How to Stop Apps from Collecting Your Personal Data?

Today, we cannot even imagine a day without a smartphone. Our photos, messages, and working files are there. This is a great convenience, though it raises a hard challenge, privacy.

Many popular and lesser-known applications collect information about us somehow. Such information might be as painless as names and emails or as personally intrusive as the history of our movements and what we spent on what and when.

Stop Apps from Collecting Your Data/Information

Why does that matter? Because what you or I have online is valuable. Companies can use our data to target ads, improve services, or sell to third parties. Some data collection is necessary to make an app functional, but too much of it presents a risk to privacy.

So how can you stop apps from collecting too much data about you? In this guide, we walk you through the different actions on both iOS and Android. We have included some additional information to help you maintain security and privacy.

Why You Must Protect Personal Data?

You may think that the value of personal data is just for targeted advertisements. Still, firms also use it to analyze the behavior of users, improve their models for AI, or, in some cases, monetize by selling it to data brokers.

This makes third parties know more about you than you want them to. Unchecked data collection for advertisements puts yat to security risks above advertising. It becomes a significant problem with leaked or hacked data, leading to identity theft, financial loss, and breach of privacy.

Let’s discover what you can do to protect your information from these risks and keep your smartphone interactions private.

Step for Protecting Your Privacy iOS

Restrict App Tracking

iOS has built-in a feature for controlling application tracking:

• Tap Settings > Privacy > Tracking: Here, you will find the list of apps that are tracking your activities.
• Untrack Allow Apps to Request to Track: You just need to swipe this off, and apps won’t even ask for tracking permissions.
• Manually Control Tracking for Specific Apps: If you want to get even more granular, you can scroll the list and disable tracking for apps that you don’t want to track across your activities on other apps and websites.

Manage App Permissions

App permissions essentially define what data apps can view. That is pretty much how it works:

• Settings > Privacy: Here you will see categories like Photos, Contacts, Microphone, and Location.
• Permissions for Each Category: Tap through to see which apps access what. For instance, you can choose whether or not an app needs to see your photos or your location.
• Limit Permissions Accordingly: You can allow access to be “Never,” “Ask Every Time,” or “While Using the App,” which is what you are comfortable with.

Limit Location Sharing

Location data is probably one of the sensitive pieces of information your apps will collect for you. Here’s how to restrict it:

You open Settings > Privacy > Location Services: Here, you can see which apps have access to your location.
Change Permissions for Each App: Set apps that don’t need to track your location all the time to “Never” or “While Using the App.” This could mean they can’t track you at all when you’re not actively using the app.

Actions to preserve your Android privacy

Android offers similar controls to control where your location is being shared: Tap Settings > Location: From this menu, you can see which apps may see your location.

Limit App Access to Location: Decide which applications need access to your location. A weather app, for instance, may; a game probably doesn’t.

Switch Off Diagnostic Data Sharing and Marketing Data: Most Androids capture diagnostic data to make devices perform better, as well as customize ads; check here how to switch off.

From Settings > Privacy: Here you’ll find controls over what data is shared with the device manufacturer.
Turn off Send diagnostic data and receive marketing information. This cuts down on the amount of information that gets sent to companies that use the data for marketing services.

Turn ads personalization Off

• Google personalizes ads based on your activities across its other services. Here’s how to turn this feature off:
• Go to Settings > Google > Ads: In this menu, you can control your ad preferences.
• Turn on the toggle called: Opt out of ads personalization: This disables Google from using information about you to personalize your ads.

Erase or Reset the Advertising ID

• Your advertising ID is a marketer’s fingerprint. Resetting can prevent targeted advertisements and be subjected to the following consequences:
• Find Reset Advertising ID Option (depends on Android version): This will allow erasing your old ID and resetting it. It won’t delete any data that has already been collected but may stop future tracking.

Applications Permissions

Android’s permission manager allows you to control which apps use specific data:

• Go to Settings > Privacy > PermManagermanager: In this view, you can select a specific permission, such as Camera or Microphone, and see all the apps that have permission.
• Change Permissions for Each App: For each app, you can select “Don’t Allow,” “Ask Every Time,” or “Allow only while using the app.”
  More Tips to Improve Your Privacy
• Use a Secure Password Manager
  A password manager can help you generate and store really strong, one-time passwords that will protect your accounts from unauthorized people trying to access them. As such, no one will even be able to access your apps even when they have captured your login details.

Two-factor Authentication Action (2FA)

You add a layer of security, sometimes with an SMS or email code, just to protect your accounts from misuse. Someone could steal your password but won’t be able to get into your accounts if they don’t have the backup verification.

Read: Best 2FA Apps to Secure Your Online Account

Watch Out for App Permissions

Before you install an app, check what it’s asking for: Does a photo editing app want access to your microphone? Only let apps install if they’re going to use access to something.

Keep Your Software Updated

Usually, updates are rolled out with patches to some known vulnerabilities. Installing those updates makes it more difficult for anyone to take advantage of a security vulnerability on your device.

Use a VPN

A virtual private network encrypts your internet, so even when surfing the internet on public Wi-Fi, nothing bad happens because all your online activities and data are hidden and secure.

Read: Top 5 Best VPNs Available Right Now

Be Careful Using Public Wi-Fi

Refrain from sensitive activities like online banking or shopping over public Wi-Fi as public networks are not that secure. Their data can easily fall into the hands of other people.

Browse with a Privacy-Focused Browser

Browsers like Brave or Firefox Focus assist you in keeping your browsing history safe from trackers and offer extra layers of privacy features. Such browsers enable you to browse the web without letting third-party advertisers follow your track.

Review Privacy Settings Periodically

Programs and applications keep updating, occasionally resetting the settings on privacy. Check your application privacy settings periodically for anything that has changed without your knowledge.

Wrapping It All

In the connected digital world, keeping your private life private calls for proactive steps. You may limit what data apps gather about you with simple adjustments on your smartphone.

Remember that your data is worth something, and taking time to control your privacy setting is a choice to protect it. Technology must work for us, not against our privacy. So take just a couple of moments to review and update your settings—you’ll be glad you did!