TrinitronMSDOS's Mobile Security Setup

[TrinitronMSDOS]

Nothing exceptional here, it's as basic as its get. I haven't invest much time or money as i use my phone just to call and take pictures and videos. I'm not using the 4G (unavailable as it's not included in my subscription), download apps only from the Play Store, don't install APK, don't play games or even surf online. I'm not fan of smartphones, i prefer PCs or tablets.

I might try and change a few privacy settings if i find a good tutorial.

 

[brod56]

I see no problems here if you only download apps from tee Play Store.
Just to know, why are you keeping GPS always on? Your battery should be suffering quite a bit.

 

[TrinitronMSDOS]

I see no problems here if you only download apps from tee Play Store.
Just to know, why are you keeping GPS always on? Your battery should be suffering quite a bit.

Actually it is quid of useful for geotagging of the pictures. The battery on the Asus Zenfone 3 Max Plus is surprisingly good. It will last at least a week on standby, a few days of normal usage and could last a whole day of real heavy usage.

 

[Deletedmessiah]

I would disable sending anonymous data as well as personalized ads. I'd also suggest to add adblocker like Adguard, Blokada etc.

 

[TrinitronMSDOS]

I would disable sending anonymous data as well as personalized ads. I'd also suggest to add adblocker like Adguard, Blokada etc.

I'm actually thinking more about privacy and on my PC i recently changed various Windows 10 settings using O&O Shutup10 (mainly the telemetry BS). I'm planning on doing the same on my other devices (smartphones, tablets, etc...). Do you know of a good tutorial here on MalwareTips or elsewhere on the web ? I've never had the time to look into it.

As far as adblockers go, i do have AdGuard licenses for Android, but i think it fully works on rooted devices. Mobile devices not being my cup of tea, i'm not really sure if it's worth the hassle

Anyway thanks for the advice

 

[Deletedmessiah]

I'm actually thinking more about privacy and on my PC i recently changed various Windows 10 settings using O&O Shutup10 (mainly the telemetry BS). I'm planning on doing the same on my other devices (smartphones, tablets, etc...). Do you know of a good tutorial here on MalwareTips or elsewhere on the web ? I've never had the time to look into it.

As far as adblockers go, i do have AdGuard licenses for Android, but i think it fully works on rooted devices. Mobile devices not being my cup of tea, i'm not really sure if it's worth the hassle

Anyway thanks for the advice

I just disallow all the data collection related settings during the initial setup of the phone, if you don't disable during initial setup, they should be available in Google Play services and "Support" section in settings(position is different for different Android version and OEMs), some settings maybe in OEM's app. Disable all the "collect statistics" options in third party apps, disallow unnecessary permissions for some apps. I used to use Xprivacy but not anymore because rooting and Xposed is a hassle nowadays.
Adguard works fine without rooting but you can't use VPN along with it at the same time. Rooting would make it work more effectively but if you don't use VPN most of the time, it should work fine. Some people have battery life issue with Adguard though, personally I don't have it.

 

[brod56]

Actually it is quid of useful for geotagging of the pictures. The battery on the Asus Zenfone 3 Max Plus is surprisingly good. It will last at least a week on standby, a few days of normal usage and could last a whole day of real heavy usage.

Nice. If want to have some fun and have the time to do so, you can try using MacroDroid for setting the location on when you open the camera and turning it off when you close it. I believe it will require a small adb hack for it to work, though.

I'm actually thinking more about privacy and on my PC i recently changed various Windows 10 settings using O&O Shutup10 (mainly the telemetry BS). I'm planning on doing the same on my other devices (smartphones, tablets, etc...). Do you know of a good tutorial here on MalwareTips or elsewhere on the web ? I've never had the time to look into it.

As far as adblockers go, i do have AdGuard licenses for Android, but i think it fully works on rooted devices. Mobile devices not being my cup of tea, i'm not really sure if it's worth the hassle

Anyway thanks for the advice

Currently, the only way to block ads system-wide on an unrooted android phone is using a VPN connection, which is what Adguard does. You can check more info about the topic here.

 

[TrinitronMSDOS]

Thank you so much @Deletedmessiah and @brod56 for the very useful info. I'll change privacy settings and give a try to those apps and tweaks next year, which means pretty soon now

 

[TrinitronMSDOS]

27/01/2018

I have improved protection on our Android devices:
- added Bitdefender Mobile Security
- added Malwarebytes Security
- added Adguard
- added Windscribe (for protection on public wifi networks)

System is light and there is almost no impact on battery usage.