Having your cell phone encrypted is a way to keep the sensitive data stored there safe or secure. Here we show you exactly what it is to encrypt your phone and how to do it.
We live in an era where everything is being spied on and where theft of cell phones is very common. Encrypting the information stored on your Android is the safest way that this data is not seen by any entity or thief, even if they were able to copy or download the data stored on your mobile.
Contents
Article Index
- What is encrypt
- What is it for
- The disadvantages of encrypting a cell phone
- Encryption and Screen Lock
- How to encrypt an Android phone
- How to know if my cell phone is encrypted
- Encrypt memory card
What is encrypt
Mix the data with a password or key, so that they are unrecognizable. Basically, that’s what it means to encrypt an Android. Even if that data were to fall into someone else’s hands, it would not be understood because it is merged with the key. The only way to see them and make them readable is to know what the encryption key is.
Some may prefer to say that encryption is simply a synonym for concealment, arguing that the above concept is rather a form of encryption called “encrypt”. In any case, the idea of encrypting the cell phone is to protect your information with a password.
What is it for
Your Android phone may contain personal or professional information. Account numbers, passwords, conversations, etc. You don’t want that data to be extracted and viewed by someone else.
Even if that data has been erased, if it was not encrypted there may still be some chance of recovering it with recovery software.
The disadvantages of encrypting a cell phone
- There may be a negative impact on the performance of the phone, as well as on the life of the battery, especially if it is an old cell phone or with limited technical characteristics. The anandtech.com website got concrete numbers about it on a Motorola Nexus 6 and they are not good.
- The only way to decrypt a cell phone is to restore its factory settings (except in modern devices that already come encrypted and there is no way to decrypt them).
Encryption and Screen Lock
If you want encryption to be effective, it is recommended that you set up a lock screen with PIN, pattern or password (in fact it is mandatory to do this in older versions of Android). Any one of these three things you use will work as an “encryption key.” By entering it after starting your phone you will be decrypting it to be able to use it and access your data.
If you do NOT configure a lock screen, your phone can certainly be encrypted (this is possible from Android 5.1 onwards), but this would obviously reduce the effectiveness of the encryption.
Otherwise, on older devices you can have a lock screen configured and the phone WITHOUT encrypting. In this way you would prevent a person from using your cell phone, but it is possible that you do not avoid the extraction and display of the data stored in the mobile phone (for example after connecting to the PC with the USB cable).
How to encrypt an Android phone
On devices with Android 5 or higher system, encryption is already activated at the factory. You may not find any option to encrypt or decrypt the phone.
In mobiles with an earlier Android system, the option is usually found in System settings, “Security” option. Before you can start the encryption process, you must connect your Android to the charger and leave it connected until the end.
The encryption process takes about an hour and will restart several times during it. It is important not to interrupt it or else the mobile data will be lost.
How to know if my cell phone is encrypted
In the “Security” menu of the Android settings you may see the encryption status of the phone.
Another way to find out is by command line, using the ADB tool from the PC:
adb shell getprop ro.crypto.state
Encrypt memory card
As with the phone, this is a good way to protect the data on your memory card. So they can only be seen on the cell phone from which it was encrypted. It is impossible for them to be viewed on another device.
You just have to remember that, if you are going to restore the cell phone settings, you must first decrypt the card or later you will not have access to it.
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