One of the key aspects that every user wants to know how to configure is related to our privacy. More than anything, because today we store a lot of data on our mobile devices, so it is always necessary to know how we have to adjust the smartphone so that no one can know certain information about us through our terminal .
For this reason, it is essential to know the different settings that we will find within our mobile phones, as well as the fact of knowing what permissions we have granted and how to revoke them when we want. Well, it will be important to know these details to ensure our privacy and security at all times. Therefore, it is time to see how to deactivate and configure different elements so that no one can collect information about you at any time when you use your mobile device.
Goodbye to personalized suggestions
One of the many aspects that we will deal with today to always keep our privacy as secure as possible will be the fact that nothing and no one can make suggestions to us through our searches. That is, we will make sure that we do not have personalization services on our smartphone, in such a way that we will avoid having suggestions that are based on the users , apps and content with which we continuously interact.
In this way, we will have to access Settings> Privacy (although in this step it will also depend on the customization layer, as well as the Android version) and access the device’s customization services option. Once inside, we will have to go to the Delete data option , that is, we will be able to eliminate all the information that has been stored about us to know how we use the smartphone, to give us recommendations at all times according to our tastes. And, when clicking on this option, we will have three options: last hour, last 24 hours and forever. So you must choose between these.
Although it will not be the only way that your smartphone has to know more about you. More than anything, because if you use a Google account, you may have accepted this same permission with which it manages to give you personalized ads in order to end up interested in different products. Therefore, it is time to find out how to deactivate this functionality so that, once and for all, these personalized ads disappear.
Therefore, we must go to the settings of our smartphone and go to Google> Manage your account . Then, look for the option with which you can Manage your data and customization options. Next, click on Go to ads settings and deactivate the switch that will appear next to this option.
Be careful with app permissions
Another important step so that we can keep our privacy safe at all times is to review and verify in detail the different permissions that we have granted to the different apps that we have installed on our mobile device. And it is that, more than one, will surely have some permission that, probably, they do not need. Of course, even if they are not needed as such, these applications may stop working properly, but it is a risk that must be taken if we want to keep everything we do with the smartphone and our information safe.
Therefore, we must follow the following steps:
- Access the Settings of your mobile device.
- Touch Applications or Application Manager (although this option may vary depending on the smartphone).
- Once inside, click on the Application Permissions option. If you can’t find this option, you may need to tap Privacy & security > App permissions.
- Finally, you can now modify any permission. And you will only have to activate or deactivate said permission. In the case of appearing in color, it will mean that it is activated. But, if it is grayed out, it means that it is disabled.
In addition, the most common permissions required by the different apps that we install on our smartphones today are the following:
- Body sensors.
- Calendar.
- Camera.
- Contacts.
- Location.
- Microphone.
- Telephone.
- Text messages.
- Storage.
Although, the ideal is always to check these permissions before installing. To do this, we will have to enter the Google Play application, and then move to where it says Developer. Once inside this section, we can now touch on Permissions to see those that the app will use when it is installed and runs on our mobile. When we use an application for the first time, we will have the opportunity to allow or deny individual permission requests before the application uses this type of data.
And if you want to change the permissions of the apps to avoid giving more than the account to a certain app, you will have to follow this process: Settings> Applications> Permission manager. Inside, we will see all the requested permissions. Also, within each app we will see the following: Always allowed, Allowed while using, Always ask and Deny.
Remove Location History
This is a feature that offers several advantages in Google products and services , such as personalized maps, recommendations based on sites that have been visited, help to find the phone, real-time traffic notifications for your regular trips and personalized ads. However, you have a clear clue to know too much information about us, so it is always good to know how to activate the location history and how to disable it. Thus, we will have the opportunity to choose for ourselves.
To be able to activate or deactivate the location history, we will have to go to the dedicated section for this purpose within our Google account. Once inside, we can choose if we want the account or our mobile to send the location history to the company. We will see two options to activate or deactivate: Your account and all your devices or Only one device. We will only have to mark or unmark each option.
We will also have the alternative of erasing the history, so that we can eliminate almost any trace that we have left. To do this, we can automatically delete the location history from our mobile. In this way, we will be able to eliminate those places where we were more than 3, 18 or 36 months ago . We can do it in two different ways:
- From Google Maps: on our mobile we will have to open Google Maps and touch on the circle of our account. After this, you will have to click on Your chronology and then touch on Settings and Privacy. Now we only have to click on Delete location history automatically.
- From the browser: if we do not have Google Maps installed on the smartphone at that time, we can do the same by going to the chronology from the phone’s browser. In the lower right part, click on Settings and then we will touch on the option to Delete location history automatically.
