Privacy Enthusiast’s Guide to Using Android

With everyone from local crooks to government agencies trying to get their hands on your data, now is the time to step up your privacy game. Fortunately, there are many ways to keep your messages, files, and Android phone safe.

Before we begin, we must point out this: using a smartphone is always risky. Moreover, one running service from Google. You can use these tips and apps to protect some of your communication, but you never go offline while using your Android phone. However, this does not mean that you should make it easier for an attacker.

Change these system settings to protect your privacy

When you first pick up your phone, it’s time to start protecting yourself. During setup, make sure you turn off all options that request tracking of your data. After that (or if you’ve already set up your phone), there are a number of precautions you can and should take. We recommend all of the following list, but they all offer some sacrifice to convenience, so decide for yourself which ones you need:

• Set a strong alphanumeric password. Android gives you the option to use a pattern or PIN to lock your phone, but for security, you must use a strong alphanumeric password . Open the Settings app and go to Security> Screen Lock. Set a password consisting of numbers and letters.
• Don’t use your fingerprint to log in. Fingerprint sensors are convenient, but the law surrounding them is complex. While this is still being debated in the courts, the police can currently force you to use your fingerprint to unlock your phone . Better to just not use it at all. On Nexus and Pixel devices, go to Settings> Security> Pixel Imprint and delete any stored fingerprints.
• Encrypt your phone (if not already). Some manufacturers do not encrypt your phone by default. If you need to enter your PIN before booting your phone, it is probably already encrypted. Just in case, go to Settings> Security. In the Encryption section, you should see Encrypt Phone. If it says “Encrypted” below, everything is in order. Otherwise, tap it and follow the instructions to encrypt your phone. It may take a while and slow down some older phones, but it’s worth it to keep your data safe.
• Hide information about notifications from the lock screen. Android will show notifications even when your phone is locked, but you can hide sensitive information if you don’t want prying eyes to see it. Go to Settings> Notifications, then click on the gear icon at the top. Finally, tap On Lock Screen. You can choose “Hide sensitive notification content” to hide things like messages and email content, or “Hide notifications at all” so that no one can see anything.
• Disable Google Activity Tracking. Google is the biggest data glutton , so disabling data tracking is almost a Sisyphean task , but you can at least disable as much as you can . Follow this link , click the menu button at the top and select Action Controls. Here you can turn off location tracking, search tracking, voice tracking, and even YouTube history. Please note: Google may still store some anonymous information about you, but this may minimize the volume.
• Disable Google backup. Google backs up a ton of information about your device, including call history, apps, and even which Wi-Fi network you’re connected to. If you don’t want Google to have this information, go to Settings> Backup & Reset> Backup. You can either turn off backups completely (and create your own ), or selectively turn off data you don’t want to keep.
• Disable all unnecessary app permissions. Starting with Android 6.0 (Marshmallow), Google finally lets you choose which permissions to grant to apps. First, it means that you should probably get an Android phone running Marshmallow if you’re worried about your privacy. Then go to Settings> Apps and tap the gear icon at the top. Then click on App Permissions. Here you will be able to see permissions for things like Calendar, Contacts, Location, and Microphone. Tap each one and disable any apps you don’t trust. Keep in mind that this can break some apps if you don’t know why they need this permission. If you’re really not sure if you can trust an app, you might be better off uninstalling it.
• Turn on two-factor authentication. Your account is as secure as your password is ( which is not very secure ) unless you enable two-factor authentication. You can enable it for your Google account here and then for any of your accounts on this list . It’s also a good idea to use an app like Authy to manage your authentication tokens as it allows you to lock the app with a PIN. This protects your tokens in case someone steals and unlocks your phone.
• Turn on Android Device Manager. ADM can locate your phone remotely, so it can be a little tricky in terms of privacy. On the one hand, this means that Google will have information about where you are. However, you can also use it to remotely locate or wipe your phone. If you are looking for a nuclear option in case you lose your device, this might be a good tool.

This should handle a lot of data and vulnerabilities related to the Android phone (although you should still assume that some data is being tracked from your account). However, this is only part of the equation. Then you need to take a look at the apps you use every day.

Productivity apps that protect your privacy

Most productivity apps are designed to help you get the most out of your work. However, protecting your privacy is rarely most convenient. Therefore, you may need to use applications that are designed to protect as much data as possible, even if they have to forgo useful features like cloud sync or sophisticated computer analysis . Some of them, like a VPN, may not be necessary for you all the time, but you should almost always use apps like a password manager .

Also keep in mind that if you received your phone from your company through the Android at Work program , your data will still be visible to them even if you use these applications. If you want your information to be as confidential as possible, use your own phone and keep it as locked as possible.

Web Browser: Brave

While many browsers claim to protect your privacy, we found Brave to stand out as one of the best. It uses HTTPS Everywhere to encrypt your traffic and blocks scripts, cookies, phishing, pop-ups, and ads. If you find that the site isn’t working with Brave, you can selectively re-enable each of these features to find out what’s breaking the site, and even whitelist it if you think it’s worth it.

