Data Detox: Control your smartphone data

If you think about what your data tells others about you, it may not seem like that big of a deal: who cares if you’re a fan of country music, like to buy more shoes than you need, or start planning your next vacation a year in advance?

The problem lies in what’s happening with your data. Taken together over time, intimate digital patterns emerge: your habits, movements, relationships, preferences, beliefs, and secrets are revealed to those who analyze and profit from them, like businesses and data brokers.

As you follow this Data Detox, you’ll get a glimpse into how and why this is all happening, and take practical steps to control your data traces across the internet.

Let’s get started!

1. CHANGE YOUR DEVICE NAME

At some point, you may have “named” your phone for Wi-Fi, Bluetooth or both – or maybe the name was automatically generated during setup. This means that “Alex Chung’s Phone” is what’s visible to the Wi-Fi network owner and, if your Bluetooth is turned on, to everyone in the area who has their Bluetooth on as well. You wouldn’t announce your name as you enter a café, restaurant, or airport, so neither should your phone.

You can change the name of your phone to something less personally identifying, yet still uniquely you. Here’s how:

Android:

• Change Wi-Fi name:

  • Settings→
  • Wi-Fi→
  • menu →
  • Advanced/More features→
  • Wi-Fi Direct→
  • Rename Device

• Change Bluetooth name:

  • Settings→
  • Bluetooth→
  • Turn Bluetooth on if it's off →
  • menu →
  • Rename Device→
  • Turn Bluetooth off

iPhone:

• Change phone name:

  • Settings→
  • General→
  • About→
  • Change the name

2. CLEAR YOUR LOCATION FOOTPRINTS

While it may seem like your location data are just random bits of information, when they’re seen all together, they could reveal important details about you and your habits, like where you live, where you work, and where you like to hang out with your friends. That’s what makes it highly sought-after by many companies and data brokers.

It might be normal for, say, your maps app to have access to where you are. But you might be surprised to see how many apps you’ve given permission to access your location.

You can go through each app’s permissions and turn off the location services. Look for the apps that don’t actually need it for the service (does that game really need to know where you are?) and for the ones who you don’t want to have it:

Android:

• Settings→
• Apps→
• Manage location access on a per-app basis

iPhone:

• Settings→
• Privacy→
• Location services→
• Manage location access on a per-app basis

3. TIDY UP YOUR APPS

Your social media apps, games, and weather apps are interested in your data … and they may be collecting quite a lot of it.

Getting rid of those random apps on your phone that you never use can be a powerful way to detox your digital self.

Plus, tidying up can also free up space on your phone, decrease data use, and increase battery life. This can even increase overall performance, depending on the app.

Android:

• Settings→
• Apps→
• Select the app you want to uninstall →
• Uninstall

iPhone:

• Press and hold on one app icon until a menu appears.
• Select the delete app option from the list.
• Confirm deleting the app.

Cleaning up your apps can make a significant difference in how much of your data you’re putting out there, and that can affect how much companies may collect and use your data to make assumptions about you. For many apps, there’s an alternative out there that performs a similar function, but doesn’t collect or sell your data to others.

4. REDUCE YOUR TRACES

The browser on your phone stores a lot of information about you – your location, what you search for, which websites you use – and may give that information away.

You can regain control of some of that info by making a few changes.

Phones, tablets, and computers tend to come pre-installed with browsers that don’t prioritize your privacy. Instead, you can download and use a browser that already keeps your web activity more private by default, shielding you from trackers.

And for some added privacy boosters, you can install extras known as “add-ons and extensions” (these are easy-to-install mini-programs for your browser that can make your online activity more private).

5. UNTAG YOURSELF AND OTHERS

Have you contributed to your friends’ data build-up by tagging them in photos and posts in the past?

Lighten their data load (and your conscience in the process) by untagging them in as many photos and posts as you can.