# Request for general advice regarding smartphone



## john2004 (May 29, 2004)

Hi everyone,

I just got a Moto-e 1st generation 4.4 kitkat smartphone / tracfone. I'm new to smartphones and have some general questions, mainly about security and privacy with smartphones. 

I'm mainly going to be using the phone for emergency calling / light calling, some light texting, and possibly GPS if i need it. Do most of you use or recommend to password protect the phone ? I do not think I'm really going to have anything on it, other than my contact list. My main concern would be with someone stealing the phone or with me losing the phone. I would think encrypting the whole phone would be overkill and slow things down quite a bit. Is there a way to just encrypt the contact list or whatever I want on the phone without encrypting the whole phone ?

What about tracking apps that are used if the phone is lost or stolen, are these a good idea ?

Are firewalls and anti-virus apps recommended or really needed for these things ? I would not want to root the phone for a firewall but I read there is at least one (noroot) that works without rooting the phone. 

What about the phones themselves being tracked, is this anything to be concerned about and is there a way to make this more difficult or less likely ?

Lastly, are there any tips for using wifi securely ?

Any recommendations for specific apps, or general recommendations and advice would be appreciated. I'm so new to smartphones I do not really know what I should be concerned with and what Is not worth worrying about. 

Thanks,
John


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## trogdo (Feb 9, 2015)

Hi there, welcome to smartphone world! 

I don't and never have used passwords on my phones, it's a hassle. If you follow my route, don't keep your phone in your back pocket, don't do banking or shopping on your phone. Aaaaand no compromising photos of your other half. 

Tracking apps - don't know, never used them. I know they have been useful to many people though. 

Firewalls and such aren't really needed for basic users. Running an antivirus once in a while won't hurt. Don't go mad installing apps without reading reviews first.

Your phone, and everyone else's phone is trackable if it's on, if the SIM card is in and it's near a cell tower. Or connected to Wi-Fi. It's something you got to live with. 

Use wi-fi networks with encryption (WEP, WPA, WPA2). 

As for apps, I use daily AquaMail for email, Firefox for browsing, HERE for maps and navigation. Smart Tools is a great bundle of things like unit converter, compass and even the utterly useless but fun metal detector.

Have fun!


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## Wallenberg (Jan 23, 2006)

I am very new to smart phones as well. I just bought a Samsung Galaxy S4 about ten days ago. Fortunately, there are some very knowledgeable people here who seem willing to help newcomers like us. But, I think it could help a lot if you could tell them about your configuration. For example, is your phone the only way you access the Internet? Or do you also have a desktop PC or laptop that uses a modem (and possibly a router) in order to let your PC access the Internet.

I have a very experienced friend and she told me one thing that may apply to you. She advised me to turn off Wi-Fi all the time except for when I am accessing the Internet. That may be important to you because it may relate to how much you will get billed for your usage at the end of the month. 

My friend ran up a bill of several hundred dollars in just a few days because she had some options turned on (like Mobile Data) and some apps were downloading stuff from the Net like crazy which she had to pay for. Of course, she knew nothing about this danger. So, I suggest that you try to find out if this sort of thing may apply to you? Maybe it would be a good idea for you to state just what kind of plan you have and what is the limit you have for downloading data? In my case I can download 2GB of data per month and if I D/L more than that, I have to pay and the cost could get very expensive. So, maybe you might want to be concerned about costs as well as security? I would guess both factors might be important to you. Or, have you already looked into that and have you already placed a limit on the costs?

Finally, I suggest maybe you might ask the more experienced people here to advise you about how you can protect yourself from getting a huge bill at the end of the month. You may not know that your phone is downloading data without your knowledge. I'm not trying to scare you. But if you ask about this early on, you may save yourself a big headache at the end of the month.

Please take anything I say with a grain of salt. After all, I really don't know hardly anything about smart phones. I'm just trying to help with a small bit of info that I have been given.


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## TerryNet (Mar 23, 2005)

> She advised me to turn off Wi-Fi all the time except for when I am accessing the Internet.


Why? The only reason I can think of is to save a little battery life if most of the time there is no Wi-Fi network for the phone to use. I keep mine on all the time because most of the time my phone can use my home Wi-Fi instead of mobile data.


