Happy New Year! Now Delete These Phone Apps!
Your smart phone.
It's become "your life". It can do everything ... store your calendar, send messages, manage your email, map out your trips, entertain you, manage your pictures and videos, feed you news ... and on and on.
There is SO much of your life on your phone. Both public ... and private.
Smartphones and privacy
You wouldn't give people your diary. Or your calendar. Or your travel plans. Or finances. Or passwords. But you might be giving others access to these if you keep these items on your smartphone.
So Happy New Year! It's time to put an end to some of the worst offenders that hijack, steal, monitor or just look at your public and private information on your smartphone.
In this article, they provide you with some of the greatest offenders when it comes to your privacy. And it's a great invitation to delete these from your smartphone and kick them out of your life.
Get These Off Your Phone - NOW
I really like the categories that they provide.
Apps that depress you. Why live a life that you are always comparing to others? Live your life and enjoy it. Forget the B.S. that others write about to make you jealous.
Apps that track you. Who's business is it anyway if you are looking to go to a certain restaurant. Or a friends house. Certainly, it's not Google's business. Time to kick them in the "app" and off your phone.
Apps that pretend to give your privacy. Yeah right. If you call privacy having your information routed through a server in China, or Russia, or any other "free" country. Not for me! Adios to these "security" apps.
Apps that make you into the product. Collecting, collating and selling any and all data about you so people can market to you. Hmmm... it's too creepy when I look for something online, then see ads for it for the next 10 months. Don't they know that their ads are probably too late?
Apps that waste your time. How many times have you heard people say how busy they were, then talk about their high score for candy crush, solitaire, or any number of other time-wasters. If they aren't on your phone, they won't waste your time. Kick 'em off.
Take back control of your phone
Although the article doesn't suggest this, I will. Do an annual "app" audit as your New Year's Resolution. Go through every app on your phone and see how much you have really used it. If you don't use it...delete it. If you have several different apps that do the same thing, pick ONE and delete the others. If you are concerned about any type of privacy issue or other nefarious element...delete it.
Couple other things to do. Go into your settings and turn off all tracking settings for most apps. You can also have them only access your location, microphone, video when they are running. I turned these off on ALL of my apps except those that I specifically allowed.
Last...If you are really concerned about being spied on by your phone, don't just rely on your phone settings ... after all, they are only software. In that case, put a small piece of masking tape over the lens of your phone. Even Mark Zuckerberg does this. For the microphone....keep your phone in an area where the sound is somewhat shielded. Your pocket. A purse. Under a pillow. It may not eliminate the ability of someone to listen in on you, but it certainly will make it harder to hear.
Here is to your improved smartphone "security" in 2019!
WhiteCoat Risk Management provides these articles to help improve general risk awareness in all aspects of your life. It is not responsible for any actions you take or fail to take regarding any aspect of your financial planning or risk management. This article is provided for information purposes and is not intended to provide individualized advice. You alone are responsible for your financial decisions.
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