Our mobile phones carry a huge amount of sensitive personal information that can reveal a lot about us. Smartphone apps provide you with entertainment and useful services but, they can also invade your privacy. It’s hard to find out how much of our personal lives we can potentially reveal to our smartphones. But, it is important to take necessary steps to protect our personal data from theft and misuse. Our personal data has become a resource for businesses to harvest in their own interests. People nowadays are increasingly spending more time using mobile applications than browsing on the mobile web. Most companies want to know more about you to sell their products and services or serve you with advertisements that are highly relevant to your preferences. Downloading an application provides companies with more direct access to your information than a visit to the company’s website. Mobile apps collect way more information that is required from the user and sometimes share and even sell them.

When you sign up for a new mobile app, the company will ask you to agree to its terms of service. People do not even bother to read the terms of service agreements including the privacy policy. To avoid privacy concerns while installing an application pay particular attention to the privacy policy. If you notice that there are chances for your data to be shared or misused, opt against using the service. You might have used your accounts to quickly sign up with a mobile app.  It’s always better to check your online accounts like Facebook, Instagram or Google to find out which all apps are connected with them. There are chances that your personal data will be at risk even after uninstalling the apps. Your personal data will be removed from the device, but not from the company’s servers. So, always make sure that you delete the accounts associated with the applications before uninstalling it or submit a request to the company for deleting your account. Always make sure that you don’t allow installation of apps from unknown sources unless you’re very confident about the source. You can follow these simple steps to increase mobile privacy and protect the data on your Android device.