Recently got a phone upgrade? Or been passed down your siblings old model? Or, if you’re extra lucky, has someone else bought you a shiny new phone?
As well as sorting out the essentials – downloading all of our favourite apps and picking the perfect background image – your main priority should be making sure your privacy settings are all sorted out.
Here’s how!
Got a brand new iPhone? Then you’re using iOS
Head to the Settings. It’s the icon on your home screen that looks like a cog. The Privacy section is where you’ll want to go.
Here you can decide which apps have access to things like your Contacts, Location and more.
Got a Samsung, Huawai, Google or something else? Then you’re on Android
Go to the Settings Section, it looks like a cog. There you should see a section called Privacy. You can also change these setting through Apps and Notifications. Here you can decide what apps have access to – things like your messages, photos and location.
Why bother changing the settings at all?
Think about it. Does your favourite game really need access to your messages? Make sure to switch off anything you wouldn’t be comfortable with some random company having access to and being able to see – and possibly sell to other people to make money from.
Some apps need certain permissions in order to run properly – for example, Instagram will need access to your photos so you can post images onto your Stories. And it’ll need your location if you want to be able to put things like the current temperature on your Story. Think about whether you really need that, or want to be sharing that information.
Things like location settings will typically have these options. Here’s what they all mean:
- Never: the app cannot access your location at all.
- While Using the App: The app only has access to your location while it’s open on the screen in front of you.
- Always: The app can find out your location in the background, even when you aren’t using the app at the time.