What Is The Best Free Internet Radio App For Android?

Are you sick of having to download and manage your songs and podcasts on your Android device? Turn to Internet radio for hassle-free audio content, whether it’s music, talk shows, or whatever else. You can even tune into actualradio stations if that’s what you want — and all of this is available for free.

Of all the Internet radio apps that are available for Android, here are the five that impressed us most. Can you guess which one came out on top?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

iHeartRadio

This app is more than just music. Unlike most Internet radio apps, this one is actually like traditional radio and offers various types of content, including talk shows, news, sports, and entertainment. You might think that this widespread focus might weaken the music side of iHeartRadio, but have no fear because it excels there too.

Availability

Only in Australia, New Zealand, and the United States. (Though it is possible to circumvent this with an Android VPN.)

Selection

Not only does it boast a collection of 18 million songs from 400,000+ artists, it allows you to tune into 800+ live AM/FM radios from all over the country. It’s safe to say that you won’t run out of content for a long time with this app.

Interface

iHeartRadio feels fresh, clean, and modern. There’s nothing particularly eye-catching about it, but that’s why it’s so great: it steps out of the way and makes it easy for you to do what you want. Live radios? Custom playlists? Navigating songs? It all makes sense and never feels like an obstacle.

Features

The beauty of iHeartRadio is that it’s as close to an all-in-one solution as you’ll ever get as far as Internet radio for Android is concerned. Choose from any number of curated music radio playlists or create your own stations based on your favorite genres, artists, songs. The “For You” feature will even tailor music to your personal tastes.

Cost

Free with ads.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Pandora

Is there anyone out there who hasn’t yet heard of Pandora? This service is so popular that its name has almost become synonymous with “Internet radio,” at least for music. For live radio streams and non-music radio content, you’ll need to look elsewhere.

Pandora pioneered the idea of a dynamic music playlist by way of its Music Genome Project, without which we might still be stuck in the land of MP3s andmusic player apps. Indeed, this app is as much about discovering new music as it is about playing music that fits your specific tastes.

Availability

Only in Australia, New Zealand, and the United States.

Selection

While there is a surprising genre diversity in Pandora’s selection, the total size of their music database is quite small, hovering at somewhere around 1 million. It falls way short of its competitors, such as iHeartRadio’s 18 million.

To be fair, I’ve found a lot of good music on Pandora that I haven’t encountered anywhere else, but at the end of the day, Pandora’s stations can and will grow repetitive.

Interface

There isn’t much complexity to Pandora’s design, which shines through in its interface. You pick the station you want (or create a new one) and it starts playing. From there, you can skip songs or go back and switch stations. It’s very straightforward, which is a major plus for a mobile music app.

Features

While the lack of complexity might’ve been great for its interface, Pandora suffers for being a one-trick pony. Or maybe it doesn’t suffer at all. If the only function you need is the ability to “play songs like this song/artist/genre”, then Pandora is perfect for you. But if you need anything else, Pandora won’t have it.

Cost

Free with ads. To remove ads, you can upgrade to Pandora One for $4.99 USD per month. Pandora One is applied per-account rather than per-device, so this carries over onto all devices that you might use to listen to Pandora.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

TuneIn

TuneIn is the most popular result when searching for “radio” on the Google Play Store and for good reason. Like with iHeartRadio, you can tune into sports, news, talk shows, podcasts, and even live radio streams from around the world. It’s a strong contender in the “all-in-one radio app” category.

Availability

Worldwide.

Selection

Stream from a choice of 100,000+ real radio stations. Unlike the other radio apps on this list, TuneIn does not have its own library of songs dedicated to streaming music.

Interface

Aesthetically speaking, TuneIn is ahead of the trend with its sleek layout that works well on phones and tablets. However, due to the complicated nature of the app itself, not everything is as straightforward as it could be. It may take some time to get used to it.

In terms of performance, TuneIn is very hit or miss. The app is intensive on resources and will require a good deal of power from your device in order to run smoothly. On my 2-year-old Galaxy S3, I experienced more choppiness than I would normally tolerate.

Features

TuneIn’s defining feature is its commitment to being “the real radio app”. Its entire design is built around the principle of tuning into live radio stations. Its global presence is the primary reason why it has such a massive userbase (over 50 million monthly active users), which is something that no other app on this list can say.

In addition to the 100,000+ real radio stations, TuneIn allows content creators to broadcast their own streams that users can tune into.

Cost

Free with ads. Upgrade to the pro version for $9.99 USD to remove ads and unlock the ability to record what you’re listening to.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

XiiaLive

This little gem of an app does not receive the attention that it deserves. Perhaps it’s the name that repels potential users (which is pronounced “ZEE-ah”, by the way) but if you just look past that for a moment, you might be pleasantly surprised.

