The best privacy and security apps for Android

Let’s
get
one
thing
out
of
the
way
right
off
the
bat:
If
you’re
looking
for
recommendations
about
Android
security
suites
or
other
malware-scanning
software,
you’ve
come
to
the
wrong
place.

Why?
Because,
like
most
people
who
closely
study
Android,
I

don’t
recommend
using
those
types
of
apps
at
all.
Android
malware
isn’t
the
massive
real-world
threat
it’s
frequently
made
out
to
be,
and

Google
Play
Protect
and

other
native
Android
settings
are
more
than
enough
to
keep
most
devices
safe.

There
are,
however,
some
areas
where
third-party
apps
can
add
valuable
layers
onto
your

Android
security
picture.
They’re
less
about
fighting
off

theoretical
boogeymen
and
more
about
proactively
protecting
your
accounts
and
data.

These
are
the
apps
that’ll
actually
bring
a
meaningful
boost
to
your
privacy
and
security
on
Android.

Enhance
your
Android
privacy
basics

Privacy
Dashboard

Android
12
brings
a
new
streamlined
app-assessing
Privacy
Dashboard
into
the
operating
system,
but
if
you’re
still
hanging
onto
a
phone
with
an
older

Android
version,
you
don’t
have
to
miss
out.

An
app
called
Privacy
Dashboard

emulates
the
official
Android
12
feature
of
the
same
name
and
gives
you
a
helpful
overview
of
exactly
which
apps
have
accessed
which
permissions
on
your
phone
and
when.
It
also
makes
it
as
easy
as
can
be
to
find
and
adjust
any
app’s
permissions
and
scale
back
what
sort
of
data
it’s
able
to
access
—
right
from
that
single
streamlined
interface.

JR
Raphael/IDG

Beyond
that,
Privacy
Dashboard
provides
universal
access
to
another
Android-12-inspired
privacy
advantage:
the
ability
to
see
in
real
time
whenever
an
app
is
accessing
your
camera,
microphone,
or
location
via
a
special
icon
in
the
upper-right
corner
of
your
screen.
It
actually
offers
an
improvement
over
the
default
Android
setup
in
that
area,
too,
as
it
shows
you

persistent
icons
for
camera,
microphone,
and
location
access
instead
of
showing
only
cryptic
and
difficult-to-decipher
dots
after
the
first
couple
seconds.

Privacy
Dashboard
is
free.
The
app
does
inevitably
require
its
own
series
of
advanced
system-level
permissions
in
order
to
do
what
it
needs
to
do,
but
it’s
all
perfectly
justifiable
for
its
purpose
(and
the
permissions
are
explained
clearly
upon
installation).
The
app
is
open
source,
too,
and
it
doesn’t
even
ask
for
the
ability
to
access
the
internet
—
so
it
couldn’t
transfer
information
off
of
your
device
if
it
wanted
to.

Bouncer

Apps
often
require
sensitive
system
permissions
in
order
to
perform
their
full
range
of
functions
—
but
if
you
tap
into
some
of
those
functions
only
on
occasion,
you
might
not
want
to
leave
the
associated
permissions
active
forever.

The
aptly
named
Bouncer
app
is
an
easy
way
to
make
your
permission
decisions
more
nuanced.
With
Bouncer
on
your
phone,
every
time
you
give
an
app
a
new
permission
—
be
it
for
accessing
your
location,
getting
on
the
internet,
viewing
your
phone’s
storage,
or
whatever
the
case
may
be
—
you’ll
see
a
notification
appear
at
the
top
of
your
device.
You
can
tap
that
notification
to
tell
Bouncer
to
remove
the
permission
as
soon
as
you
exit
the
app
(by
switching
to
another
app
or
returning
to
your
home
screen)
or
after
a
set
amount
of
time.

Say,
for
instance,
you’re
tasked
with
tweeting
from
a
professional
conference,
and
you
want
your
location
to
be
associated
with
any
tweets
you
send
during
the
event
—
but
you

don’t
want
Twitter
to
retain
access
to
your
phone’s
location
eternally.
Just
grant
Twitter
the
needed
location
permission,
look
for
the
Bouncer
notification,
and
give
Bouncer
the
order
to
take
the
permission
away
when
the
day
is
over.

