How Often Should You Power Down Your Phone? The NSA Reveals All

A lot of individuals undervalue the effort required to maintain smartphones in peak condition. These compact computers you carry around necessitate routine upkeep and crucial updates to shield them from both physical degradation and security threats.

Disabling your phone can safeguard it against certain types of hacking attacks.

Interestingly, this encompasses a quite fundamental activity that numerous individuals never perform: entirely turning their phones off. According to cybersecurity specialists at the NSA This alone helps safeguard the device against certain hacking attempts. It is increasingly typical to obtain unauthorized access to smartphones through malicious links as well as via zero-click exploits %20and%20nation%2Dstates.).

This process entails circumventing the smartphone's security measures incrementally, beginning with an overlooked incoming call, followed by accessing the initially loaded applications. This gradual infiltration grants hackers entry to the system, enabling them to extract your data undetected. Typically, zero-click attacks occur without alerting the user, but they can be thwarted by performing a full restart of the device.

Further reading: If you aren’t utilizing these essential PC security measures, you're inviting hackers.

So how often should I turn off my phone?

The simple answer from security experts as to how often a phone should be turned off completely is: no less than once every seven days . And not just for the protection it provides! In addition to eliminating the security risk, regular reboots also allow the smartphone’s operating system to run all functions smoothly.

To see how long your device has had to go without switching off, you can easily check the system settings. On Android devices, this can usually be found under “Device” and then “Status.” The uptime is displayed there in hours.

Further reading : Does fast charging hurt your phone battery?