Backups are usually an excellent idea, but with regulations saying that patient data should not exit the country, and with security breaches in the past, using Apple and Googles backup services is ill-advised. Apple had a series of high profile cases of unauthorised access to photos stored on iCloud a few years back.
We recommend using a dedicated app like PicSafe where photos never enter your device photo gallery. If you're using the default camera app (or the camera built in to messaging apps), the only way you can comply with privacy regulations is to make sure that backups are turned off. Using PicSafe, therefore, means you can retain the convenience of using iCloud Photo Library or Google Photos for your personal photos.
If you don't want to use PicSafe, you will need to turn off the auto backup services and remove existing offending photos.
To turn off auto backup to iCloud:
Please note, there are many version of iOS. The instructions may vary slightly between versions of iOS. The instructions above, and throughout this article are for iOS 10.3.
Please also note, you should always keep your phone up-to-date with the latest operating system as it has the most recent security measures.
To turn off auto backup to Google Photos:
Please note, there are many versions of Android in use. The instructions may vary slightly between versions of Android. The instructions above, and throughout this article are for Android 7 (Nougat).
Please also note, you should always keep your phone up-to-date with the latest operating system as it has the most recent security measures. With Android, this can be problematic. Device owners are often at the mercy of when their mobile operator passes on an update provided by Google. Traditionally, the operators are very slow to implement updates.
Whether you use PicSafe or turn off auto backup services, you will want to remove existing offending images. To delete photos off your phone is, unfortunately, not as easy as you might think.
To delete any existing offending images:
To delete any existing offending images:
Unfortunately, on Android, messages and photos are not permanently deleted. When files are “deleted” on Android, really all that happens is the operating system labels the disk space that stores the file as free space. The data is still there, and off-the-shelf data recovery tools can easily recover it. What do we do about this? There are numerous free apps in the Google Play Store, such as Secure Eraser, that will allow you to delete these files properly. Tools like this write over the so-called free space with random data. You should probably install and use a tool like this to remove all "deleted" data.
If you feel your photo collection to too far gone and you want to remove all photos from your phone, you can do the following.
To remove all photos from your phone:
To delete all photos from your phone:
Note, the built-in file manager is only available on Android 6.0 and above. If you are using an earlier version, you will have to go to the Google Play Store App and download a file explorer. Open the File Manager app and then jump to step 4 above.
Unfortunately, on Android, messages and photos are not permanently deleted. When files are “deleted” on Android, really all that happens is the operating system labels the disk space that stores the file as free space. The data is still there, and off-the-shelf data recovery tools can easily recover it. What do we do about this? There are numerous free apps in the Google Play Store, such as Secure Eraser, that will allow you to delete these files properly. Tools like this write over the so-called free space with random data. You should probably install and use a tool like this to remove all "deleted" data.