Hi! I’m wondering, how can I keep my smartphone safe from getting hacked, especially when it comes to messengers and apps?
I’ve been following some rules, like steering clear of suspicious sites and not clicking on links from strangers. But recently, I’ve been thinking about putting an antivirus program on my smartphone.
I’ve never used one on a phone before, so I’m curious—how well does it work?
Not sideloading apps would get you most of the way there.
Also be dillegent about which permissions you give to apps. If a tic-tac-toe game is asking to see your contacts, that is a major red flag…
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I don’t download a ton of programs, but I do install some.
Thanks for the advice on permissions. I didn’t really pay attention to that before.
Most phone A/V solutions aren’t worth it:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1574013720304585
If you are on iPhone then as long as you don’t go clicking on any weird links or going to some malicious sites you should mostly be fine and pretty much the same with Android. Android does have some built in protection/scanner.
Honestly the most risky thing out there is usually malicious advertisements. You can use brave or Firefox with an ad blocker installed on it and if you are technical enough you could setup a pi hole and connect to it via VPN.
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I have tried Intercept X app from Sophos in the past. It definitely worked, however, the battery life of my device has been reduced significantly so I uninstalled it.
Thank you for your response!
I gave Norton a try since it offers a trial period. However after installing it I encountered another issue—my phone started to slow down. I suspect it might be due to the phone itself, as it’s an old model. So I will change the phone and try again.