The smartphone, the most widely used device for connecting to the internet, is the repository of our personal data. Whether consciously or unconsciously, we store a wealth of sensitive information on it, which we must learn to protect, starting from a very young age. Protecting confidential information is essential in case your phone is lost or stolen, but also during everyday use! Indeed, the multitude of applications we use collects an untold amount of data that can fall into the wrong hands. How can you check the privacy settings on your phone and those of your children? “My Child and Screens” helps you master all the smartphone settings in your household.
Learn how to adjust the privacy settings of your digital life
The idea that you should never store sensitive data on your smartphone (such as bank details, passwords, building access codes, or banking information) is now widely accepted. However, much other personal information is collected without your knowledge. Here are some tips to limit the transmission of sensitive data on your smartphone when using your app.
Understanding how downloaded applications work
Before you start managing permissions for all your apps, you need to understand which features they require to function properly. While a route planning app, by definition, needs access to your phone’s location, an online calculator might not necessarily need it as well. Generally speaking, be wary of apps that request access to features they don’t use. These could be malicious apps or aggressive adware designed to collect as much information as possible for monetization.
Configure application permissions
Address book, calendar, camera, microphone, Bluetooth, browsing history: some apps request access to features they don’t need in order to collect valuable data. Even if you downloaded an app too quickly, for yourself or your child, without checking the permissions granted, there’s always a way to undo it.
- On Android, you can adjust permissions in Settings > Applications. For your information, Google Play allows you to view the types of permissions requested by the installation, which you can then grant or deny for each access.
- On iOS, the Settings tab allows you to check the permissions of each application.
The specific case of geolocation
Almost all apps use your phone’s geolocation, sometimes even several times a minute. These data collection efforts allow them to gather very precise information about your movements, your home or work addresses, and even the frequency of visits to your favorite places. As with the previous features, it’s essential to configure geolocation settings according to the actual needs of the apps that access this information.
- On Android, geolocation settings offer two options. You can choose to disable it for the entire phone or, more precisely, on a case-by-case basis. Go to Settings > Location.
- On iOS, you need to configure location services for each app by deciding whether it can access your location “always,” “only while the app is running,” or “never.” Simply go to Settings > Privacy > Location Services and select the app in question.
Adopting good daily habits to protect your privacy
Setting app permissions in advance doesn’t protect you against unwanted data collection when you use your smartphone. To avoid revealing too much personal information, you need to adopt certain habits on your phone, just as you would on your children’s phones.
Stop background applications
Even when you stop using an app, it continues to run, collecting and transmitting information about you. It’s important to distinguish between apps essential to your smartphone’s operation, which need to run continuously, and those that remain running even though they’re not needed. Once you’ve sorted them, go to:
- On Android: in Settings > Memory > Memory used by applications
- On iOS, in Settings > Background App Refresh
To disable apps that don’t need to be constantly updated, remember to also regularly delete apps you no longer use!
Limit advertising tracking
All the data stored on your smartphone is used for commercial purposes. This data allows advertisers to personalize the advertising messages you receive while browsing the internet or using your favorite social media platforms. To do this, these ads rely on an advertising identifier linked to your smartphone, which recognizes you as the primary user of that device. The more stable this identifier remains over time, the more information advertisers can gather about your lifestyle, tastes, and consumption preferences. This is why it’s essential to regularly update the identifiers for everyone in the family.
- On Android: in Settings > Google Account > Ads, enable the “opt out of interest-based ads” and “reset advertising ID” options.
- On iOS, in Settings > Privacy > Advertising, check the “limit ad tracking” option and disable “analytics sharing”.
Clear browsing history
History of visited pages, downloaded files, cached items, cookies: a lot of information is stored in your browser. Again, all this data is a valuable source of information for targeting you with personalized ads. It’s important to teach your children to regularly clear their browsing history and to practice this together on all your smartphones.
- On Android: in Settings > Google > Google Account, access browsing history and choose the options to disable.
- On iOS: in Settings > Safari > Privacy & Security, enable the “do not track” option and clear the history and site data.
Secure access to your smartphone
If your phone is lost or stolen, the personal data it contains can fall into the wrong hands. To slow down access to this sensitive data, several solutions are available to you and your children.
Lock access to your phone with codes.
The first lock code, the PIN, is required every time you turn on your device. Do not disable this feature; it locks and renders your phone unusable if you enter the wrong code three times in a row. You can also configure your phone to schedule the use of a lock code after each time it goes into sleep mode or after a specified automatic lock time. However, whatever code you choose, never keep the default ones. Always choose random codes that are not related to your date of birth, your phone number, or a logical sequence of numbers like “0000” or “1234”.
Keep the IMEI code of each device safe.
Composed of 15 to 17 digits, the IMEI code is simply your smartphone’s serial number. Extremely useful if your phone is lost or stolen, it allows you to remotely block your device’s use on all networks. Finding it is easy! The IMEI code is printed on your smartphone’s packaging. If you threw away the box without noting it, don’t panic! You can retrieve it by dialing *#06# on your smartphone’s keypad.
Encrypt your data
Some smartphones offer the option to encrypt your data to protect its confidentiality. Very easy to use, this option proves essential when you need to store sensitive data on your phone. However, activating this option is not without risk. This encryption is irreversible and can only be reversed by restoring the phone to its factory settings. This, in turn, results in the complete deletion of all data from the phone.