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## Wallenberg (Jan 23, 2006)

TerryNet said:


> Why? The only reason I can think of is to save a little battery life if most of the time there is no Wi-Fi network for the phone to use. I keep mine on all the time because most of the time my phone can use my home Wi-Fi instead of mobile data.


As I said, she told me that she ran up a bill of several hundred dollars in just a few days because her phone was downloading a whole lot of data. But I'm not sure about the details. I don't know why.

I'd guess she has a very different configuration than you do.

I don't understand why "a phone" would download so much data.

I'm still trying to learn about the difference between Wi-Fi and Mobile Data.

If you could explain the basics or direct me to a source where I could learn the basics, I sure would appreciate that.

I was very careful to explain in my above post that I'm very new to the world of cell phones and I was repeating what she told me because it seemed like a real disaster.

I was also careful to caution John, the OP by saying:

"Please take anything I say with a grain of salt. After all, I really don't know hardly anything about smart phones. I'm just trying to help  with a small bit of info that I have been given."

Maybe it would be best if I just keep quiet until I'm certain that I understand exactly the nature of the danger that I advise the OP.


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## TerryNet (Mar 23, 2005)

> I'm still trying to learn about the difference between Wi-Fi and Mobile Data.


I'll try to give some practical, not technical, information. When I say "phone" here think "phone or other device."

Mobile Data "comes to" the phone from the same cellular tower that the voice signals come from. You pay for it as part of your phone contract. Your monthly bill (or pay as you go) from your cellular carrier includes charges for voice, data, and maybe text (sms). This internet service (the data part) is relatively expensive, and often you pay even more if you go over a rather modest monthly cap which usually ranges from 100 MB to 5 GB depending on your plan.

Wi-Fi "comes to" the phone from a wireless router or wireless access point which is connected to a modem which is most commonly connected to the internet through a cable, phone wires (dial up or DSL) or satellite. You may have Wi-Fi service at home, in which case you pay your Internet Service Provider a monthly fee. Sometimes there is a relatively large data cap (I have cable service with a 250 GB cap) and sometimes there is no limit. Unless you stream/download movies or similar every day you'll never notice the cap. You may be able to connect to and use Wi-Fi for free, such as at a restaurant or motel. Or you may be able to connect to and use Wi-Fi for an hourly fee, such as at a truck stop.



> Maybe it would be best if I just keep quiet until I'm certain that I understand exactly the nature of the danger that I advise the OP.


Baloney!  One of the reasons that all help is to be on the public forum is for peer review. Your post was five paragraphs and I questioned one sentence. And, that was "questioning," not refuting. When I started here I was very self conscious when making a mistake or typo or not being clear. Now I still try to be careful, but know that for sure I'm not going to be perfect. Just try to explain or admit my mistake or whatever and move on. I think that you are careful enough and clear enough that you'll be fine, even though there will be some small mistakes or things that are questioned.


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## Wallenberg (Jan 23, 2006)

Terry, Thank you so very much. First off, your practical, not technical information was some of the best info I've seen yet. It really helped me understand some things that I've been thirsting to understand.

Second off, I was expecting you to say, "Yes, Dumbell, just shut up until you know what you're talking about. I was so happy that you helped me to feel it was OK for me to post.

But I will still be very careful to be sure I tell people that I'm just guessing something (when I'm just guessing) or that I'm just repeating something I've been told. (when I'm just repeating something I've been told).

But now ... I'd like to get to the main thing I want to ask you.

Before I got my smart phone, I paid an ISP $75 per month for unlimited Internet access and I was so happy because my cable company had previously been charging me a huge amount of money for exceeding my download cap and as soon as I got this unlimited plan I said goodbye to my cable company.

That was probably the happiest moment of my life (at least my technical life).

So, now let me check something with you.

Since I get unlimited Internet access through my original service provider, does that mean that anything I do through Wi-Fi, I'm doing through them and therefore it is costing me zero?

So, does that mean that I should always keep my Wi-Fi on because it won't cost me a penny to do so?

Does that also mean I should try to keep Mobile Data turned off unless I need it on?

Terry, I keep getting all these warnings that tell me if I haven't got Wi-Fi on, I can't do something and if I haven't got Mobile Data on, I can't do something else. Also, I need to have them both on to do certain other things.

