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Believe it or not, some people put these apps in their phones willingly. But not too suspicious.
Those same symptoms may also be a sign of other, less malicious problems. If you want to make sure, try running Anti Spy Mobile. It finds spying apps and gives you a chance to uninstall them. The original app is now on the app store again. Either app will do. And use common sense.
Make sure no one else can unlock your phone or log onto your Google account except perhaps a very trusted companion. Only download apps from the Play Store. And control your digital footprint. In addition to technology, freelance journalist and sometimes humorist Lincoln Spector is a passionate cinephile who writes the Bayflicks. Unfortunately, malicious apps can also take advantage of this feature and employ sneaky means like drawing "Cancel" over the "Install" button on an Android system prompt to fool you into installing malware.
Voice assistant apps like Bixby are a great example of the ability of some apps to access and make changes to system settings, as they use enhanced permissions to enable or disable settings like GPS at your command.
This level of access can have have serious consequences to your privacy and security if granted for a questionable app. Look for any third-party app that you think shouldn't have this permission enabled, and tap on the toggle next to it to disable the feature. Providing a personalized, streamlined experience is vital for any app to succeed, and because of this, many will ask for permission to monitor data related to your smartphone habits.
This information gathering can vary from finding out your carrier, where you're located and the language you've set, to monitoring apps you use and how often you interact with them.
From there, sift through the list of apps and turn the feature off for any third-party app by selecting it and switching the toggle off on the following page. Just don't go overboard and disable it for native apps and services like Game Launcher, Samsung Pay, and Google Play Services — they need the feature to work properly.
As tempting as sideloading may be, installing apps from sites outside of Google Play or the Galaxy Store can leave your S10 vulnerable to Android malware. However, there's now a permission that has to be granted to an app before you can use it to download any other app. While it makes sense for internet browsing apps to have permission to install apps from unknown sources, the same can't be said for random apps that provide a different service like social media or gaming.
As such, you should periodically check for which apps have this permission granted.
Disable the toggle next to "Allow from this source" for any apps that don't need this functionality. Samsung has done away with the Iris Scanner on the S10, though you can still set Face Recognition as an option alongside other security features like the fingerprint sensor. Unfortunately, the feature relies solely on the front camera and is less secure than other facial recognition systems like Apple's Face ID.
This may make it easier to fool with photos of your face. If you want to keep using it, however, there are options within the "Face recognition" page that you can set to make it more secure. For instance, enabling "Stay on Lock screen" gives you an added layer of security by requiring you to swipe up to unlock your S10 after your face is recognized to keep unwanted access to a minimum.
Because this feature essentially keeps your phone in an unlocked state, however, just about anyone can access your device in these "trusted" environments and comb through your private information any time you leave it unattended.
Inside the "Smart Lock" page, turn off the setting for "Trusted devices" by deleting any devices shown. You should also consider disabling "On-body detection," "Trusted places," and "Voice Match" to keep your S10 as secure as possible.
As a Google product at its heart, the Android-based One UI that's running on your S10 comes packed with Google apps and services like Google Assistant and Google Maps that take in data from your device to give you a personalized experience. Within the "Activity controls" page, there are various options you can tweak to minimize data collection.
Beyond that, you can also opt to kill YouTube history and location history to remain as private as possible. Just bear in mind that Google apps that depend on these features including any Google Home devices you may have will lose functionality.
Advertisements account for a significant chunk of Google's total revenues, and the tech giant uses data sourced from your S10 to deliver targeted ads that cater specifically to you. While Google never shares your data with outside parties, "Ads Personalization" can be concerning, as it lets third-party apps access your advertising ID to create a profile centered on you. It's also a great idea to tap "Reset advertising ID" within this menu from time to time to erase your ad profile from Google's servers.
For convenience, a lot of apps and services will require you to sign in using your Google login for verification or access to more content. While this can streamline your experience overall, it can come at the expense of your privacy, as the "Sign in with Google" option can permit third-party services to access personal data associated with your Google account. It's also a good idea to repeat the process for any app or service that you're unsure about having access to your Google account, just to be on the safe side.
This article was produced during Gadget Hacks' special coverage on smartphone privacy and security. Check out the whole Privacy and Security series.