Like many other account-based services, Spotify collects information about its listeners. It only collects relevant information, but if you want to have as much privacy as possible, you can update your privacy settings. For users of the free service, you can opt out of ads that are tailored to your preferences (users of the paid […]

Many of us download apps for specific purposes, such as planning or a special event or vacation, and no longer need them afterwards, or we may have previously downloaded apps that are no longer useful or interesting to us. It’s a good security practice to delete all apps you no longer use.

Have you ever questioned if someone was secretly eavesdropping on your conversations? Many mobile apps, including hundreds of popular games, do exactly that, by scanning for ambient audio cues to better target their advertisements. For your own privacy, think about restricting microphone access for such applications unless you’re actively using it in them.

Once an application is no longer maintained by its producer via updates for security and functionality, it’s dicey to use since you might not even know what unpatched exploits it contains. Old versions of QuickTime, Windows (especially XP) and many other everyday programs are perfect examples and should be avoided in favor of new ones.

It’s common to have loads of apps on your devices, many of which you might not have opened in months or even years. Unless they include vital information or functionality, it’s usually sensible to delete them. Not only will you free up space, you’ll save yourself problems arising from their use of outdated or vulnerable […]

People use the notes app on their smartphones for their grocery lists and other reminders, which is perfectly fine. However, do not use your notes app for personal information like your passwords, social security numbers or credit card information. Notes applications are not automatically encrypted, which means that hackers could easily decipher your private information. […]