Currently, more than half of all American adults have a smartphone, according to the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project. Smartphones have features of both a mobile phone and a computer, allowing us to talk, text, access personal and work email, browse the Internet, make purchases, manage bank accounts, and take pictures. Unlike many of our computers, our smartphones are always with us, and many of us rarely turn them off. Consumers need to be aware of the kinds of information that can be collected from your smartphone by various entities.

Service providers such as AT&T, Sprint, Verizon, and T-Mobile collect data, but the details of what they are collecting are not clear. Service providers may be collecting the phone numbers you call, numbers from which you receive calls, times of calls, and the phone numbers from which you receive text messages. In addition to the data collected by your service providers, you should also be aware of the possible privacy issues surrounding the collection or disclosure of photos or video you take on your phone, text messages and emails you send and receive on the device, contacts stored in your smartphone, passwords, and what is stored in your phone’s calendar.

Who would be interested in the data on your smartphone? Companies, advertisers, cyber-criminals, and in some situations federal agencies, who would have “an interest” in the data stored in your smartphone. Apps can collect all sorts of data and transmit it to the app maker and/or sell it to third-party advertisers. Ads from advertising networks running on some apps may change smartphone settings and take contact and other information without your permission. Some apps may track your location. Location-based services like Google maps, Yelp, or Foursquare need your location in order to function properly. However, there are apps that do not need your location to function but may still be tracking it. Apps may also be infected with malware (malicious software that can pose a threat to your smartphone). Many mobile apps do not have privacy policies, and when they do, they are often long and difficult to understand.

To read the complete tip, including steps to protect your privacy, please click here.