Your smartphone probably has a great deal of private, personal and sensitive information on it that you do not want falling into the wrong hands. From bank account info and credit card numbers to automatically saved passwords, confidential work data and much more, that little handheld computer you carry around really does figuratively contain much of your life.
Because of this, it goes without saying that you want your smartphone to be as secure as possible; that way, if it is stolen or hit by a virus or malware, you will minimize the risk of major damage as much as you can. Fortunately, there are robust hardware and software-based security features available that can help keep your mobile device as safe as possible. Here are a few to check out.
Biometric Security Meets Artificial Intelligence
Thanks to artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning, which is found in Snapdragon mobile platforms from Qualcomm, biometric security is now more user-friendly and reliable than ever. For example, the Snapdragon 835 mobile platform includes a combination of technology that provides personal biometric authentication to a mobile device. This includes fingerprint, eye and facial recognition, and voice recognition, as well as malware detection that can protect your smartphone from vicious programs and threats.
Antivirus Protection for Mobile
Digital Trends lists the Avast Antivirus & Security Android app as one of the best antivirus software programs for a good reason — the tool comes with a wide range of helpful features including reliable antivirus protection, the ability to scan apps to be sure they are acting as they should and a web shield that scans URLs you may wish to download for malware. The software also comes with an “app locker” that will allow you to protect certain apps on your mobile device with a PIN — this will prevent any Tom, Dick or Harry who picks up your phone to gain access to sensitive apps and personal info.
Fingerprint Scanners
A number of smartphones now come equipped with fingerprint scanning technology; Best Buy sells a selection of Samsung Galaxy and other models that all feature this tool. Just like an optical scanner that can generate an in-depth image of your eye, fingerprint scanners on your smartphone capture an image of the many ridges and valleys that make up your fingerprint. As you have probably heard your entire life, your fingerprints are unique to you, so once your phone has an image of your fingerprint, it will be able to determine if you are trying to gain access to your phone. Since no one else shares your fingerprint data, crooks who steal your phone won’t be able to access your data.
Facial Recognition
As USA Today notes, facial recognition is the future of incredible mobile security features — and it will only become more prevalent. Similar to fingerprint recognition, phones with this ability will use your one-of-a-kind facial features to unlock your phone. What makes this security feature especially impressive is its ability to adapt to changing features over time; for instance, a woman may wear her hair in a ponytail and “look” different to the facial scanner or a guy may grow a beard. If this happens, phones with this feature have a backup option for the person to enter in a code, which causes the phone to remember the new look for next time.
As time goes on, security features are sure to get even more impressive, intuitive and reliable. While it’s important to keep a close eye on our mobile devices so they are not stolen, it is nice to know that so much technology exists to help keep our personal computers accessible to only us.