How Often Should You Power Down Your Phone? The NSA Weighs In

A lot of individuals undervalue the effort required to maintain smartphones in optimal condition. These compact personal 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 simple activity that numerous individuals never perform: turning your phone entirely off. According to
cybersecurity specialists at the NSA
This single feature aids in safeguarding the device against certain hacking attempts. Today, it’s not just about gaining entry through malevolent links; hackers can also exploit vulnerabilities via
zero-click exploits
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This process entails circumventing the security measures of a smartphone incrementally, beginning with an unreturned phone call, followed by accessing initially loaded applications. This sequential approach progressively grants entry to the system, enabling cybercriminals to infiltrate your data. Typically, zero-click attacks occur without detection; however, they can be thwarted by performing a full restart of the gadget.

How frequently should you power down your device completely?

According to security professionals, the straightforward response regarding how frequently one ought to fully power down their phone is:

no less than once every seven days

And it’s not only about the protection it offers! Besides removing the security threat, frequent restarts ensure that your smartphone’s operating system runs efficiently and without issues.

To determine how long your device has been continuously running without restarting, you can examine the system settings. For Android devices, this information is typically available under “Device” followed by “Status.” There, the uptime will be shown in hours.