JR
Raphael/IDG

You
can
even
have
Bouncer
remove
a
permission
automatically
every
time
it’s
granted
—
so
something
like
that
Twitter
location
access
can
effectively
become
a

temporary
permission
instead
of
an
ongoing
authorization.

Notably,
Google
added
a
similar
option
into
the
operating
system
itself
that
lets
you
grant
a
one-time-use-only
permission
for
location,
camera,
or
microphone
access

if
you
have
Android
11
or
higher.
But
Bouncer
brings
that
same
power
to

any
Android
device,
regardless
of
its
version,
and
it
expands
the
system
to
work
with
permissions
beyond
just
those
three
as
well.

Bouncer
costs
a
dollar
to
download.

Protect
your
passwords,
accounts,
and
transactions

1Password
or

Bitwarden

Your
passwords
are
the
gatekeepers
to
your
digital
life
—

for
the
moment,
at
least
—
and
it’s
up
to
you
to
make
sure
they’re
properly
armed.
The
secret?
Let
a
password
manager
serve
as
your
virtual
muscle.
A
good
password
manager
makes
it
easy
to
create
and
maintain
strong,
unique
passwords
for
however
many
apps,
sites,
and
services
you
use.

And
on
Android,

two
password
managers
in
particular
stand
out
from
the
pack.
1Password
and
Bitwarden
both
act
as
admirable
gatekeepers
for
your
most
important
credentials
on
any
Android
device
as
well
as
any

other
type
of
phone,
tablet,
or
computer
you
rely
on.

Either
tool
will
handle
the
heavy
lifting
for
you
when
it
comes
to
creating
secure
passwords
and
then
filling
’em
into
whatever
apps
or
websites
you
access.
Both
feature
commendable
security
setups,
too,
and
the
option
to
use
various
forms
of
two-factor
authentication
to
keep
your
credentials
as
protected
as
possible.
And
both
can
also
store
and
auto-fill
your
credit
card
info
for
online
purchases
as
well
as
act
as
a
secure
storage
spot
for
other
sorts
of
sensitive
data.

JR
Raphael/IDG

1Password
provides
the
best
all-around
Android
password
management
package
for
most
people,
with
a
polished
and
pleasant
user
experience,
intelligent
options
for
sharing
credentials
securely
with
co-workers
or
family
members,
and
a
whole
host
of
useful
business-specific
and
team
management
capabilities.

Bitwarden
is
a
bit
less
fully
featured
and
pleasant
to
use,
but
it
gets
the
basics
right
—
and
it
includes
a
generous
free
offering
as
well
as
an
open-source
model
that
provides
the
option
to
store
your
encrypted
vault
on
your
own
self-hosted
server
(something
that
isn’t
especially
advisable
for
most
people
but
could
be
an
intriguing
possibility
for
a
specific
sort
of
tech-savvy
individual
or
organization).

1Password
costs
$36
a
year
for
an
individual
subscription
or
$60
a
year
for
a
family
membership
that
includes
up
to
five
people.
On
the
business
front,
the
service
offers
a

$239-a-year
Teams
Starter
Pack
that
allows
up
to
10
users
or
a
more
flexible
$96
per
user
per
year
setup
that
also
includes
the
full
suite
of
advanced
management
options.

Bitwarden’s
free
personal
plan
has
no
device
limits
or
time
constraints,
meanwhile.
The
service
also
offers
a
$10-a-year
individual
plan
that
adds
in
support
for
physical
two-factor
authentication
keys,
advanced
reporting,
and
priority
support,
along
with
a
$40
family
plan
that
includes
credential
sharing
for
up
to
six
people
—
and
on
the

business
front,
it
has
a
$36
per
user
per
year
plan
that
includes
company-wide
sharing
and
a
$60
per
user
per
year
enterprise
plan
that
adds
admin
and
management
tools
into
the
mix.

Authy
Authenticator

Aside
from
using
strong
passwords,
the
smartest
thing
you
can
do
to
keep
your
online
accounts
safe
is
to
use

two-factor
authentication
everywhere
it’s
offered.
Two-factor
authentication
requires
you
to
have
a
second
form
of
identifying
information
—
like
a
code
generated
by
an
app
on
your
phone
—
in
addition
to
your
primary
password,
thus
making
it
substantially
more
difficult
for
a
modern-day
ruffian
to
get
into
your
account.

