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I have linked a great deal of power to my phone. It is connected to my gmail to such an extent that I am starting to get concerned that if somebody where to steal my phone they could reek havok on my life. Is there a way to limit my phone's account power with Google, and other companies.

Example:

On my phone I can add, modify, and delete accounts. That is fine and dandy but I would be devastated if somebody deleted all my contacts and all my mail. Can I limit the accounts ability to delete stuff?

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2 Answers 2

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As far as I know there is no way that you can limit the ability of the phone to edit content. That said there are many steps you can take to ensure that somebody won't be able to get to the stage where they can delete your content and dealing with it if it happens:

  • setup a pin number on your sim
  • setup a lock screen on your phone
  • install an application like SeekDroid and give it admin access so that you can remote wipe your phone if you lose it
  • install two factor authentication on all accounts which support it (Google, Dropbox, Facebook certainly do atm. Others may)
  • make regular backups of anything you would be lost without, and store those backups in the cloud or in multiple places
  • don't use the same password more than once. I use LastPass to ensure that all my passwords are all over 20 random characters.

You should really follow all of these steps - it adds a bit of overhead to some tasks, but I certainly favour the security over the convenience.

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  • Quick question on Lastpass. The problem I would have storing some sort of password manager on my phone would mean that these passwords are "available" for whomever is tech savvy enough to by pass any locked screen or similar features. (For example if I have a keypass file on my phone, technically he has an unlimited intimate time to try to crack that file, and if successful then I'm in deep.) If you use lastpass on your phone don't you risk an even greater problem in the future regardless of multifactor authentication?
    – Mallow
    Commented Oct 29, 2012 at 18:29
  • Yes - but I have a feeling that it will be a lot harder to crack the 256-bit AES encryption Lastpass uses than to brute force whatever your password is.
    – Martyn
    Commented Oct 30, 2012 at 10:45
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That is an issue for the cloud service providers (Google, DropBox, Facebook, etc. etc.).

Suggestion:

If they have so much storage, then only an elevated login should be able to permanently delete / re-password, etc.

Final Thought:

However, there is just as much havoc in all your information being disclosed (copied, publicly released), as in it being deleted.

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    How is it an answer?
    – iOS Enthusiast
    Commented Oct 26, 2012 at 22:50
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    I don't believe the problem (and therefore solution) in on the Android device. IMHO it is the service provider who should be addressing this.
    – david6
    Commented Oct 26, 2012 at 23:05
  • Except that they are not doing anything about it. So users should take precautions as outlined by Martyn.
    – user13391
    Commented Oct 29, 2012 at 10:59
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    You should consider editing your post. You don't provide enough context for me to understand what you are even talking about without having to read the comments. These are just one line sentences on your thoughts but it's like you had the whole thought process in your head, and then put the last sentence of the whole thought down. I have a tenancy to do that too sometimes. And then as a reply to your thoughts: In so much as Richard points out, since most some providers don't offer such a feature, it is then left up to the user to take precautions. However unfortunate that may be.
    – Mallow
    Commented Oct 29, 2012 at 18:35

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