Gadgetory

your Android is like a basket full of personal or corporate information that you wouldn't want to hand over to just any stranger that's why you take steps to secure your Android device and the data that it holds one great way to secure the data on your Android phone or tablet is through encryption hello I'm mark welcome to android authority in this episode I'm going to talk about encrypting data on your Android device I'll talk a bit about encryption as well as how to encrypt your Android phone or tablet encryption is the process of scrambling information thereby making the data no longer recognizable or understandable by unauthorized parties the process can be reversed it's called decryption and one will need a decryption key through decryption the Scramble data can be made comprehensible again because scrambled data is practically useless to anyone who doesn't have a decryption key encryption is actually a strong way to keep your data secure I'll use a simple illustration to show how encryption works let's say you have the word Android as text data on your phone and you want no-one to be able to read it so you decide to encrypt it for purposes of simplicity let's use a very simple substitution key to scramble the text let's substitute a with C B with D C with E and so on so when encoded or encrypted the word Android will become this it doesn't look like a word a it has become just a meaningless string of letters except for those who know that C stands for a P stands for n and so on a similar thing happens to your data when you encrypt it although in a more complex and sophisticated way than just substituting a with C as you can see encrypting your device can further secure your data it won't prevent your Android from being stolen but it can prevent a thief from using your encrypted data unless a thief is smart enough to know how to decrypt the data for most people setting a pin or password lock usually suffice us for keeping prying eyes away for those who need tighter security there's encryption if you're considering encryption for your Android phone or tablet take note of a few important things first your could show some lag after encryption the process uses device resources slow devices with limited resources could suffer a performance hit the lag will depend on factors such as processor RAM and disk read/write speed second initial full disk encryption can take a long time depending on the amount of data to encrypt don't ever interrupt your device while it is in the middle of encrypting you could permanently lose some or all of your data third once you encrypt your device there's no turning back encryption is irreversible the only way to return it to an unencrypted state is to reformat your device and lose all your encrypted data in the process fourth you will not be able to use either swipe or pattern as your screen lock if you've grown overly attached to either of them you'll have to learn to live without them if you want an encrypted phone lastly you will need to enter your password or PIN every time your encrypted device boots up since the pin or password is also your decryption key you could say it's inconvenient but I think it's a small price to pay for tighter security if these warnings don't deter you then go ahead and encrypt your Android device I'll show you how first set up a pin or password as your screen lock it will be used as the decryption key some devices impose minimum requirements for the pin or password such as on the galaxy s4 just comply with manufacturer's restrictions once your screen lock is set go to the settings menu then tap security tap this to go to the encrypt phone page the menu location may be different on other devices on the HTC One for example you'll find it by going to settings and then tapping storage at the encrypt phone page you'll see some reminders and warnings read and understand them at the bottom you'll also see info about your battery power you'll see recommendations to charge your phone if needed encryption can only proceed if your device has enough power if everything is ready tap this button enter your pin or password for confirmation a final prompt or warning message will be shown confirm that you want to begin encryption by tapping this button there your device will now reboot and start encrypting data you will see a progress indicator during the encryption it can take some time so you might want to let the phone do its job unattended once inscription is done your device will reboot and ask for your decryption key before it boots back to normal mode just enter your PIN or password your device will then decrypt your data and boot into normal mode ready for you to use and you're done you have successfully encrypted your Android phone some phones with external storage also allow encryption of data on the microSD card generally you'll find the commands by going to settings then security then tap on encrypt external sd card the menu names and locations may vary from device to device in most cases you'll be able to choose whether to encrypt the whole microSD card exclude or include media files in the encryption or encrypt only new files but not the existing ones be careful when encrypting your SD card some devices reformat the card before applying encryption some devices let you turn off SD card encryption without wiping data although other devices do reformat the card in the process of disabling SD card encryption if you intend to share your microSD card among more than one device remember that SD card data encrypted by one device will not be readable on another device you can also encrypt your data with the help of Android apps several of such apps are on the Google Play Store and usually offer more flexibility than androids own native encryption feature SSE universal encryption app and encryption manager are two simple and easy to use examples of such apps to encrypt files using SSE Universal encryption app just tap this button and select the file that you want to encrypt tap this button and enter a password the app then encrypts the selected file it's that easy to prevent the app from retaining an unencrypted copy of the original file toggle this option in the apps settings page to the Tripta file select an encrypted file and tap decrypt type in your password when asked the app then decrypts your file the app includes a password vault that you can use to store your passwords securely you can also encrypt and decrypt confidential text with the apps text scripture in the case of the encryption manager app you'll need to set a pin first time you launch the app the pin serves as a master key to all app features make sure you don't forget or miss type the pin if you provide an incorrect in more than six times the app will automatically deletes all your encrypted files to encrypt a file or folder tap this button and locate the file or folder long tap on the file and tap manage encrypted before encryption begins you can tell the app to delete to the original file after encryption if you select a folder you can also opt to include files and subfolders or delete empty folders after encryption you can also choose what encryption algorithm to use encrypted files will appear on the apps main menu just tap on an encrypted file to decrypt the file and open it you may not be fully aware of it but your Android phone or tablet is a storehouse of precious personal or corporate information contacts credit card information emails SMS documents files and more would you easily hand these over to a stranger of course not that's why you must enforce security measures on your Android device in this video I showed you how to safeguard your Android data through encryption I hope you consider using encryption as an extra layer of protection for your precious data for more Android guides news and reviews visit android authority comm and subscribe to our youtube channel i'm martin thank you for watching and remember the power of Android is yours