The
best
app
for
managing
two-factor
authentication
on
Android
is
Authy.
The
Twilio-owned
program
outshines
Google’s
own
Authenticator,
offering
with
a
modern,
intuitive
design
that
makes
it
a
cinch
to
find
and
copy
codes
for
any
number
of
2FA-enabled
accounts.
It
has
handy
advanced
features
like
support
for
app-level
fingerprint
protection,
too,
and
you
can
even
set
Authy
up
to
function
on
multiple
devices
—
including,
if
you’re
so
inclined,

your
desktop
computer.

Authy
is
free.

Blur

 In
addition
to
protecting
your
actual
accounts,
there’s
something
to
be
said
for
safeguarding
your
email
address.
Every
business
wants
to
get
its
grubby
hands
on
your
address
these
days,
after
all
—
and
while
most
reputable
organizations
are
respectful
of
your
privacy,
all
it
takes
is
one
ethically
compromised
company
to
sell
your
address
somewhere
questionable
and
sentence
you
to
an
eternity
of
spam
hell.

An
app
called
Blur
offers
a
clever
way
around
that.
Blur
lets
you
create
a
variety
of
special
masked
email
addresses
—
random,
nonsensical
things
like
q43gz7@beconfidential.com
—
and
then
set
’em
up
to
forward
to
whatever
actual
email
address
you
want.

That
means
anything
sent
to
those
addresses
will
arrive
in
your
regular
inbox,
as
if
it
had
been
sent
directly
to
your
normal
address.
But
if
you
ever
start
noticing
spam
or
excessive
marketing
material
coming
into
one
of
your
Blur-created
addresses,
all
you’ve
gotta
do
is
go
into
the
app’s
settings
and
disable
or
delete
that
specific
forwarding
address
to
get
the
noise
to
stop.

Blur
has
a
bunch
of
other
unrelated
features,
some
of
which
require
a
paid
subscription
to
use,
but
this
particular
function
is
free.

Pay
by
Privacy.com

Compromised
credit
cards
are
an
all-too-common
reality
in
this
modern
world
of
ours.
The
risk
is
almost
unavoidable,
as
every
time
you
make
an
online
purchase,
you’re
putting
your
card
number
out
into
the
universe.
And
all
it
takes
is
a
single
unfortunate
breach
for
that
number
to
fall
into
the
wrong
hands.

A
thoughtful
app
called
Pay
by
Privacy.com
reduces
that
risk
substantially
(though
only
for
folks
in
the
US
—
sorry,
international
pals!).
The
app
lets
you
create
single-purpose
virtual
card
numbers
for
all
of
your
online
purchases.
You
can
set
specific
limits
for
how
much
can
be
charged
to
each
number
—
per
charge,
per
month,
per
year,
or
total
—
and
you
can
even
set
cards
to
be
locked
down
to
one-time
use
only.

JR
Raphael/IDG

That
means
if
any
of
the
numbers

do
get
stolen,
they
won’t
work
beyond
your
legitimate
assigned
purchases
—
and
all
it
takes
is
a
flip
of
a
switch
within
the
app
to
disable
the
number
entirely
without
affecting
any
other
part
of
your
purchasing
setup.

The
core
Privacy
service
is
completely
free,
with
a
limit
of
12
virtual
card
creations
per
month.
If
you
need
more
than
that,
a

pro-level
plan
triples
that
limit
and
adds
in
some
other
extra
options.

And
while
Google

is
planning
to
bring

a
similar
virtual-card
feature
into
Android
this
summer,
it’s
(a)
much
more
limited
in
which
specific
sorts
of
credit
cards
are
compatible
and
(b)
far
less
powerful
in
terms
of
the
control
it
gives
you
over
limits,
recurring
payments,
and
other
such
potentially
useful
options.

