If you use an Android device, you’ll learn that not every app is available on the Google Play Store. That means you’ll have to sideload the app, meaning you’ll have to download and install it manually. When you attempt to do this, Google will give you several warnings and you may even have to change […]

When you download a new app onto your phone, that program often requests access to the information on your device. If you deny access, you might be limited in what you can do on the app, or you might not even be able to use it at all. For this reason, you should use discretion […]

Like many other account-based services, Spotify collects information about its listeners. It only collects relevant information, but if you want to have as much privacy as possible, you can update your privacy settings. For users of the free service, you can opt out of ads that are tailored to your preferences (users of the paid […]

Many of us download apps for specific purposes, such as planning or a special event or vacation, and no longer need them afterwards, or we may have previously downloaded apps that are no longer useful or interesting to us. It’s a good security practice to delete all apps you no longer use.

Have you ever questioned if someone was secretly eavesdropping on your conversations? Many mobile apps, including hundreds of popular games, do exactly that, by scanning for ambient audio cues to better target their advertisements. For your own privacy, think about restricting microphone access for such applications unless you’re actively using it in them.

Once an application is no longer maintained by its producer via updates for security and functionality, it’s dicey to use since you might not even know what unpatched exploits it contains. Old versions of QuickTime, Windows (especially XP) and many other everyday programs are perfect examples and should be avoided in favor of new ones.