How to stay safe/secure in Digital Life V.3

This is a Privacy Practice guide for your Mobile device…(Part one)

Photo by Morning Brew on Unsplash

In the last blog ( Link ), I stress on the habits and practices when it comes to the internet and in general Online activities, but this is specific to Mobile Device (Android).

So when it comes to protecting your data on the mobile device, two words that come in my mind and that are Permission(What level of privilege particular app have and does it needs all that permission to serve you.) and traffic ( how much and to whom data is being transferred at the particular moment when you are not using that particular app or even when you’re not using your phone and your data/wi-fi is turned off).

You don’t have to stress on that because I got your back and you just need to follow this step-by-step.

THIS IS PRIVACY MADE EASY

• Permission

→ What is this term “Permission”, when you install an application whether you download it from an app store (Google play store) or .apk file from an official source, to install/work that application you have to give certain permission/privilege that a particular application can have. For better understanding lets take an example: You downloaded an application X from the app store and app X is asking for permission like ( location, camera, contact, SMS, microphone, storage, calendar, Physical activity, etc) that means if you have turned on that permission, application have access to that and that can access your message, contact or your data stored on your device. So you need to bit more careful before allowing certain permission, always check if app X need to that permission to work if not so you can turn off permission.

Let’s get a bigger/better understanding on this by taking a real example[ Chrome browser when you install, it will ask for permission as [ location, camera, contact, microphone, storage], and even if you have turned off all your permission it will work very fine/ same as (when you have permission on), and you can turn on particular permission in case of need like you needed to download a file you can allow access to storage and turn off later when you’re done.

Setting -> App management -> App list/App permission -> Check for application one by one.

• Traffic/ Data flow from your device

→ Do you know when you are not using a particular app or let’s say you aren’t even using the phone it just sitting idle on a table or in your pocket and you have turned off your mobile data connection and wi-fi too, still it(application X) sending data back-forth OR, in another case you have your network connection on and you’re using only one app(i.e. YouTube) and don’t need other apps but you have connection on so other apps are sending data back and forth in that case what you can do is block this flow of data using a firewall and allow only what is need of time.

And to make this simple as it is I’ll guide you through… an application NetGuard, best firewall for android device and it’s free(basic version) and no root required and you can use on any android device.

NetGurad in Action

By doing this you’re achieving two things, Data privacy, and better power(battery) life.

• Mobile Browser

→ Mobile browser plays a vital role when it comes to data privacy and mobile security because most of the times you spend on that by surfing the internet/ clicking on links, so you need to be more careful in choosing a browser. Need help, always prefer a privacy-focused browser(inbuilt tracker block) over your traditional browser (per-installed).

If they (Companies) are talking about taking data privacy seriously, first thing is that they don’t need to create personalized data points or collected data.

And the two best privacy-focused browsers are Duckduckgo and Tor ( Both ask only for storage permission) and have an inbuilt blocking tracker.

Duckduckgo in action

• Google Privacy settings

Privacy becomes myth when it comes to Google although we can’t escape (so-called monopoly ) from that at least we can tight our belts, and I’ll guide you through that…

Settings -> Google -> Manage your google account -> Data & personalization -> Activity Controls -> YouTube/Location/Web & App ( Turn Off)

Settings -> google -> Account service -> connected app ( you can remove an app if you no longer using that, you signed up using google mostly games)

And you can take privacy controls back in your hand by managing though this… Here is the link ( In case you want to manage by using Web Browser)

Privacy tools - Google Account

Pro-Tip 💡

1. Remove apps from your device that you use once/twice a month, Check frequently for updates for your mobile OS and application on play store…
2. Choose applications that need minimum permission like ( Duckduckgo over chrome)
3. Use separate/new (Gmail) for your phone ( So that you can download apps from Play Store) and never login(same mail) to another device.
4. Use Protonmail as your primary mail, dump(Gmail) for your day to day activity.

“ You won’t compromise with anyone, even yourself when it about your life, so why negotiate when it’s about your Digital Life… ” — d0r1h

Thank you for your time, If you like this blog please 👏🏿 and share it with your friends ( because Privacy is everyone Right).

You can reach me out in case of any query at: 59r@protonmail.com