The Easiest Thing You Can Do to Protect Your Phone

It seems that the period between knowing about another malicious mobile app in the wild is getting shorter and shorter. Almost weekly, I see articles in various news feeds that declare that users “absolutely must uninstall these apps or the end of the world is near!” All wrapped up in clickbait hyperbole, there’s an important lesson to be learned here. Unfortunately, that lesson is one that many have had to learn the hard way.

Said very difficult This is when phones fall prey to ransomware, privacy is compromised or data is stolen. This unfortunate situation happens often. It may not have happened to you yet, but it may only be a matter of time.

Too: 3 ways to detect malware-infected apps on your smartphone

So, how can you use your phone wisely? What’s the easiest thing you can do to keep your phone secure?

I’m not going to make you guess or read an entire article to explain what you can do to keep your phone and your date safe. It is against my method to keep you hanging. Who needs suspense, right?

The easiest thing you can do to keep your phone secure is to only install official apps. But what exactly is an official app?

Too: 5 easy ways to improve your Android phone’s security today

OK, let me explain it this way. Both your Android and iOS phones come with official apps such as Apple Mail and Gmail. Those are official apps.

Now, you’ll find plenty of third-party applications for sale that mimic those email client efforts. Some of those third-party apps are actually quite good at what they do. The problem is that there are a lot of third-party apps that carry malicious payloads with them. Those payloads can be unintentional (like apps that use ad networks that have either been hacked or gone rogue) or they can be intentional. Either way, it’s a risk.

Both app stores also have apps that mimic important features of Android or iOS. Take Android’s Files app clean feature, for example. With this handy feature, you can free up a lot of space on your device. However, look on the Google Play Store and you’ll find plenty of third-party apps that promise to do the same thing.

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Consider this: Google not only develops Android, but it also develops the Files app. It’s fairly safe to say that the built-in feature can not only be trusted to work but can do so without adding malicious code to the mix.

You can go down the list with almost every official app on your phone and find a third-party equivalent. Always going with official apps is a much safer bet.

However, this does not mean that you cannot opt ​​to use a third party app in place of the official app. It is absolutely critical that you install third-party apps from trusted developers and/or companies.

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For example, let’s say you don’t want to use Chrome as your default browser on Android. If so, there are official apps you can turn to, like Firefox (my Android default) or Opera. They are known brands that manufacture known goods. You’ll also find (at least in the Google Play Store) web browsers made by single developers or small teams that you’ve never heard of.

Can they be trusted? Perhaps. But why take the chance?

The bottom line is, unless an app is thoroughly vetted, peer-reviewed, and built by a known institution, you should stay away from it.

Too: Don’t want your phone to be hacked? just do this one thing

My previous advice has always been, “If you don’t need it, don’t install it.” However, Advice 2.0 states: “If you don’t need it or don’t know who developed it, don’t install it.”

You can keep your phone, accounts, and data a little safer by reminding yourself of my advice every time you pop into the App Store to find something new to try. After all, the risk of malware or ransomware is too high to risk on a rogue app.