Approximately 70% of all people in the world that browse the internet via a smartphone do so via an Android device. What’s more, the majority of digital devices out there (of which there are tens of billions) are themselves Android devices. There are something like 2 billion Android users out there, which is more than a quarter of the Earth’s entire population. Most people may be aware of such statistics, or you may be surprised that Apple does not nearly hold as much of the smartphone market share, so it is important to understand that Android is by far the most popular device out there. Android smartphones eclipse pretty much all other devices out there such as laptops, tablets, smartphones, and anything else. There are several reasons for this which we will get into.
What is more pertinent is, however, securing your Android device to the maximum extent. This is more important than anything else, because your private data can be said to be holy, and must be protected at all costs. Tens of billions of Android devices out there unprotected are asking for trouble on a global scale. The reason we are talking about data protection is that Android devices are known for some security issues (not necessarily due to the devices themselves or their operating systems) but we will also need to expand on this later. Moreover, much more than it is Android’s fault, human error plays a central part in smartphone-related data incidents. For now, we will say that you need to make a backup of your Android data and that this makes up the core of our overview (that link includes heavily researched expert information on how to backup your Android for you to look at later).
If you need to send large files from your Android device fast and securely, use a dedicated file transfer service.
Primarily, we will be looking at what makes Android smartphones so popular, and secondly, we will talk all about backing up your Android data properly and the critical rationale for doing something like this in the first place.
What Are Android Smartphones and Why Are They so Popular?
People often confuse Android hardware with Android software. Now, when we say “Android” what we mean is a smartphone that runs on the Android operating system (OS) created by Google. In essence, a smartphone cannot be “Android” but it can be made for Android. Android-compatible smartphones are made by several manufacturers. These devices are myriad and are offered by several known and lesser-known international manufacturers and brands. Some of the well-known brands are Samsung, Google, HTC, Motorola, LG, and Asus. Lesser-known Chinese companies (although very popular within China and some internationally) also make tons of Android equipment. Chinese manufacturers like Honor, Xiaomi, Huawei, OnePlus, Oppo, Realme, and Redmi are brands that you may recognize and that have made it to the international markets with their budget-friendly but feature-rich Android offerings. A new domestic Chinese smartphone brand seems to crop up every other day.
What is more, each of these brands uses the Android system as base software but can modify and personalize it to distinguish it from and compete with the market. In general, Android phones are much more affordable than offerings from Apple which can cost two to three times more (aside from flagship Android models which cost the same) and are readily available for purchase all over the world, too. Apple iPhones are usually purchased by people who already run an Apple ecosystem, as Apple’s devices tend not to comply with other brands when it comes to compatibility. Android, on the other hand, is a master of compatibility and can be customized to one’s liking.
Why is Data a Security Issue For Android?
Perhaps this is too much of a generalization on the part of the general public, but most people do not equate Android with security. Apple seems to be far more careful when it comes to that, but that may be because the brand is nowhere near as popular as Android, thus fewer people use it and Apple devices are less prone to cyber-attacks, scams, data loss, and human error. At least, that is the consensus around the world.
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Coming back to our main point, why is backing up data on your Android so important? First of all, a lot of hackers and scammers tend to target Android systems because of the breadth of choice, as we mentioned earlier. Secondly, Android systems are known to be much more customizable than Apple’s out-of-the-box approach. For that reason, users that are not tech-savvy sometimes do not set up their Android devices for optimum security. The simple answer to this is that the sheer diversity of Android versions out there, coupled with the sometimes infrequent security updates (again, a size thing) leads experts to believe that Apple has security down better than Android. Some experts also argue about the fact that Android’s application store, better known as the Google Play Store, is vastly inferior security-wise to Apple’s App Store. This is due to the lax approach to the kind of software that is allowed to be published on the Google Play Store. Again, the counter-argument is that the Google Play Store is enormous compared to Apple’s App Store, so monitoring every piece of software can be a challenge for security teams.
Now, why all the hype about data backups? Let’s make it clear that you should backup every device you own, not just your Android. Even though Android may suffer from what we talked about earlier, your Android (just like any device) can be hacked, stolen, or lost. Furthermore, you might be the one responsible for the loss of your data, too! Now, Apple is very smooth when it comes to the backup process to their iCloud. It must be said that not every Android is as smooth as, say, Samsung. Some users might find it difficult to back up their Android or find it too complicated. For that reason, check out the link at the top for a step-by-step guide on the simplest way to do just that and carry on with the peace of mind that the data on your Android smartphone is saved in case of an emergency or an incident.
