

 

Have an enormous collection of memorable photos or 4K video clips however don’t want to delete them? Whereas the simpler possibility to create space in your smartphone could be to go to the gallery app of your selection and simply delete among the pictures and clips. Nevertheless, you could wish to retain most of them.


For Android smartphones, there may be Google Photos that provides free up space option on the primary app menu that scans for photos and movies which have already transferred to the cloud and deletes the local copies. To do that on Android devices manually, go to Device folders from the app menu, select a group of images, tap the three dots on the menu bar and choose Delete device copy.


Additionally, examine your backup settings—Google Photos lets you choose between storing originals and resized copies within the cloud. Solely, if you’re happy with the arrangement you’ve gotten set up, delete the local copies.


Nonetheless, it’s a bit riskier to delete local copies of files on Apple’s Photos app in iOS, whereas keeping the iCloud backups, because the apps are specifically set up to keep every part in sync. The one easy solution is to make use of Apple’s own automatic Optimize iPhone Storage option from the Photos & Camera menu in Settings. This makes use of low-resolution copies in your smartphone when space is limited, whereas retaining the originals available within the cloud.

Delete games you might be not be playing

 

Typically the worst culprits, video games eat loads of space in your device so far as storage goes. Whereas uninstalling apps can take away some space in your smartphone, you should choose apps of a considerable size to really clear the decks.


You will need to double-check what occurs to any saved video games you’ve gotten saved earlier than removing any title. Nevertheless, if they’re in a secure place within the cloud (otherwise you simply don’t need them), then erasing video games you’re now not playing could be a actual space saver.

You might be interested in: Recover deleted files with Wondershare Data Recovery

If are positive and happy that you just won’t be deleting something necessary that you just can’t retrieve later, then go forward and take away a couple of video games.
To take a look at how a lot storage every game makes use of on Android, you’ll be able to go to Settings and tap on Apps. On iOS, from Settings choose General, Storage & iCloud Usage and Manage Storage.

Delete browser downloads

 

Do you commonly download massive files from the net and forget about them? Stock Android provides a Downloads app right in the primary app drawer, to be able to shortly check what you’ve got in there and erase something that aren’t required.


Nonetheless, alternatively, iOS doesn’t enable you do something as unsafe as download files. Saved pictures are in your Photos app, however that’s about it.


On Android and iOS, you’ll be able to clear the web site and history data out of your mobile browsers too, however the space for storing are unlikely to be vital.

Delete synced playlists

 

Perhaps one of many causes behind your smartphone running out of space for storing could possibly be the totally different kind of album collection you could have in your device. If sure, you’ll be able to rapidly go through the listing and delete those that you don’t want, which in turn will provide you with some space in your smartphone.


In Spotify, go to Your Library from the primary app menu (or the navigation tab) and the playlists you’ve synced are in green. To erase its contents out of your device, tap on anyone and uncheck the offline toggle change.


(You may not get again all of the space immediately— in case you made a mistake, Spotify appears to keep the tracks cached for a short while.)


In Google Play Music, you’ll be able to go to Manage downloads from Settings on the primary app menu to really see tracks in your device. Tap the orange tick next to any playlist, album or song to remove it out of your smartphone.


In Apple Music, within the Music section of the Settings app on iOS, there’s an helpful Downloaded Music entry that you need to use to delete cached tracks. Whereas there isn’t a such option on Android, it’s essential to go to My Music from the primary app menu, then tap Artists and choose Only Downloaded Music to see locally saved songs.


In Spotify, you can too scale back the quality of cached tracks to free up space: the option is behind the Streaming Quality menu within the app settings (iOS) or within the app settings below Music Quality (Android).

Delete cached maps 

Do you’ve the behavior of caching offline maps in advance, as you retain traveling around remote parts of the world? Whereas this feature is useful, it will probably nevertheless eat quite a lot of storage space in your device, in case you’ve got half of the country on your local storage.


Whereas there isn’t any solution for Apple Maps, because it manages offline caching automatically, you may try it for Google Maps and Here Maps. In Google Maps, go to Offline areas from the primary app menu, tap on an area and you’re going to get the choice to delete it out of your smartphone.


If you don’t want this to occur sooner or later, you’ll be able to set offline areas to automatically take away themselves after 30 days: tap on the gear icon to turn off the automatic updates from the same Offline areas display screen.


Nonetheless, check the offline cache in case you are using a different app —it’s behind Download maps on the primary app menu for Android and iOS within the case of the Here Maps, and you’ll swipe left (iOS) to delete a map or just tap any of the related trash icons (Android).

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