10 Must-Have iOS Privacy & Security Apps for 2017

December 15, 2016. 2016 has been the toughest year ever in online security,
with multiple big-scale hacks throughout the year. To name just a few famous incidents of this year, over 100 million
LinkedIn and 360 million MySpace accounts were breached , 15 million
Iranian users of
Telegram messaging app got their accounts hacked into, $80 million dollars were
stolen by hackers from Bangladesh Bank, and U.S. Democratic Party systems were
hacked into during the election. Most recently, Yahoo reported its biggest hack in
history with over
1 billion accounts compromised.

If big organizations
with sophisticated security systems can be broken into, what about any ordinary
iPhone user? All digital devices, if unprotected, become one of the easiest
data breach targets for an average hacker. By hacking into iOS or any other
device, criminals are able to access personal bank account data, credit card
passwords, name, address, social media accounts and so on. In 2016, over a billion of personal records got accessed
illegally.

When
someone’s identity is stolen, their money
could be taken off their checking account or credit card at any time. Worst of
all, most victims of identity theft are left to take care of the debts
incurred, and to deal with a ruined credit.

So how
can users protect themselves and what will be the hottest security apps for iOS
in 2017?

Signal is an encrypted
messaging and voice calling app that provides end-to-end encryption to secure
all communications. The app can also verify the identity of people one is
messaging with and the integrity of the channel they are using. When texting
with non-Signal users, one has an option to invite them to an encrypted
conversation via Signal.

Tor
Messenger is as an encrypted messenger created by the makers of Tor, the
world¹s most popular encrypted Internet browser, synonymous with  ³the
dark web.² Tor Messenger is a cross-platform chat app that is secure by default
and sends all messages over Tor Network. The app supports a good number of
transport networks, such as IRC, Google Talk, Facebook Chat, Yahoo, and others,
and enables Off-The-Record (OTR) messaging – a safe and encrypted way to have
private conversations – over Tor¹s network of computers for greater anonymity.

NordVPN (Virtual Private
Network provider) is a must-have encryption app. A VPN encrypts the data shared
across the Internet, and is the best security mechanism to ensure the Internet
traffic remains confidential. NordVPN has a reputation of focusing on security
and having a zero logs policy, is fast and easy to use. The developers at NordVPN have launched a
powerful new VPN app for
iPhone
that is also intuitive and good-looking. The new iOS app re-routes and encrypts
all Internet traffic making the connection private and secured while using
top of the line security protocol IKEv2/IPsec.

Norton
Identity Safe gives
you freedom from remembering passwords: it saves all user names and passwords
on iPhone and iPad and syncs them across devices. Secure passwords can be
created within the app. The app also allow for faster checkout as fill ins
forms with the user¹s bank information.

The ZeroEmail App is a self-learning
email app created to organize the inbox by relevance or importance. It has
an original card-style format that allows for single swiping, making it quite
fast and easy. Zero does not store messages and personal information on remote
servers, meaning it all stays on the phone, so it¹s perfect for those who don¹t
believe in storing their information on a cloud.

Keeply is a spy-level app
for an average user. It stores a user’s private moments and data – pins, credit
cards, notes, photos and videos – right on the phone. Keeply¹s provides a Fake
Pin feature, which is alternate password that the user can give to their nosy
friends or family –  when they enter it, the app shows an empty
application. Face-down Lock, on the other hand, causes Keeply to close
immediately when it’s placed face down. It can also take a photo of anyone
who enters a wrong pin into the phone. Best of all: nothing ever leaves the
phone.

Secret
Calculator is another app for storing user¹s private photos, videos,
notes, contacts and other sensitive data behind an innocent-looking calculator
app.

Avira
Mobile Security is a must to find a lost phone or to make sure the phone hasn¹t
been compromised.  It also scans address book to make sure if all contacts are
safe, checks OS to ensure the system is updated, uses location tracking on up
to 5 devices and more.

LockItUp app allows to
simply lock a PC or Mac from anywhere by using iPhone. It¹s all
cloud-based, so there’s no need to be on the same Wi-Fi or network for it
to work. The app runs in the background quietly and consumes very little CPU.

Best
Phone Security Pro is an app that will ring an alarm as soon as someone
unauthorized touches the device.  The user can choose the lock option: Touch
ID, pattern lock or passcode lock. You can even record your own alarm sound.

It¹s becoming increasingly important to make sure that all digital
devices, whether used privately or by company, are as secure as possible. Just
as we protect our homes with locks and security systems, fielding potential
intruders, we should make sure our devices are also properly protected ­
especially because these days, most of the valuable information is stored
online. Besides security and privacy apps, everyone should use common sense
when sharing information on their devices, encrypt when using public Wi-Fi and
always use strong passwords.