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Financial apps on your phone
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I suppose it depends how important it is for you to be able to access certain financial accounts when you are not at home.
For me, there is a good overlap between convenience and the financial accounts that wouldn't be very attractive to thieves - broadly I need access to the accounts from which I make outgoing payments. There is little for me to gain from adding an app to my phone for my cash ISA and investment accounts because I log into them so rarely. Then there are the accounts that don't even have an app.
If I held any crypto, it would not be accessible via my phone. Most likely I'd be getting exposure via a regulated investment provider through an ETN, but given that means holding in an IFfy ISA, for the time being ICBA. I wouldn't put more than 1% of my investable assets into something like that anyway, and that means I have a very low threshold for hassle.
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I don't believe the 80,000 figure can be correct. London alone accounts for 70k to 80k annually with a large percentage of those thefts ending up in China
Across England and Wales annual thefts nearer 165k, but London undoubtedly the epicentre.
Your link does not give that number. Here are some numbers from the House of Commons Library:
"According to the Crime Survey for England and Wales 2024, an estimated 78,000 people had phones or bags snatched from them on the street in the year ending March 2024."
"According to data obtained by The Independent, the Metropolitan Police dealt with more than three-quarters of all mobile phone thefts (64,244) in the year ending March 2024…"
https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cdp-2025-0150/
There are uncertanties in the number of people using mobile phones. Some people will have a personal phone and a business phone, for example. Here is the latest ONS crime survey:
Figure 6 clearly shows that domestic burglary is much more likely than theft from the person. A domestic burglary is likely to affect more than one person. According to this link, computers are stolen in about a quarter of burglaries:
It is not clear that a mobile phone carried on the person is more likely to be stolen than a laptop left at home. Nonetheless, it is an additional risk if you have both.
The number of cases of computer misuse in the latest crime survey is about ten times higher that for mobile phone theft. (Mobile phones count as computers in this context.)
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Also id suspect most phone thefts are from people who high end phone with decent resale value. Carry a modest phone & less likely to be stolen.
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As well as not walking down the street with it in your hand.
Life in the slow lane4 -
For convenience, I have two banking apps and two credit card apps on my phone.
I used to have apps for investment platforms/pension providers. After I removed them I did not miss them. In fact I stopped checking them so often, so an advantage,
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Keeping the phone concealed is the main factor. Nonetheless, there have been reports of thieves discarding Android phones or even handing them back to the owner.
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I've wondered for a while whether it is possible to hide some apps
Finding this thread prompted me to do a search - is it possible to hide some android apps in hidden folder
The results suggest yes, though not called a folder. Somewhere in settings is an option called Private Space. Instructions would need a bit of reading (for instance it sounds like having a separate Google account for this is an idea). Some of it only available on Android 15 and later. I can't find private space on my 14
Besides apps, consider whether there are any downloads of pdf statements
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Samsung devices have Private Space replaced by Secure Folder, seems to be much the same functionality but with a push (natch) towards use of a Samsung Account as well as Google.
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The problem with secure folder is if they are forcing you to log in to your apps, they can do the same to secure folder. The settings will tell them you have it enabled.
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Yes but to be real, if the bad guys have your nadgers in the bolt cutters then you are telling them about the Secure Folder (and everything else) before they even ask.
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