Privacy Settings Worth Changing on Your Phone

• December 21, 2025

• Comment
• Facebook
• Twitter
• Bluesky
• Reddit
• LinkedIn

Your phone knows a lot about you—where you go, who you talk to, and what you search for. While some data sharing is necessary for apps to function, much of it happens in the background without you even realizing it. The good news is that both Apple and Google have added robust privacy controls over the last few years, but many of the best ones aren’t enabled by default.

Taking ten minutes to audit your settings can significantly reduce the amount of data companies harvest from your daily life. It’s not about being paranoid; it’s about making sure your device is working for you, not for advertisers.

Audit Your Location Permissions

Location data is some of the most sensitive information your phone collects. Many apps request “Always” access when they really only need it while you’re actually using them.

On both iOS and Android, you can see a list of every app that has requested your location. Go through the list and ask yourself if that random weather app or retail store really needs to know where you are at 3:00 AM. For most apps, “While Using the App” is the right choice. If an app doesn’t need your location to function at all, don’t be afraid to select “Never.”

Another useful feature is “Precise Location.” Apps like Google Maps or Uber need your exact coordinates, but a news app or a grocery list doesn’t. You can toggle this off to give them an approximate area instead of your exact house number.

Tackle App Tracking

If you use an iPhone, you’ve likely seen the prompt: “Allow app to track your activity across other companies’ apps and websites?” This is part of Apple’s App Tracking Transparency framework.

When you say “Ask App Not to Track,” it prevents the app from accessing your device’s advertising identifier (IDFA). This makes it much harder for advertisers to build a profile of your behavior across different platforms. You can manage this globally in your settings under Privacy & Security > Tracking.

Android users have a similar option called “Ads” within the Google settings menu. Here, you can “Delete advertising ID,” which effectively resets the data Google uses to show you personalized ads. While it doesn’t stop all tracking, it’s a powerful way to break the link between your identity and your browsing habits.

Review Microphone and Camera Access

It’s a common urban legend that our phones are “listening” to us to serve ads. While security researchers haven’t found much evidence of this happening on a mass scale, it’s still worth checking which apps have permission to use your mic and camera.

Go to your privacy settings and look for the “Microphone” and “Camera” menus. You might be surprised to find a game or a simple utility tool that has permission to access your mic. Unless it’s a communication or recording app, there’s usually no reason for it to have this access.

Both iOS and Android now show a small green or orange dot at the top of the screen whenever an app is actively using your camera or microphone. If you see that dot and you aren’t in a call or taking a photo, it’s time to investigate.

Clean Up Your Lock Screen

Privacy isn’t just about digital tracking; it’s also about the person sitting next to you at the coffee shop. By default, most phones show a preview of your notifications on the lock screen. This can reveal private messages, verification codes, or calendar appointments to anyone who glances at your device.

You can change this so that notifications only show the app name, hiding the content until you unlock the phone with your face, fingerprint, or passcode.

• On iPhone: Settings > Notifications > Show Previews > When Unlocked.
• On Android: Settings > Notifications > Notifications on lock screen > Hide sensitive content.

Limit System Analytics

Your phone manufacturer and OS provider (Apple or Google) like to collect “Analytics & Improvements” data to help them find bugs and improve their services. This data is usually anonymized, but it still involves sending a constant stream of information about how you use your phone back to their servers.

You can opt-out of this in the Privacy settings. Turning off “Share iPhone & Watch Analytics” or “Usage & diagnostics” on Android saves a bit of battery life and keeps your usage patterns local to your device.

Check Your Account Privacy

Finally, remember that your phone is a gateway to your larger digital identity. Both Apple and Google now offer “Privacy Checkups” that walk you through your account-level settings.

These tools will show you which third-party apps have access to your account data and let you remove old ones you no longer use. It’s a good habit to run through these once or twice a year to ensure that an app you downloaded five years ago doesn’t still have a back door into your contact list or emails.

Taking these steps doesn’t mean you’re going off the grid. It just means you’re being intentional about who gets your data and why. Your phone should be a tool that serves you, and these settings help ensure it stays that way.

• privacy
• security
• smartphone
• ios
• android

Comments