Android encryption.

[Osem]

Just been reading the Android will soon be offered with encryption enabled so as to help protect personal information. I didn't realise it was possible to encrypt the data on my phone and am wondering whether it would be worth doing. What data would actually be encrypted and how do you go about doing it. How is the data unencrypted when you need to access it? I am using v. 4.2.2

TIA

[GrimUpNorth]

Here's a copy of my encryption screen. If you enable encryption you'll need to enter a pin/password every time the phone's powered up. How long it then takes to decrypt on start up I've no idea.

Hope this helps.

Cheers

Grim

[qasdfdsaq]

Lots of Android phones have had full phone and/or SD card encryption for several years, this is nothing new. They're just integrating popular existing features added by the vendors into the core OS, which is also nothing new - they've been doing that for years too.

'Full' encryption encrypts the entire user-data partition in the onboard memory. All data or apps you download, store, configure, or modify are stored there. The system partition is unencrypted, but that's also read-only so you couldn't put any sensitive data there deliberately or otherwise.

P.S. As Android core OS features are added in future releases, you're unlikely to see it in your phone anytime soon, especially if you are still on 4.2.2. Android is already up to 4.4.2 and if your manufacturer hasn't provided this to you yet they're even less likely to provide 4.5+

[Osem]

Thanks for the replies guys. I'm not expecting my phone to be updated and for my very basic needs am very happy with what it does, apart from certain built in 'extraware' which is the subject of another thread...

So can I ask if encrypting in this way is intended purely to secure personal data in the event of a lost/stolen phone or does it also prevent nasties which may get onto a phone from being able to access that personal data also?

[qasdfdsaq]

It is mainly to prevent data extraction in case of a lost/stolen phone. It won't offer any real protection from applications already on your phone beyond what the OS already provides (most apps cannot access other apps' data at all, and can only access certain shared data if you approve it)

[Osem]

Originally Posted by qasdfdsaq

It is mainly to prevent data extraction in case of a lost/stolen phone. It won't offer any real protection from applications already on your phone beyond what the OS already provides (most apps cannot access other apps' data at all, and can only access certain shared data if you approve it)

TVM

[adzii_nufc]

Pretty much all been summed up well. To take advantage of this you'd have to flash a 4.4 ROM. I know CM10.2/11 offer encryption that works well and have personally tested on an s3. Went for the HTC One M8 rather than the S5 for my upgrade so awaiting the .5 update myself.