Apps are the main component of our smartphones. So if you want to call someone then you have to use apps. So be careful when installing new apps on your phone. It is very necessary and important to protect your phone.
Whether you're looking for a new shopping app, trying out a new social networking app, or just planning to browse the App Store, it's important to know the signs of suspicious and malicious apps so you can avoid them as they could put your data at risk. Drain your battery or spread malware, damage your phone and many other dangerous ways.
Here are some tips to protect your privacy when installing apps on your phone:
1- Use the official app store only:
The most popular official app stores are: App Store, Google Play, Galaxy Store and Huawei Store. There are millions of apps available in these stores, so in most cases you will find what you are looking for.
However, there may be an app that you want to use but it can only be downloaded from an unknown website or app store. Although this does not necessarily indicate that it is a rogue app, hackers use the apps to spread malware through app stores and third-party websites. Some of these platforms have few security protocols and do not check the integrity of the applications before they are released to the users.
2- Check the permissions requested by the app:
Many of the apps you download require that you grant them specific permissions on your device in order to function. The app may need to use the camera to take photos, access the gallery to edit media, or use the contact list during a call. The following are examples of general access rights:
- Contacts.
- I like you.
- location.
- calendar.
- Navigation log.
- microphone.
- camera).
- storage
- Financial support.
While many apps need these permissions to function fully, malicious apps use them to exploit you. For example, a malicious app could request access to your email or text messages and extract potentially exploitable private data from there. Or the app could request access to your location and then use it to track you without your knowledge.
So when an app asks for permission, make sure the app itself is trusted and the permissions listed are important for the app to work. You should first ask yourself why the app is asking for these permissions. So is it normal for a weather app to request access to the camera? Remember that an application that requests access to data that is not relevant to its function indicates that something is wrong.
3- See comments:
Reviews added to the pages of the App Store application help to understand the problems that users encounter. Therefore, it is important to always check them before clicking the Install button.
If an app has a lot of negative reviews, it could be because of its poor design, but it could also be because of the way it handles data, drains battery, asks for access permissions, etc. But even if the app has positive ratings, This does not necessarily mean that it is completely safe. So don't rely on reviews alone to decide whether or not an app is safe.
4- Check the number of downloads:
When app downloads are low and a large number of users are not rating a particular app, it becomes difficult to assess the potential risks of installing that app on the phone. So if you are thinking of installing an app but the number of downloads and reviews are low, put it aside for a few weeks and come back to make sure the downloads increase or add feedback from other added users.
5- Monitor your phone performance:
If you download an app and notice that your device is behaving strangely, the app may be malicious. For example, if your battery is draining faster than usual after downloading an app, it could be because the app is spreading malware, such as spyware, running on your phone. Some malware must be constantly active to do its work, which can drain your battery.
Also, malicious apps can slow down your device's performance or often prevent it from working. If you notice these changes in your phone's performance after downloading a certain app, you should uninstall it.
On the other hand, not all apps that drain your battery or slow down performance are rogue apps. Some apps can consume a lot of battery power because they have to be constantly running in the background, such as step tracker apps and VPN apps.