XiiaLive, which is powered by SHOUTcast technology, taps into online radio stations that feature music, talk shows, and more.

Availability

Worldwide.

Selection

XiiaLive can only tune into SHOUTcast stations, but there are 50,000+ to choose from so you’re bound to find a few that you’ll like. Many of those stations are music-centric by genre, but others focus instead on talk shows and other content.

Interface

The interface is one of the weaker points. The layout is a bit confusing at first and doesn’t get much better over time while the graphics themselves remind me of a modernized look straight from ’90s. Everything feels cramped on my phone, though certainly still usable.

Features

By far the most useful feature of XiiaLive is the ability to rewind with a seekbar, a feature that I’ve yet to find on any other Internet radio app. As awesome as this feature might be, it currently only works with certain stations. There’s also a “Scan” feature that you can use to find new stations, much like the scan function of a traditional radio.

Plus, what’s great about SHOUTcast is that it allows you to start your own radio station.

Cost

Free with ads. For $3.99 USD, you can upgrade to the pro version which removes ads, allows advanced filtering of stations, increases the rewind time from 5 minutes to 60 minutes, and unlocks the ability to add homescreen shortcuts to specific stations.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Songza

Like Pandora, Songza is Internet radio in its most primitive form: the ability tostream music playlists of a particular taste. However, there are a few key differences that separate Songza from Pandora, namely the fact that Songza’s playlists are curated by a team of music experts.

Availability

Only in Canada and the United States.

Selection

Songza has access to over 20 million songs that have been carefully split into hundreds of playlists. Each individual playlist may only have a few dozen songs, but if you ever get tired of that particular playlist, you can always switch to another one.

I’ve been listening to Songza on a near-daily-basis for over a year and I’ve yet to explore everything it offers.

Interface

The interface for Songza is rather unique, partly due to its underlying design (which is explained in more detail down below). It feels fresh, looks good, and is unlike any other Internet radio app, but rest assured: it’s intuitive enough that you’ll get used to it in just a few minutes.

Features

The most notable aspect of Songza is its “Music Concierge” feature, which takes the day of the week, the time of day, and the user’s mood (e.g., “Aggressive”, “Mellow”, or “Seductive”) and presents a selection of fitting playlists.

Playlists can also be searched and browsed according to activity (e.g., “Coding” or “Working Out”), genre (e.g., “Easy Listening” or “Showtunes”), or even decade (e.g., “90s Rock”).

Costs

Free. No ads.

And the winner is…

iHeartRadio. It has so many features without being bloated. It has dedicated music functionality and the ability to tune into live radio. There’s a wide selection of content, the performance is great, and it’s all available for free. That being said, all five of these options are great in their own ways.

For the desktop alternatives, you may want to look at these online radio tools for Windows.

Which one is your favorite? Let us know in the comments below

Source: http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/best-free-internet-radio-app-android/

Comments (29)

Write a Comment

    Lee Bergman

    30 May, 2015

    I realy like Osons Radio Mode Android app music choice found this days, very strange choice of music, some of them never heard off, some famous hits…

    Sue

    21 May, 2015

    Which one uses the least amount of data or do you think all the apps use the same amount? I can’t be bothered testing them all out.

    Abrar Khalfay

    8 April, 2015

    Forgot to mention Audials radio, available on Android. Its totally free as well.

    Abrar Khalfay

    8 April, 2015

    Have you tried mytuner radio . Its a similar to Tunein Radio Pro and Xiia Live Pro. Infact I have tried all three of them the pro versions and consider mytuner radio as the best bet so far on android.

    I believe all people would agree, if you want the radio app ad-free then you have got to buy the pro version.

    I would appreciate if you can recommend me any other radio app which is better than mytuner radio pro.

    Cuneyt Kaplan

    2 March, 2015

    I love AccuRadio over all. The best genres, unlimited skips, no buffering, great song selections, very limited ads and completely free!!

        Joel

        3 March, 2015

        I just saw your recommendation on the other article. AccuRadio has a mobile app too? Very cool. Definitely going to give it a try this week.

9 best radio Android apps (Android Authority)

Even though we have things like music-on-demand with apps like Spotify and we can buy any song any time from places like iTunes and the Google Play Store, a lot of us still like to listen to the radio. It’s low maintenance so you just turn it on and it goes by itself. It’s great background noise for when you’re working and it’s still among the best ways to discover new music. Are there great ways to listen to the radio on Android? The answer is yes and here are our best radio Android app selections.

---

Pandora internet radio

[Price: Free]
First up is the venerable Pandora internet radio. This was one of the originals to offer this kind of service. You can create your own stations or listen to ones that have already been made. It features just short of a million songs and you can get all of that for free if you don’t mind ads. There is also a daily skip limit so make sure you only skip the songs you really dislike.

C'mon, everyone else is using it!

