10 Awesome Apps To Protect Your Smartphone

If you misplace your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, or Mac, the Find My iPhone app from Apple will let you use another iOS device to find it.

Install this free app on another iOS device and sign in with your Apple ID. The app will find your missing device on a map, play a sound, display a message, remotely lock your device, or even erase all the data on it.

Publisher: Apple

Price: Free 

Where's My Droid is another phone tracking app, but for Android devices.

By using a text message, or the app's "Commander" feature, you can turn up the ringer volume up and make your phone ring. The app can also use the phone's GPS to show it's location on a Google map.

Publisher: Alienman Tech

Price: Free

Lookout is an all-around security app that lets you find a lost phone and back up data. It will also warn you about other security risks.

For instance, it can notify you about how to improve your phone's security settings. Or it will tell you which apps are tracking and revealing your location.

Publisher: Lookout Mobile Security

Price: Free

TigerText lets you encrypt your text messages.  It's geared for enterprise users who want to let their employees conduct business on their phones while still protecting data and meeting regulations.

TigerText can turn any phone into a pager that complies with healthcare-privacy rules, for instance, which is good for doctors, hospitals, insurance companies. It lets you shares encrypted photos, too, and works with just about every device out there, including iPhone/iPad, Android, BlackBerry and Windows Phone.

Publisher: TigerText

Price: Free

Silent Circle is an app that encrypts phone calls, texts, and email messages between a mobile phone and any other other phone or device.

The app was particularly designed for members of the military, but is good for anyone who needs to make sure that their location and conversations stay private. It was created by Internet Hall of Famer and privacy guru Phil Zimmermann, privacy expert Jon Callas, and two former Navy Seals.

Publisher: Silent Circle

Price: $20–49/mo.

It seems like every website and app today uses a password. Who can remember them all? eWallet, available for iPhone, BlackBerry, and Android devices, securely stores them for you.

It helps improve password security, too, because it lets you use longer, stronger, unique passwords for each website. That's safer than using the same password for lots of sites.

There are also desktop versions available for Windows PCs and Macs.

Publisher: Ilium Software

Price: $9.99

LastPass is another password management app and its claim-to-fame is that it works on your smartphone and your PC.

LastPass creates one master password. You set it up on a Windows, Mac, or Linux machine and then it syncs your user names and passwords to your smartphone. It works with iOS (iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch), Android, BlackBerry, and Windows Phone.

LastPass can store other types of confidential text data, too.

Publisher: LastPass

Price: $1/mo. for LastPass premium subscription

Call Blocker gives you the power to say no to unwanted phone calls and texts. It lets you create a black list to reject calls, autoforward them, or reply with an automated text. You can also block all texts or calls from anyone outside your phone book.

It also lets you back up your contacts and transfer data to a new phone, even across platforms (like from BlackBerry to Android).

Publisher: NQ Mobile

Price: Free

If you use your phone for business, there may be all kinds of data on it that you want to protect including pictures, text messages and videos. Mobile Vault is an app that lets you keep that private stuff private.

Mobile Vault creates a private, password protect space on your iPhone, iPad, or Android device where you can encrypt pics, videos, SMS, and contacts.

Publisher: NQ Mobile 

Price: Free

Gliph lets you create a digital identity and then decide how much about your real identity you want to share with the people you communicate with. Think of it like a flirting app that lets you enjoy a social experience without revealing too much about yourself. 

So instead of giving out your phone number to that cute stranger you just met at a bar, you can give out your Gliph info.

Gliph also has an email privacy tool lets you keep your real email address secret while sending and receiving mail from your normal inbox. It works on Android and iPhone.

Publisher: Gliph

Price: Free

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