On desktops, Brave has a weird system that allows users to pay publishers instead of watching ads . However, this doesn’t seem to be in the mobile version, so you can ignore it. It’s not perfect, but it gives you a lot more flexibility to block third-party data tracking than Chrome.

Email: ProtonMail or Gmail

ProtonMail is the best way to ensure maximum email privacy. By default, it encrypts all your messages. You can send an email to other ProtonMail users and they can read it as usual. If you send it to anyone else, they will be given a link where they will need to enter a password in order to read your message. This is a very inconvenient way to send email, but if you need to ensure that no one other than the recipient reads your email, this is the right option.

If you’re a little less paranoid, Gmail is still a great way to hide your email from everyone but Google. Every email is sent over SSL and Google encrypts every message from sender to recipient. Unfortunately, Google itself can still see and crawl your emails , and it may even have to hand over some data to the government if they receive a legitimate request . However, Gmail will at least protect your messages from some random bystander or someone who finds your phone (assuming you have a strong password and two-factor authentication, as we mentioned earlier).

In general, email is quite difficult to secure as it always uses a third party server to send messages. If you have a good reason to wear a tin foil hat, you can always try running your own mail server , but keep in mind that this is really tricky.

Messaging: Signal or WhatsApp

If you really need to communicate securely with someone, Signal and WhatsApp are much better for your privacy than email. Both of these apps are end-to-end encrypted, they don’t store your messages after they’ve been delivered, and they both can make voice calls over text messages. It’s inconvenient that both parties need to install an app to use it, but creating an account is pretty straightforward.

However, for those who want the greatest possible privacy, Signal offers a slight edge. It does not store metadata about who you are talking to, but WhatsApp does. Neither the app knows what you are talking about, but WhatsApp knows who you are talking to and when. If WhatsApp gets legal permission, it can transfer this data. WhatsApp can also back up your messages to Google Drive, although they are encrypted, so it shouldn’t matter much. Even if law enforcement requests it from Google, they won’t be able to read it. However, it is important to know that there is a backup.

Password Manager: LastPass or 1Password

The best way to protect a strong password is not to know what the password is. Password managers can generate long and complex passwords for you and automatically enter them into the sites you visit. Our favorite password managers are LastPass and 1Password .

LastPass is free and allows you to sync your password storage across platforms , but the downside is that it uses its own servers. Although your data is encrypted while it is on LastPass’s servers, it can still be hacked if someone is targeting the company, which happened one day . Their encryption was strong enough to prevent attackers from gaining access to stored user passwords, which is reassuring, but if you have to be very careful, you might not want to risk it.

1Password, on the other hand, offers two types of sync. You can pay $ 3 a month to sync your account through 1Passwords servers, or just use your Dropbox account. You can also skip syncing entirely and save all your passwords to local storage and manually copy them from one device to another whenever you need to. This ensures that no one can access your storage, even if they attack a third party.

VPN: Hideman, Tunnelbear or NordVPN

Using a VPN is the easiest way to protect all of your web traffic . When you connect to a VPN, your traffic is encrypted, so no one monitoring can see what you are looking at. This is especially useful when you are on public networks where you have no control over your internet connection.

In this regard, we like Hideman , NordVPN, and TunnelBear . Each service requires a monthly fee, but you get a small amount of data for free every month. You don’t want to watch Netflix for hours with it, but it can help cover your traffic when you’re at an airport or hotel.

Notes: Lock Notes

Google Keep has been an unexpected success for note-takers , but you cannot lock your notes and they are all stored on Google’s servers for download. Lock notes, on the other hand, keeps all of your notes on your device and protects them with a passcode, PIN, or picture lock (although for better security, you should probably use a passcode). You can use note lock to jot down notes or create to-do lists in different colors and fonts. Even as a universal note-taking app, it’s pretty reliable, which makes security features the icing on the cake.

If you want to sync your notes, you can save your note storage to Dropbox to share across devices. As with 1Password, this gives you more control over how your data is stored, rather than transferring it to a company like Google. Of course, this means that someone might find your note storage in Dropbox, but it will still be encrypted so they won’t be able to read it anyway.

Cloud storage: SpiderOak

Dropbox protects your data pretty well, but if you need to take it one step further, SpiderOak is the best way to keep your data in the cloud and keep it safe. The company enforces a zero-knowledge policy using local encryption, so it cannot read the contents of your files before you download them. SpiderOak doesn’t offer free storage, but it does offer 100GB per month for $ 5, which rivals the likes of Dropbox and Google Drive.

This should be a good start for keeping prying eyes out of your normal Android use. Nothing here (or anywhere else) is 100% bulletproof, but you will be one step ahead of the rest, which is often enough to distract you from your day-to-day assault.

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