PROS

• A decent track library.
• Pretty much all features come on the free version.
• Creating, deleting, and listening to stations is very easy.
• Its very popular. You likely know someone who uses Pandora.CONS
  
  
  • Ads are fine but the daily skip limit is annoying.
  • Smaller track library than most competitors.
  • No FM stations and no talk radio.7.5
  This is a great free option and it’s very easy to use.

---

iHeartRadio – Internet Radio

[Price: Free]
iHeartRadio is another very popular option but this one more closely emulates real radio. Not only does it offer over 18 million songs to listen to but it also has talk radio selections for news, sports, finance, comedy, and entertainment. It even includes some FM and AM radio stations if you need those.

It may even be better than real radio.

PROS

• Contains a boat load of music stations and talk radio stations.
• Totally free to use with ads just like real radio.
• Radio selections for your tastes, including seasonal and holiday channels.
• Actual FM and AM radio stations can be found here.
• App keeps up on the latest in Android design elements.
• Custom stations supportedCONS
  
  
  • Has a history of using the same commercials over and over again.
  • Has the occasional bug here and there.9.0
    
    iHeartRadio is the essential radio Android app for all radio fans, not just music fans.
    
    

---

Internet Radio

[Price: Free with in app purchases]
Internet Radio is the most aptly named app we’ve ever seen. It also happens to be fairly good at playing radio stations over the internet. This is one of the few selections on this list that supports radio stations from other countries so if you wanna listen to Russia’s top 40 hits of 2014 you can certainly do that. It also includes some features as in app purchases such as radio recording and a sleep timer to turn it off after a while.

Less diverse in some ways, more diverse in others.

PROS

• Includes real AM and FM radio stations from multiple countries.
• One of the few selections that offers radio recording.
• Categorically sorted.
  CONS
  
  • The design is a little antiquated.
  • No custom radio stations.6.5
    
    It’s not as diverse in some areas but much more diverse in others and it’s free to use!
    
    
    
    
    

---

Live365 Radio

[Price: Free]
Live365 Radio is unique because it’s not automated stations like you’d get with Pandora or even iHeartRadio to a degree. Every station is managed by a person who picks the playlists and runs their own thing. It features over 250 genres of music although you don’t have access to all of them unless you participate in their subscription service. If you do, though, the ads are also removed and that’s always a good thing.

Something a little different.

PROS

• Individually managed radio stations is a cool idea.
• Over 200 genres of music to choose from.
• Free to use with ads.CONS
  
  
  • Developers go long periods without updates.
  • Some app issues have been reported like difficulty turning the app off.
  • You don't have access to every station until you buy the subscription service.6.0
    
    If this looks like your cup of tea, click the button!
  
  
  
  

---

Radio FM

[Price: Free]
Radio FM is another more classic radio option. It contains 10,000 radio stations across multiple countries and gives you a selection of music or talk radio. It is very much like a radio directory rather than something like Pandora so that means if you need to search by genre or something like that you won’t be able to. It’s free to use so that’s a big plus.

A directory of radio stations.

PROS

• Over 10,000 FM and AM stations available.
• Stations for multiple countries.
• Music and talk radio available.
• It's free!CONS
  
  
  • The interface is easy to use but not much of a looker.
  • No customized radio. Stations only.
  • Some stations are unavailable for various reasons such as country restrictions. They're still listed but you can't use them.7.0
    
    Overall if you need something simple then Radio FM may be for you.

---

Rdio

[Price: Free]
Rdio is another option that is much like Pandora. It has 20 million songs available and you can either listen to pre-made stations or create your own using your favorite artist or genre. It also includes features like offline syncing, social integration, and giving you access to your listening history so you don’t have to remember what songs you just listening to.

PROS

• 20 million songs is about 20 times more than Pandora.
• Create your own stations or listen to pre-made ones.
• Listening history makes it easy to remember the songs you liked.
• Offline syncing is useful if you're about to lose connection.CONS
  
  
  • The app has a history with bugs so be on the look out.
  • No FM or AM radio stations.
  • No talk radio.
  7.0
  
  It’s free to try with a $9.99 subscription if you choose to use it. Use the button below to get started.

---

SKY.FM Internet Radio

[Price: Free]
SKY.FM is another interesting case because it only has 60 radio stations. However, each station is individually managed by a person who is reportedly an expert in the genre itself. That means that each station is not only manually maintained by someone but it is maintained by someone who actually likes the music they’re putting on the radio waves. That means no talk radio and the channel selection is very slim so don’t go into it thinking you have another Pandora here.

What it does, it does well. It just doesn't do all that much.

PROS

• Each station is manually managed which is way better than randomly picked by computer algorithms.
• Despite having only 60 channels, there is a fairly diverse set of genres to enjoy including music from other countries.
• It's a very simple, no-nonsense application.CONS
  
  
  • It only has 60 channels.
  • No talk radio.
  • No AM or FM stations.6.0
    
    It’s not the most diverse music radio application but what it does have is pretty awesome.

