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The iPhone 16 Professional and Samsung Galaxy S24 Extremely are among the greatest telephones round, however consequently, they’re additionally extraordinarily costly. With the most effective telephones of 2025 coming in at over $1,000, it is no surprise that many people are in search of extra inexpensive choices, together with shopping for used or classic gadgets. Shopping for used is an especially cost-effective solution to put new cell know-how in your pocket. In spite of everything, the machine is often absolutely able to dealing with what you want, and it is extra environmentally pleasant to maintain utilizing telephones for longer, slightly than sending them to landfill.
The issue is that older telephones could have outdated variations of Android or iOS, which implies they typically lack important safety updates that may preserve you and your information protected. Though the {hardware} itself is commonly good to maintain utilizing, particularly if you do not need the most effective cameras or quickest processors, the shortage of safety assist signifies that older telephones could be a lot much less safe to make use of. used. In the event you’re involved about safety and privateness—and you ought to be—right here are some things to think about.
Learn extra: Here is what $650 will get you in used telephones on eBay
What’s a safety patch for a cellphone working system?
Hackers are always in search of cracks and holes in your cellphone’s software program to take advantage of. At any time when hackers uncover a brand new gap, cellphone producers often patch it, and that patch is pushed to your cellphone to ensure nobody can reap the benefits of it. It is a safety repair. Over time, you have probably acquired numerous them, as cybercriminals are all the time looking for new methods to bypass the safety in your cellphone. It is a fixed sport of cat-and-mouse, with hackers discovering holes and software program suppliers patching them. And the cycle continues.
More often than not, you may by no means learn about it, however it’s what retains your cellphone up-to-date and protected against recognized threats.
Why do producers cease sending safety patches?
All producers together with Samsung, Sony, Google and OnePlus solely supply assist for one cellphone for therefore lengthy. Each new cell phone that’s launched and each new model of Android requires new menace evaluation and remediation. It is a lot of labor and signifies that discovering and fixing these holes for each single handset spanning years and years merely turns into unimaginable.
The HTC One M8, launched in 2014, is not formally supported and doesn’t obtain safety patches.
Because of this, Google and cellphone producers should finally finish assist for older handsets. These handsets will not obtain safety updates, that means that when a menace is detected on that cellphone, it merely will not be mounted.
So is it protected to make use of an outdated cellphone?
As Christoph Hebeisen, director of safety intelligence firm Lookout, defined, “We do not think about it protected to make use of a tool that does not obtain safety patches. Crucial safety vulnerabilities turn out to be public data each few weeks or months, and after the system is out assist, then customers who proceed to make use of it turn out to be inclined to exploiting recognized vulnerabilities.”
In accordance with Hebeisen, a weak cellphone may permit full entry to all the things in your cellphone, together with your private and firm emails, contact data, your financial institution particulars or the audio of your cellphone calls. A hacker can nonetheless have entry to this data so long as you proceed to make use of the compromised cellphone.
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Test to see in case your cellphone has the newest software program put in.
How can I inform if my cellphone is just too outdated?
Discovering out in case your cellphone continues to be supported and getting safety fixes is commonly not straightforward. To get began, go to SETTINGS and test on your software program updates. Set up the newest model that’s accessible. It would often offer you some indication of when the cellphone was final up to date. In case your cellphone says it has the newest working system software program, however the newest model was put in many months and even years in the past, that is unhealthy information. Your cellphone might be not supported.
Sadly, producers do not offer you a warning telling you after they’ve dropped assist for a cellphone, so that you both discover out via a impolite awakening like I discussed above, or determine it out by yourself via another means.
It was widespread for telephones to solely be supported for a couple of years, however fortunately most firms — together with Google and Samsung — have upped their sport right here, providing assist for at the least seven years on their newest generations of telephones. Google’s newest Pixel 9 and 9 Professional will nonetheless be protected to make use of in 2031, whereas Apple’s iPhone XR – launched six years in the past – continues to be suitable with the newest model of iOS. Corporations akin to Fairphone take this even additional, promising at the least eight years of assist.
However longer assist intervals have been one thing of a current development, so when you’re shopping for an older era cellphone on the used market, it is potential that its assist interval may very well be shorter — and will even already be out of assist.
Regardless of having the newest software program put in, this Galaxy S6’s final safety replace was utilized in 2018. Meaning there are years of recent exploits that this cellphone is inclined to.
Discovering out in case your Android cellphone is supported will contain some digging. Samsung despatched me its listing after I contacted its PR crew, and it is accessible on-line right here , and whereas it makes clear which telephones are presently supported with updates, it does not say how lengthy these updates will proceed. Google has a web page that clearly tells you when your Pixel or Nexus cellphone will lose safety assist. (Spoiler alert: All Nexus and Pixel telephones as much as and together with the 2021 Pixel 5A — are all outdoors their official assist intervals.) Your greatest place to begin is with the assist pages on of your cellphone producer’s web site.
Chances are you’ll not discover straight away in case your cellphone is outdated. The obvious signal that you just’re on outdated software program could also be once you’re in search of new apps to obtain. Many apps will merely be incompatible because of software program and {hardware} limitations in your cellphone, and you will not have the ability to set up them.
How can I inform if my cellphone has been hacked?
It is laborious to say whether or not you may ever discover in case your cellphone’s safety has been compromised. Cybercriminals do not precisely let you recognize they’ve damaged into your machine, so you may must search for indicators. Pop-ups that may seem on the cellphone are an enormous giveaway, as are any apps that pop up unexpectedly that you have not downloaded.
Additionally be careful for unexplained excessive information utilization, because it may very well be that malicious apps are utilizing numerous information within the background. Different indicators may also embody extraordinarily excessive battery utilization and sluggish efficiency, however each of those can be attributed to utilizing older {hardware} that degrades over time.
Learn extra: Finest Android VPNs
How can I preserve myself protected if I’ve an outdated cellphone?
As Hebeisen says, the easiest way to maintain your self protected is to easily not use a cellphone that is not supported. If you do not have the cash, cannot afford to improve but, or are utilizing an outdated cellphone briefly for no matter purpose, there are some things you are able to do which may assist.
The Galaxy S6 was launched in 2015 and is not formally supported by Samsung.
First, it’s good to ensure your cellphone has the newest software program put in. In the event you purchased it used, ensure to totally manufacturing unit reset the cellphone. Ensure you solely obtain apps from the Google Play Retailer (slightly than third-party or unofficial app shops) and naturally keep away from putting in apps by downloading the APK file from an internet site. This may typically be a means that malicious software program will get right into a cellphone.
You possibly can assist shield your private data by merely not giving out an excessive amount of within the first place. Do not do any cellphone banking, sync your organization e-mail accounts, and do not ship attractive pictures or have intercourse video chats till you are again on a protected machine. (Even over the cellphone, it is necessary to apply protected intercourse.) In accordance with Hebeisen, when you do not take such precautions, “it may possibly allow an attacker to look at and manipulate virtually all the things that occurs on the machine.” That is a chilly bathe, proper there.
