We often hear protecting our online privacy requires us to follow security hygiene and beware of phishing and link baits and do not click on suspicious links from untrusted sources and follow best security practices. We also hear that we need to protect our online accounts with strong passwords and 2FA. Keeping up with the latest software patches, installing anti-virus and anti-malware software are all good practices to protect your devices.

Consumers not only use websites but also use mobile apps for various social media and gaming activities. For app developers to monetize their work, they often publish advertisements offered through Apple, Google, and Facebook among others. Unlike websites, mobile apps do not use cookies and there has to be another way to track user activities. This is where Mobile Advertising ID (MAID) comes in, and it allows advertisers to collect information about mobile users.

5G is the 5th generation wireless technology used in cellular networks. Wireless Technology evolved from analog 1G to digital 2G, 3G, 4G, 4G LTE, and the new 5G to deliver faster, reliable, and low-latency data over the cellular network. In April 2019, 5G technology was first deployed in South Korea, and shortly after the United States and China followed. 5G technology "theoretically" delivers 100 times faster than 4G up to 10 Gbps, but the reality is not quite there yet. Considering 4G was introduced in 2010 and LTE in 2013 and took nearly a decade to be where we are today, 5G will take as many years to deliver the speed it deserves and the coverage everyone is anticipating. With YouTube, Netflix and other on-demand videos including video calls being transmitted over mobile networks, 5G will deliver the performance needed by those high-demand network services.

In the wireless marketplace, the market narrowed to iOS and Android operating systems in recent years. Independent companies tried to build their own mobile operating systems, but most failed including Microsoft Windows. In May 2019, Android captured 75.25% of the total wireless market followed by Apple's iOS with 22.75% market share.

Misplacing a smartphone is not about losing your apps, music and contacts; it is also about giving away unauthorized access to your pictures, social networking sites - online identity and personal emails and stuff. In some cases, it also means the thief would gain access to your banking data if at all you are the kind of person who does banking online or stores all passwords in quick notes app. Given that your smartphone is a database of all your critical and personal data, it is extremely essential to register for in-built security features, install additional security software if need be.

Did you lose your Android smartphone without installing a tracking app? If you're like most people, you realize that there are anti-theft or phone tracking app available for your Android smartphone after it's stolen or lost. It would be easier to track your phone if you have such app installed, but you still have a chance to track your phone and recover it. There are a couple of ways to track your phone if you use your Google Account linked to your phone.

Our readers have been inquiring about retrieving lost or stolen smartphones by tracking down the IP address of the phone. Is it possible to track the phone using an IP address? The answer is Yes. But, can you recover the lost phone by tracing the IP address? The answer is unlikely. If you lost an Android Smartphone, you still have a chance to recover it by following the Locate your lost Android smartphone article. If you lost a non-Android phone, this article will describe what it takes to track down the IP address of your phone, and how hard it is to recover it.