What’s the best way to lock your Android phone?

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Android security Security vs. convenience: What’s the best way to lock your Android phone? By Lincoln Spector You want your smartphone to be locked do
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Elly, Lars220, SueW, woody

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Thank you for this information, I have just recently been dragged, kicking and screaming into the 21st century against my will because my 2003 Tracfone 2G dumb phone will not be supported by Tracfone after December 31, 2020. I bought the budget, entry-level Tracfone LG Rebel 4 smartphone with Android and am now learning all about it. Currently using PIN for the lock screen. Here are two links with some more information that may be useful for some:

https://www.androidauthority.com/best-android-lock-screen-apps-lock-screen-replacement-apps-565514/

https://www.reviewgeek.com/45834/icydk-keep-your-android-phone-unlocked-in-specific-situations-with-smart-lock/

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[Chris Greaves]

Indeed, a great article.

My two-cents worth on passwords:-

(1) Use a simple string but repeated. You need only memorize “vfr” to remember “vfrvfrvfrvfr”

(2) Use the name of a person, place, or thing that is relevant to the site, but change one letter. If your mother’s name was “CharleneRichards”, use “CharlemeRichards”. That the “M” and “N” keys are adjacent will help to fool a bystander.

(3) The point on 16- versus 4-digit PINs is taken, but if I were a gambling man I’d bet on a 4-digit pin every time. People will commit to the last four digits of their childhood phone number as a mnemonic when they won’t commit to a string like “7055475153342401”.

(4) Biometric passwords were fun. I was exposed to expenive biometric software that used the cadence of the typist as part of the scheme. This was easily mimicked in Word97/VBA using key-press events (KeyDown, KeyUp from memory)

Unless you're in a hurry, just wait.

• This reply was modified 4 years, 10 months ago by Chris Greaves.
• This reply was modified 4 years, 10 months ago by Chris Greaves.

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A place where facial recognition fails…

I have a friend who’s blind (and *very* reliant on her iPhone), who also has elementary school-aged kids.  There’s a lot of stuff on there that the kids shouldn’t have access to. She does have facial recognition set, but it happens where one of the kids may grab the phone (and she not even seeing that they have it), and then waving it in front of her face, where they have access.

An underlying problem with nearly any biometric is that if somebody else can establish access that way, then you’re permanently penetrated.  You can easily change a passcode, but you can’t change your fingerprint, voice print, retina, etc.  And the biometrics aren’t invulnerable to spoofing.

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Here is my experience:
I will never be 100% safe and that is true. I use fingerprint authetification and gestures to unlock my phone and still. So nobody can unlock my phone, unless he is very lucky with the gesture.

I dont know, if someone can extract my data from it if he steals it (I personally think he can).
but I recommend to hide SMS notification on the lockscreen, because I noticed, that if I go to internet banking and I go for login, SMS is sent to my mobile (second factor of authentification).
But the SMS appears on the lockscreen without unlocking. So if someone steals your internet banking login AND your telephone, youre in trouble deep.

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