(For
full
transparency,
Privacy
sponsored
three
issues
of
my

Android
Intelligence
newsletter
last
year.
I
don’t
have
any
active
business
relationship
with
the
company
as
of
this
writing,
and
it
did
not
in
any
way
pay
for
(or
even
know
about)
this
recommendation.
I
became
personally
aware
of
the
service

because
of
that
sponsorship
and
then
started
to
use
it
myself,
and
I’ve
stuck
with
it
—
at
the
free
level
—
ever
since.)

Add
in
extra
layers
of
encryption

NordVPN
or

ExpressVPN

Virtual
private
networks,
or
VPNs,
can
be
an
effective
way
of
keeping
your
phone-based
data
transmissions
private
and
secure
—
particularly
when
you’re
using
public
Wi-Fi
networks,
which
are
notorious
for
letting
outsiders
“snoop”
and
see

all
sorts
of
sensitive
info
from
your
sessions.

Your
best
bet
for
work
is
to
use
your
company’s
own
VPN
service,
assuming
one
is
available.
If
you
use

Google’s
Fi
wireless
service
or
pay
for
extra
storage
via
the

Google
One
program,
you
also
have

access
to
a
trustworthy
VPN
at
no
extra
cost
through
Google
itself.

In
any
other
situation,
NordVPN
and
ExpressVPN
are
among
the
most
widely
recommended
third-party
options,
earning
strong
praise
from
privacy
guru
(and
frequent
Computerworld
contributor)

Steven
J.
Vaughan-Nichols
and
landing
within
the
top
VPN
picks
of
Computerworld
sister
site

PCWorld
along
with

Android
Central,

PCMag,

TechRadar,

Tom’s
Guide,
and
numerous
other
prominent
outlets.

Both
services
promise
heavy-duty
encryption
for
all
of
your
mobile
traffic,
and
both
cost
around
12
bucks
for
a
single
month
of
access
or
$100
for
a
year-long
subscription.
And
both
are
about
as
reputable
and
well-reviewed
as
you
could
ask
for
in
this
arena.

ProtonMail

When
you
need
to
know
your
emails
won’t
be
intercepted,
ProtonMail
is
the
app
you
want
to
use.
Founded
by
scientists
at
CERN
(the
European
Organization
for
Nuclear
Research),
ProtonMail
uses
an
open-source
method
of
end-to-end
encryption
to
keep
your
messages
safe
from
prying
eyes.
You
don’t
have
to
provide
any
personal
information,
and
the
company
says
it
keeps
no
records
of
IP
addresses
or
anything
else
that
could
link
you
to
your
account.
In
fact,
the
company
says
even
its
own
employees
couldn’t
read
or
access
your
messages
if
they
wanted
to.

The
best
part
about
all
of
ProtonMail’s
security
is
that
it
requires
next
to
no
effort
on
your
behalf:
You
simply
create
an
account
with
the
service
and
then
email
away.
If
you’re
emailing
someone
else
with
a
ProtonMail
address,
encryption
is
automatic.
If
you
need
to
contact
someone
with
a
non-ProtonMail
address,
you
can
tap
an
icon
in
the
app’s
compose
tool
to
create
a
password
and
a
hint;
the
recipient
will
then
be
sent
only
that
information
and
will
have
to
use
the
password
to
decrypt
your
message.

JR
Raphael/IDG

Security
aside,
ProtonMail’s
Android
app
is
cleanly
designed
and
pleasant
to
use.
The
app
has
customizable
labels
and
folders
and
even
allows
you
to
define
custom
swipe
gestures
for
your
inbox
(swiping
left
on
a
message
to
mark
it
as
read,
for
instance,
and
swiping
right
to
archive
or
delete).
It
even
has
an
option
for
creating
self-destructing
messages,
should
the
need
ever
arise.

ProtonMail
is
free
at
its
most
basic
level,
which
includes
one
address,
500MB
of
storage,
and
up
to
150
messages
a
day.
You
can
get
more
storage,
more
messages
per
day,
and
additional
features
—
including
email
filters,
an
auto-responder
system,
and
support
for
custom
domains
—
starting
at

$48
a
year.

Signal
Private
Messenger

Signal
does
for
texting
what
ProtonMail
does
for
email:
The
open-source
service
allows
you
to
communicate
securely
with
contacts,
using
end-to-end
encryption
and
without
any
of
your
data
ever
being
accessed
or
stored
on
a
remote
server.
The
app
also
allows
you
to
conduct
encrypted
voice
and
video
calls
with
other
Signal
users.