I guess I should have made notes as to exactly what these warnings said and I will do so from now on. But do you have any idea what is going on with those warnings?

Finally, let me check something else. Am I correct in assuming that everything that comes to my phone thru Wi-Fi is coming through my (unlimited access) service provider and they are the only ones who send me any data to me (as well as get any data from me). So, anything I get to my phone either comes from Wi-Fi or Mobile Data and it's either one or the other? If that is correct, is there any way I can arrange that if my phone can download some particular data from both sources that it will select Wi-Fi first?

I mean to say, can I arrange to give Wi-Fi a higher priority over Mobile Data? Or does it not work that way?


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## renegade600 (Jun 22, 2006)

just leave your phone on wifi and as long as you are in a wifi location you will get wifi. Go into your phones settings and tell it to do updates only when on wifi. go to the google play store settings and set it for wifi only.


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## TerryNet (Mar 23, 2005)

I think Dan really supplied the "need to know" summary.  But I'll post a little ...



> Since I get unlimited Internet access through my original service provider, does that mean that anything I do through Wi-Fi, I'm doing through them and therefore it is costing me zero?


Yes.



> So, does that mean that I should always keep my Wi-Fi on because it won't cost me a penny to do so?


Yes; unless you are away from your home for an extended period and want to save a little battery life.



> Does that also mean I should try to keep Mobile Data turned off unless I need it on?


Depends. I cannot give a straight yes or no. Turning Mobile Data off will save a little battery life. When the phone has a choice of using Wi-Fi or Mobile data it always chooses Wi-Fi because it knows that would be our choice. Good idea to turn it off if your data cap is really tight (you sweat not GB, not 100 MB, but how many MBs used).



> But do you have any idea what is going on with those warnings?


I can only *guess*. "Wi-Fi off" is probably a reminder that Mobile Data will be used. "Mobile Data off" probably means that Wi-Fi is also off or currently unavailable, meaning that you have no current internet access. Maybe your reaction will be "but I got those warnings when I wasn't doing anything!" But the phone may have been trying to do something in the background for you--checking for calendar updates, checking for location information, checking for new email, etc.



> I mean to say, can I arrange to give Wi-Fi a higher priority over Mobile Data? Or does it not work that way?


It works that way.

*john2004*, we have hijacked your thread. I could move our offending posts to a new thread, but am hoping that some of this information will be at least mildly interesting and helpful to you.


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## renegade600 (Jun 22, 2006)

oops was not paying attention to who started the thread and who I was replying to...sorry about that John.


> I just got a Moto-e 1st generation 4.4 kitkat smartphone / tracfone. I'm new to smartphones and have some general questions, mainly about security and privacy with smartphones.
> 
> I'm mainly going to be using the phone for emergency calling / light calling, some light texting, and possibly GPS if i need it. Do most of you use or recommend to password protect the phone ? I do not think I'm really going to have anything on it, other than my contact list. My main concern would be with someone stealing the phone or with me losing the phone. I would think encrypting the whole phone would be overkill and slow things down quite a bit. Is there a way to just encrypt the contact list or whatever I want on the phone without encrypting the whole phone ?


I recommend using passwords. You don't want someone else get a hold of your phone and make calls that could cost you money or get a hold of your personal information stored on it.

Encrypting is overkill unless you have to extremely confidential stuff on your phone.



> What about tracking apps that are used if the phone is lost or stolen, are these a good idea ?


I don't know your phone and what comes on it. tracking apps come in handy if your phone gets stolen or you want to keep track of your family members.



> Are firewalls and anti-virus apps recommended or really needed for these things ? I would not want to root the phone for a firewall but I read there is at least one (noroot) that works without rooting the phone.


they are not necessary if you never do anything confidential at hotspots. generally speaking if you are only going to download apps from the google play store then you really do not need any anti-virus. However there is nothing wrong with having one installed for your peace of mind.



> What about the phones themselves being tracked, is this anything to be concerned about and is there a way to make this more difficult or less likely ?


 they are not being tracked any more than the tracking is done when you go online on your computer. you can always turn off the gps and location features but turning them off could also limit other features that may come in handy.



> Lastly, are there any tips for using wifi securely ?


 wifi at home, make sure all of your computers have firewalls and you have a passwords on all of them. If using a wifi hotspot, say at mcdonalds, never use it for financial transactions or anything confidential. If you must, make sure the http in the address is a https.



