Conscious about privacy on your smartphone? Read our 11 tips & tricks!

Privacy on your smartphone

Online privacy is a topic that many people don’t think about until things go wrong. Yet all sorts of things are happening in the background every day. Big tech companies like Google, Meta and ByteDance can find out a lot about you, not because they read your mind, but because your phone and apps are constantly collecting little signals. Think about where you are, what you search for, what videos you check out and what you click on.

Added to that is something. AI systems like OpenAI’s are tremendously useful, but they also learn from what you type in. Many people share personal details in queries, documents and screenshots without realizing it. That makes it important to know what settings you have, and what information you’d rather not share.

To better protect users, there are stricter rules in Europe. Think of the General Data Protection Regulation, the AVG, the Digital Services Act, the DSA, and newer rules that give large platforms additional obligations. Those laws don’t solve everything, but they do ensure that companies have to be clearer, and that you get more buttons to choose for yourself.

In this blog, we discuss

• What does Google know about you
• What does Meta know about you
• Privacy on iOS and Android
• Privacy in AI systems
• 11 privacy tips

What does Google know about you

For many people, Google is the Internet. You search, you watch YouTube, you use Gmail, Google Maps or an Android phone. This allows Google to collect many signals, such as searches, location, videos watched and website behavior. Google does not say it literally sells your data, but it makes money from ads that are tailored to your profile.

The good news is that you can manage this better than many people think. In your Google account, you can adjust settings. For example, you can manage ad personalization and turn off some of the history. Here’s how to do it

1. Open your Google account and go to Data and privacy.
2. Choose Advertising Settings to see what interests Google has linked to you, and remove topics or disable personalization.
3. Also use the Privacy Check up to check your settings step by step, such as location history and web and app activity.

You can find more explanation in the Google Privacy Center. Keep in mind that turning it off does not always mean that nothing is collected anymore, it mainly means that you control more of what is stored and used.

What does Meta know about you

Meta, the company behind Facebook and Instagram, mainly looks at what you do within their apps, and also outside of them. Your likes, comments, videos watched, click behavior and sometimes data from websites that use Meta pixels. That’s exactly why ads can feel so good about following you.

Meta has added more settings after previous scandals, but that doesn’t mean the revenue model has changed. It’s still all about attention and ads. A handy place to start is the Meta Privacy Center.

If you want more control yourself, follow these steps

1. Log in to your Facebook account, open the Facebook app or website and log in.
2. Go to Settings and privacy, choose Settings and privacy from the menu.
3. Open your data and activity, look for items such as your activity, advertising preferences and linked companies.
4. Manage Off Meta Activity, here you can see which external apps and websites are passing data to Meta, and you can limit it.

The key question remains, do you want your behavior to be used to refine your profile. You can limit a lot, but it is still a platform designed to measure and optimize as much as possible.

Privacy on iOS and Android

Security on iOS

iOS is strict about what apps are allowed, and Apple likes to put privacy as a core value. For example, you get notifications about tracking, you can restrict location and photo access per app, and you can see in a privacy report which apps connect to which services. Learn more by visiting Apple Support.

That doesn’t mean everything is automatically private. Even on iOS, you need to consciously check settings, especially with location, photos, microphone and tracking.

Security on Android

Android is more flexible and open than iOS. That can be nice, but it also means you have to check settings yourself a little more often. Google’s Play Protect scans apps for malware, and Android has a privacy dashboard where you can manage app permissions. See also Android Developers.

Even on Android these days, you can make much more sophisticated choices, such as only accessing a few photos instead of your entire gallery.

Privacy in AI systems

AI sometimes feels like a conversation with an assistant, but in reality it is a system that processes your input. What you type in may contain sensitive information, even if you don’t mean to. Think names, addresses, private situations, work documents, customer data, screenshots or medical details.

That’s why it’s important to know what settings you have. At OpenAI, you can read how data is processed in the privacy policy, and you can adjust settings in your account.

