How to change your privacy settings on your Android devices

Android phones have many advantages: some come with great cameras, Google apps built in and preloaded, and much more. But these smartphones are also at risk from potential threats such as hackers or malware. You’ll want to check your apps, stop sites from tracking you, and more.

Be sure to follow our steps to change your Android privacy settings today.

Settings may vary depending on your Android phone’s manufacturer

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Change your Android privacy settings

Permission Manager

Apps collect all kinds of data from their users, and sometimes you don’t even realize what you’ve given them permission to look at. You should review each app and the permissions you’ve granted – so apps that don’t need your location can’t access it.

1. Open you up Institutions
2. Type Privacy
3. Type Permission Manager
4. Tap each app one at a time, and decide what each app should have “allowed”.

Encrypt your Android phone

If you have an Android device from before 2015, it may not already be encrypted. This means your data could be compromised, and you’ll want to turn this setting on manually.

1. Open you up Institutions
2. Type Security
3. Type Advanced
4. Type Encryption and credentials
5. If your phone isn’t already, you’ll see the option to type Encrypt phone (this may take a while)

If you don’t see this option, your phone is probably newer and already encrypted.

Google Chrome Safe Browsing Protection

Although Google Chrome comes preloaded on many Android devices, it does have its own security risks. Google Chrome has its own privacy settings that you can adjust, and some experts even recommend not using Chrome at all for security reasons. But it is a handy and powerful browser, so using Safe Browsing protection can be a good alternative to delete it.

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Safe Browsing helps monitor websites as you browse the Internet, and can help identify if you come across an unsafe website, link, or ad. You might get a warning like this one telling you that the website you tried to reach is unsafe:

1. Open the Google Chrome app on your Android
2. Type More with the three dots
3. Type Institutions
4. Type Privacy and security
5. Type Safe browsing
6. Then you can choose the level of “Safe Browsing” you want to use: enhanced protection, standard protection (we recommend this one, so you can choose whether or not to send Google information), or no protection

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Turn on “Do Not Track”.

Android phones allow you to send a request to websites you browse asking them not to track you while using Google Chrome. It is important to note that requesting them does not guarantee that they will not request or track your data, as a website may still choose to track your information. However, it is better than not requesting it, as some sites will honor this request.

1. Open the Google Chrome app on your Android
2. Type More with the three dots
3. Type Institutions
4. Type Privacy and security
5. Type Do not track
6. Turn on the setting to request sites not to track you

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