> Any recommendations for specific apps, or general recommendations and advice would be appreciated. I'm so new to smartphones I do not really know what I should be concerned with and what Is not worth worrying about.


just go through the apps in the app store and see what interest you. You can always take it off if you don't like it. One thing you should do, you should turn off notifications on all apps except those you want (email, weather or other important ones). otherwise you could get a screen load of ads. every once in a while you need to recheck those notifications to make sure they stay off. sometimes updates will turn them back on.


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## john2004 (May 29, 2004)

Thanks for the replies everyone. I'm supposed to have 1,200 minutes, 1,200 texts, and 1.2 GB of internet data on a year service card for this phone. When I went to the tracfone website and selected "check balance / service date" it showed less text and internet available even though I have not used those features. I have only made calls on the phone a few times. I set up the voice mail and checked the voice mail. Does checking voice mail or voice mail storage take away from your internet data ? Does using their "check balance" feature take away from you balance ? I used the "check balance" feature on their website, not the app. I'm not sure if the phone app is different than the website. It also seemed like more phone minutes were taken off than I actually used. 

I do seem to be getting messages on the phone from the google store, tracfone, or somwhere. It seems like advertising stuff related to the phone. Perhaps this is taking away from my balance. How do I turn it off ? Also, if I turn off the mobile data feature, can I still text and make calls with the same reliability ? 

Perhaps someone who has experience with tracfone can offer some feedback. I"m also going to try to contact tracfone.

Thanks,
John


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## john2004 (May 29, 2004)

Looking at "data usage" on the phone it looks like "google services" is the bulk of the issue. In seven days 5.02 MB of data was used and none of it was by me. Google services used 4.48 MB of data and "Motorola services " used 239 KB. The data goes down from there with android OS using 105 KB. Here is what else is listed...

Configupdater - 72.8 Kb
setup wizard - 14.0 kb
youtube 2.5 kb ( I've never surfed or used the internet / youtube)
Modemstatsservice - 732 B ( What is this and do I need it ?)
Media- 440 B

At this rate, the phone will suck up about 260 MB of data in a year and none of it will be used by me. It's mainly coming from Google and Motorola services. Should I disable or delete some of this stuff ?

Thanks,
John

P.S. I checked into the phone minutes used which was about 28 and I have 1 text message removed from my 1200 allowance. This appears to be the text tracfone sent me when I checked the balance on the phone. It did not seem like I used 28 minutes of talk time but perhaps I did.


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## TerryNet (Mar 23, 2005)

I had Tracfone (but not data) until two years ago. Checking voice mail is counted against voice calls. Checking balance using a browser will for sure be data usage. Maybe they make an exception if you use their App, but I doubt it.

Do ask Tracfone your questions. It may take several calls until you luck into somebody you can fully understand.

I know nothing specific about those other usages, but can tell you in general that lots of Apps and "services" want to frequently if not continuously check for any notifications or info to push to you or to check for your location so that they can give you location specific ads or other information. You will need to go through all those settings and decide which to turn off (to save data and battery) and which are convenient to have on.

Turning mobile data off has no impact on voice or text (or Wi-Fi).

Regarding talk time any part of a minute counts as an entire minute. Make three calls each taking 2 minutes and one second and you have used nine minutes. Try to call and hang up when they don't answer and you will probably be charged a minute, unless the ring time is very short. (This paragraph is based on my two year old experience, but I doubt they have become more lenient.)


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## Wallenberg (Jan 23, 2006)

I have recently learned a lot more about Wi-Fi vs Mobile Data and I'd like to post a few things that I think may have been posted above inaccurately.

But I don't want to hijack this thread and so I wonder if Terry wants to start a new thread or allow people to use this thread to discuss wi-fi vs mobile data?

There is this thread that is titled: There is something I just don't understand about Wi-Fi

Should I maybe mark it unsolved and continue that part of the discussion in that thread?

*
*

http://forums.techguy.org/android-phones-tablets/1148878-there-something-i-just-dont.html


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## TerryNet (Mar 23, 2005)

> There is this thread that is titled: There is something I just don't understand about Wi-Fi
> 
> Should I maybe mark it unsolved and continue that part of the discussion in that thread?


That sounds like a reasonable idea.


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