Should I Encrypt My Android Phone?

Question

In my phone settings, I see an option to "Encrypt My Phone". What does that exactly do? I set my phone to ask for a PIN whenever I unlock the screen. Isn't that enough?

Also, if I encrypt my phone, does it affect anything else aside from security? Like performance, etc.?

Here's the description of "Encrypt My Phone" which I couldn't completely understand:
"You can encrypt your accounts, settings, downloaded apps and their data, media and other files. Once you encrypt your phone, you need to type a numerica PIN or password to decrypt it each time you power it on. You can't decrypt your phone except by performing a factory data reset, erasing all your data."

Answer 1

When you encrypt a phone ALL the data on the phone is hidden/scrambled so to speak, making even common text unreadable, unless it is decrypted with a password first. So any photos, emails, text messages, can not be seen, even if they are taken off an SD card (if the SD card was encrypted as well).



But say you encrypted the phone and NOT the SD where you stored all your naughty pictures. Well anyone who has you phone, will not be able to view anything on it, BUT if the take the SD card and put it in a computer or another phone, they can do what they want with the unencrypted files on the SD card.



It is an extra step of security, an option for those that want or need it.



It would not be for the user that can't remember a password that they changed and confirmed, 10 mins later for their lock password (as seen on many many Yahoo Answer questions).



Does it effect performance? It can on some phones. The more data that has to be encrypted and unencrypted each time you want to view or use it, can slow down some phones, but not enough to matter a lot when security is the main focus for encrypting it in the first place.



"You can't decrypt your phone except by performing a factory data reset", while this is true, if the goal was to get at the data on the encrypted phone, then having it encrypted, has more than served it's purpose, should the phone be lost or stolen.

Answer 2

Wrong. If you often go to foreign countries in Easter Europe or Asia (China in particular) it would be helpful to encrypt at least some of the data or apps. Most of foreign hacking attempts on american companies and government originate from these 2 regions. It would seem only sensible to take precautions in those places because if your data or identity is stolen the local legal system really does not offer any meaningful recourse and US jurisdiction does not apply.

Answer 3

Considering that people install and use increasingly more applications on their phones and tablets, causing them to slow down or even freeze if they're not managed properly. An optimizer app is a must-have for anyone with a smartphone, as it can help clean memory and provide plenty of features useful for your device. LEO Privacy Guard is one of those optimizers, but it's quite limited compared to the leaders in this category.

Answer 4

Is a nice option, but you can try with Leo Privacy Guard

Answer 5

Bottom line is no reason to do that unless you are a criminal. It will slow it down some.