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Many Smartphone Owners Don't Take Steps To Secure Their Devices (pewresearch.org)
From Pew Research's new report: More than a quarter (28%) of smartphone owners say they do not use a screen lock or other security features to access their phone. And while a majority of smartphone users say they have updated their phone's apps or operating system, about 40% say they only update when it's convenient for them. Meanwhile, some users forgo updating their phones altogether: Around one-in-ten smartphone owners report they never update their phone's operating system (14%) or update the apps on their phone (10%).
You, friend, get it. So-called 'smartphones' are not very smart, at least not for the end-user. They're plenty smart for nosy government agencies, corporations, and criminals looking to steal your identity data and other valuable data. In the parlance of some places on the Internets: Smartphones are a troll, and you've all fallen for it. There is no way to actually 'secure' a so-called 'smartphone'; they're by-design inherently unsecure, and likely can't be made secure, either. But they're shiny, so people want them. The theft of their data and vital information is silent; the average, very much non-technical person is completely ignorant of it happening, and worse: between the trend towards believing the natural human need for 'privacy' is some sort of mental illness, and the incorrect belief that if 'you are doing nothing wrong you have nothing to hide', they don't really care, either. I've said it before and I'll keep saying it until the situation changes: you're a fool if you use a smartphone. The only way I'd have one at all, is if I intentionally misconfigured it such that it's not possible for it to connect to the internet AT ALL. That's about the only way you can actually make a smartphone 'secure'.