On
the
surface,
Signal
looks
and
feels
just
like
any
other
texting
app:
You
can
find
people
from
your
regular
contacts
database
or
simply
enter
a
phone
number
to
start
a
conversation.
If
the
other
person
also
uses
Signal,
the
conversation
will
be
secure
—
and
you’ll
see
the
option
to
launch
a
secure
voice
or
video
chat
as
well.
If
your
recipient
isn’t
using
Signal,
you’ll
still
be
able
to
text
normally
and
will
see
a
prominent
“Unsecured
SMS”
warning
in
the
message
field.

Signal
is
free,
and
no
accounts
are
required;
you
just
open
the
app,
input
and
then
verify
your
phone
number,
and
you’re
ready
to
roll.

Solid
Explorer
File
Manager

Pretty
much
all
current
Android
phones
come
with
encryption
enabled
out
of
the
box
at
this
point,
but
if
you
want
an
extra
layer
of
protection
for
certain
files
or
folders,
Solid
Explorer
will
get
the
job
done.

As
an

Android
file
manager,
Solid
Explorer
lets
you
browse
and
manipulate
the
files
on
your
device’s
local
storage
as
well
as
on
a
variety
of
third-party
cloud
storage
services
—
including
Dropbox,
Google
Drive,
and
Microsoft
OneDrive
—
if
you
choose
to
connect
them.
When
you
have
a
file
or
folder
you
want
to
protect,
you
just
find
and
highlight
it
within
the
app
and
then
select
“Encrypt”
from
the
main
menu.

After
that,
all
you
have
to
do
is
type
in
a
password
and
optionally
activate
fingerprint
authentication,
and
the
file
will
then
be
viewable
only
after
your
credentials
have
been
entered.

JR
Raphael/IDG

Solid
Explorer
costs
$3
after
a
free
two-week
trial.

Notesnook

Most
note-taking
services
use
encryption,
which
means
any
data
you
send
and
receive
from
the
service
as
you’re
using
it
is
protected
and
not
visible
to
anyone
who
might
be
trying
to
snoop
on
your
activity.

But
most
don’t
use

end-to-end
encryption,
which
means
it’s
theoretically
possible
for
someone
within
the
providing
company
to
access
your
data
while
it’s
sitting
on
the
server.
Realistically,
with
a
company
you
know
and
trust,
the
odds
of
that
happening
are
pretty
darn
low,
and
most
privacy
policies
explicitly
promise
it
won’t
happen.
But
it’s
still
technically

possible,
and
your
data
isn’t
as
protected
as
it
could
be.

If
you
want
the
maximum
privacy
protection
for
your
notes,
a
privacy-first
and
impressively
polished
service
called
Notesnook
is
exactly
what
you
need.
Notesnook
uses
heavy-duty
end-to-end
encryption
that
makes
it
virtually
impossible
for
anyone
other
than
you
to
see
your
information.
It
also
offers
a
special
vault
feature
on
top
of
that
to
add
multilayer
encryption
onto
especially
sensitive
notes
and
require
a
fingerprint
or
passcode
to
unlock
’em.

JR
Raphael/IDG

In
addition
to
Android,
Notesnook
makes
all
your
stuff
available
via
its
web
app
as
well
as
in
native
apps
for
Windows,
macOS,
iOS,
and
Linux.
Its
core
service
is
free,
while
a
$5-a-month
or
$50-a-year
pro
upgrade
gives
you
a
bunch
of
extras
—
including
the
ability
to
encrypt
attachments,
create
unlimited
notebooks
for
organization,
and
use
a
full
range
of
advanced
note
formatting
tools
(such
as
checklists,
tables,
and
embedded
images
and
videos).

Cryptee

Just
like
with
note-taking
services,
most
document
and
photo
apps
—
including
Google’s
Docs
and
Photos
services
—
encrypt
your
data
while
it’s
being
transferred.
And
for
most
practical
purposes,
that’s
plenty
fine.

But
those
sorts
of
services
don’t
typically
use
full
end-to-end
encryption,
which,
again,
ensures
that
no
one
(including
artificial
intelligence
layers,
like
those
that
do
impressive
things
with
your
images
in
Google
Photos)
could
ever
access
it
anywhere.