Practically, you can do this

1. Open your privacy options, in your account, go to privacy settings.
2. Check if your data is used for enhancement, turn this off if you don’t want it.
3. Share less sensitive details, don’t type information you wouldn’t put in a public message either.
4. Use separate accounts, prefer to keep work and personal separate if you use AI often.
5. Check settings again from time to time, services change, settings may shift.

11 Privacy tips for your smartphone

1. Use a password manager

Many people use the same password in multiple places. If that password leaks out, someone can often get into other accounts as well. Therefore, use strong, unique passwords. On Apple devices you can have strong passwords created and stored, they are synchronized through your Apple ID. On your Mac, find them through Keychain Access, on your iPhone through Settings and then Passwords.

2. Check app permissions

Apps often require more access than necessary. A weather app needs location, but usually not your microphone or photos. So check regularly what apps are allowed.

Android

You can adjust permissions afterwards.

1. Go to Settings, Apps, Permissions.
2. Turn off access for contacts, location, camera or microphone if not needed.

iOS

1. Go to Settings.
2. Scroll to the app.
3. Adjust which features the app is allowed to use.

3. Turn off ad tracking

Android

1. Open Settings, go to Privacy, go to Ads.
2. Choose Reset Advertising ID or Delete Advertising ID if available.

iOS

1. Open Settings, go to Privacy and Security, go to Tracking.
2. Turn off Consent to tracking questions.
3. If you also want to limit Apple’s own ad personalization, go to Privacy and Security, Apple Advertising, turn off Personalized Ads.

4. Check AI privacy settings

AI like ChatGPT is smart, but doesn’t need to know everything. Check your settings and share as few sensitive details as possible. Read the OpenAI privacy policy, and prefer to use AI work-oriented if you value privacy.

5. Use app privacy reports

Your phone can show which apps often request access to location, photos or microphone. Check this occasionally, either through Apple Support or through Android’s privacy section, see Android Developers.

6. Use privacy-friendly search engines

If you want less profiling, try DuckDuckGo or Startpage. They are less focused on building an ad profile than Google.

7. Turn off unnecessary features

Some suggestions and assistants get smarter by using a lot of data. If you don’t want that, turn off suggestions you don’t need.

For Siri suggestions

1. Go to Settings.
2. Open Siri and search.
3. Turn off suggestions you don’t want.

For Google assistant notifications

1. Open Settings.
2. Go to Google, search, assistant and voice.
3. Turn off personalized notifications and suggestions if you don’t want them.

8. Managing cookies

Cookies are small files that websites store. Some are useful, such as for logging in or shopping baskets. Other cookies can be used to track your behavior. Much has changed around third-party cookies and browser plans, and the important thing to remember is this, tracking does not disappear on its own, it just shifts from technology. It’s still wise to clean up your cookies and site data from time to time. See also this article on third party cookies.

Delete cookies in Chrome on Android

1. Open Chrome, tap the three dots in the upper right corner.
2. Choose Settings, Privacy, Clear browsing data.
3. Check Cookies and site data, select Clear data.

Delete cookies in Safari on iPhone

1. Open Settings, choose Safari, select Clear history and website data.
2. Go to Settings, Safari, Advanced, Website data, choose Delete all website data.

9. Log out of public accounts

Log out if you are working on a shared device, or if you are logged in somewhere on a public computer. This prevents others from accessing your accounts. More explanation is in the Meta Privacy Center.

10. Turn off notification previews

If you don’t want everyone to be able to read along when your phone is on the table, turn off notification previews. See Apple Support.

11. Use a VPN

A VPN can help on public Wi-Fi because your connection will be encrypted. It doesn’t make you invisible to everything, apps and accounts can still recognize you, but it is an extra layer of security. An example is NordVPN.

Privacy smartphone vs. ThePhoneLab

These tips are useful if you want to improve your privacy, but it is also a personal choice how much you want to shield. Some people find targeted ads convenient, others especially want peace of mind and less profiling. The important thing is that you choose consciously, and that you know where to find the buttons.

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