Protect your smartphone data

Smartphones have a million practical uses, which means they are jammed with credit card numbers, website passwords and other personal information that can tempt thieves or hackers. While phones have built-in protection, you can always add a little more in the form of security apps.

Avast Mobile Security is a free app that provides virus scanning tools to check apps on your phone and files on your phone’s memory card. It can remove threats it finds and can also detect and try to foil potential hackings that happen over Wi-Fi. If you lose your phone or it gets stolen, Avast has web tools to let you track your phone’s whereabouts, and you can make the device emit a siren sound.

Lookout Security and Antivirus is free for Android devices, and its more modern user interface may make using it feel less of a chore. Lookout has many of the same features as Avast, including tools to find a lost or stolen phone, plus virus scanning.

The free version includes cloud-based backups of all your contact information. The paid version can wipe data from your lost device remotely, and can even take a photo of someone who tries to use your phone. Such extras cost $30 (Rs 1,901) a year, which is expensive for an app that’s not quite as sophisticated as its rivals. Lookout also has an iOS app, but most of its features are already offered free in iOS.

Apple’s iPhones and iPads are thought to be less vulnerable to viruses than Android devices, but they are equally full of personal information. If you use a free app like 1Password, much of your data can be put behind another security wall to keep it safe.

The app acts as a secure vault for data you have on your phone, including website user names and passwords and credit card information. It can also store secure text notes that can be read only inside the app. Then you need to remember only one password - the master password for 1Password itself - instead of having to remember all your myriad login details.

The 1Password app encrypts all the information so that if your phone falls into the wrong hands, it would prove difficult for someone to maliciously exploit your information. Extras include a password generator that can create passwords more secure than those you might create yourself, and it can sync all your passwords and information across your devices.

The 1Password user interface can be confusing, and for the most secure website browsing, you have to use the special browser built into the app. To get the full range of features, including the ability to store driver’s license details, you have to upgrade to the Pro version for $5 (Rs 316). The version available for Android devices is almost the same as the iOS edition, but it lacks some design finesse and features like support for Android Wear smartwatches.

LastPass is an equivalent password manager app that’s free for iOS. It’s my favourite for its modern design and ease of navigation. It can securely store and enter your passwords and website logins, credit card information, secure notes and more, and is protected with encryption and a master password. The app also has an Apple Watch version. Your LastPass account makes it easy to access all your data across different devices. A family sharing option allows you to give someone you trust access to some of your data.

But the family sharing and other features are available only if you buy the Pro upgrade for $12 (Rs 760), and the app has been criticised by some app store reviewers for not having as many features as the desktop edition of LastPass. The Android edition of LastPass is broadly similar.

Apart from apps like these, you can also use official security apps like Apple’s FindMyiPhone and Google’s Android Device Manager. And always set a passcode for your phone.