If
you
have
exceptionally
sensitive
stuff
in
your
document
or
photo
collections,
a
service
called
Cryptee
will
provide
it
with
the
maximum
amount
of
protection.
Cryptee
applies
a
healthy
helping
of
extra
encryption
onto

all
of
your
material,
making
sure
it
could
never
be
visible
to
anyone
you
haven’t
explicitly
authorized.

JR
Raphael/IDG

Cryptee
can
work
for
any
sort
of
file
storage,
but
it
has
its
own
fully
featured
document
editor
and
photo
gallery,
which
makes
it
especially
well-suited
for
those
two
areas.
And
while
the
service
isn’t
available
as
a

traditional
Android
app,
it
can
be
installed
as
a

progressive
web
app
—
which
looks
and
works
just
like
an
app
and
even
functions
when
you’re
offline.
(Fittingly
enough,
Cryptee
says
it
went
that
route
because
of
—
why
else?
—

optimal
privacy
protection.)

Cryptee
is
free
at
its
base
level,
which
gives
you
100MB
of
space.
If
you
need
more
(and
you
almost
certainly
will!),
you
can
upgrade
to
10GB
for
roughly
$3
a
month
and
then

onward
from
there.

Consider
privacy-minded
app
alternatives

Firefox
Focus

Firefox
Focus
provides
the
simplest
and
most
effortless
private
browsing
experience
on
Android.
Quite
literally,
all
you
do
is
open
the
app
and
go:
No
history,
cookies,
or
passwords
are
ever
saved,
and
the
app
automatically
blocks
trackers
and
ads
across
the
web.
When
you’re
done
with
a
page,
you
tap
a
trash
can
icon
in
the
corner
of
the
screen,
and
poof:
It’s
gone
forever,
with
no
trail
left
behind.

JR
Raphael/IDG

Firefox
Focus,
which
is
free,
has
a
handful
of
settings
for
controlling
the
nuances
of
its
blocking
features,
but
there’s
really
not
much
more
to
it.
If
you
want
to
browse
the
web
without
leaving
a
trace
(at
least,
as
far
as
the
browser
itself
is
concerned),
this
is
by
far
the
easiest
way
to
do
it.

Simple
Keyboard

Gboard
may
be
the

best
all-around
Android
keyboard
app
for
most
people,
but
like
most
contemporary
keyboard
options,
it
invariably
requires
ongoing
network
access
in
order
to
operate.

To
be
clear,
that’s
perfectly
sensible:
Without
network
access,
there’s
no
way
Gboard
(or
other
similar
keyboard
apps)
could
perform
various
types
of
built-in
searches
or
translations
and
connect
to
the
internet
to
transmit
the
info
they
need.

Still,
while
Google
and
other
major
players
are
adamant
about
the
fact
that
they’ll
never
do
anything
dubious
with
your
data,
you
might
want
a
keyboard
where
privacy
is
a
core
part
of
the
package.
And
that’s
exactly
what
Simple
Keyboard
is.
The
keyboard
requires
no
network
access
permission
and
has
no
way
to
transfer
any
sort
of
data
off
your
device
even
if
it
wanted
to
—
giving
you
complete
assurance
that
every
last
letter
you
tap
is
100%
private
all
the
time.

The
tradeoff,
of
course,
is
functionality:
Simple
Keyboard
is,
as
its
name
suggests,
quite
simple.
You
won’t
get
text
correction,
next-word
prediction,
or
even
the
often-network-requiring
voice
typing
capability.

But
if
privacy
is
paramount
for
you,
it’s
a
supremely
minimalist
option
that’ll
absolutely
get
the
job
done.

This
article
was
originally
published
in
April
2018
and
most
recently
updated
in
February
2023.

About Author

AndyC

Andy Curtis is an award-winning security consultant, researcher and public speaker. He has been working in the computer security industry since the early 1990s, having been employed by state and federal government, leading healthcare and banking providers across three continents. He has given talks about computer security for some of the world’s largest companies, worked with law enforcement agencies on investigations into hacking groups, and is a regular voice on TV and radio explaining IT security threats.

See author's posts