---

TuneIn Radio

[Price: Free]
TuneIn Radio is one of the most popular apps on this list. It focuses more on talk radio, podcasts, and things like that rather than music so if you’re looking for a substitute for pretty much all of AM radio then this is it. It does contain real radio stations as well which is a bonus for those of you who want your FM radio.

It can do music but it's way better at talk radio.

PROS

• Over 100,000 channels, stations, and podcasts.
• Simple, clean interface.
• Free to use!
• New content pops up rather frequently.
• FM and AM radio stations.CONS
  
  
  • It has a lot of music stations but it doesn't feel like it's made for that.
  • If you don't like talk radio, you probably won't like this.
  • Developers like to do this thing where the app is great, then they update it and it's terrible, then they update it and it's great again.7.5
    
    If you like music, it can do that but it’s real talent is talk radio.

---

XiiaLive – Internet Radio

[Price: Free]
Last on our list is a lesser known option called XiiaLive Internet Radio. It sports a 4.5 rating in the Google Play Store and despite having a lot of downloads, it’s an application that few people actually talk about. It features 50,000 stations that range from music to talk. It’s powered by SHOUTcast and those of you who are new to the internet may not remember what that is. XiiaLive also includes some music player style features like an equalizer.

A diamond in the rough.

PROS

• Over 50,000 radio stations.
• Music and talk radio available.
• A lot of external features like an equalizer, adding your own URL for podcasts, and more.
• Can double as a standalone music player for your music. Two birds one stone!CONS
  
  
  • No AM or FM radio stations.
  • Some features (like rewind) only work for some stations.
  • Developed by Nullsoft who developed Winamp. We all know what happened to Winamp.7.0
    
    Not a lot of people talk about this and we don’t know why.

---

Wrap up

There are a bunch of awesome radio selections out there so if we missed a great radio Android app then let us know in the comments below!

Posted In

Apps, Best Apps

Tags

free Android apps, Pandora, Rdio

Show

Forrest Skaine • a year ago

Tune in app is not being hailed to its full potential. This app pulls in almost any AM or FM station that streams and its list is comprehensive in the United States and for the world. I find this to be innovative and no other app comes even close.
I don't understand how the review can say it is only geared to talk radio. Some of the radio stations can only stream in low quality such as 32k, especially the talk stations. Adding speaker accessories such as JBL or high quality headphones dramatically improves the frequency range that music provides.
Whether one is homesick and wants to hear hometown stations, or one is a hobbyist using Tune-In as valuable resource or just simply wishing to hear a different culture, AM and FM radio stations offer more depth and history than internet radio ever could.
Todd in Minneapolis

Source: http://www.androidauthority.com/9-best-radio-android-apps-393884/

How to Block Calls on an Android Smartphone

13 best navigation apps and GPS apps for Android

Snowden Sees Some Victories, From a Distance

WASHINGTON — For an international fugitive hiding out in Russia from American espionage charges, Edward J. Snowden gets around.

May has been another month of virtual globe-hopping for Mr. Snowden, the former National Security Agency contractor, with video appearances so far at Princeton and in a “distinguished speakers” series at Stanford and at conferences in Norway and Australia. Before the month is out, he is scheduled to speak by video to audiences in Italy, and also in Ecuador, where there will be a screening of “Citizenfour,” the Oscar-winning documentary about him.

But there have been far more consequential victories for Mr. Snowden’s cause two years after he flew from Hawaii to Hong Kong carrying laptops loaded with N.S.A. secrets.

Two weeks ago, a federal appeals court ruled that the first N.S.A. program he disclosed, which collects the phone call records of millions of Americans, is illegal. Last week, the House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly to transform the program by keeping the bulk phone records out of government hands, a change President Obama has endorsed and the Senate is now debating. And Apple and Google have angered the F.B.I. by stepping up encryption, including on smartphones, to scramble communications and protect customers from the kind of government surveillance Mr. Snowden exposed.

The fallout has been deeply satisfying to Mr. Snowden, who at first feared that his revelations might be ignored, said Ben Wizner, an American Civil Liberties Union lawyer who represents him. But the debate about Mr. Snowden is far from over.

“His life is very, very rich and full,” Mr. Wizner said, eager to refute predictions by Mr. Snowden’s critics in 2013 that he would end up in bitter obscurity in Russia. “What a remarkable public citizen he’s become. How fitting that he has been able to use technology to defeat exile and participate in the debate he started.”

American intelligence officials tell a different story about the saga that began on May 20, 2013, the day Mr. Snowden flew to Hong Kong. Mr. Snowden’s decision to leak hundreds of thousands of highly classified N.S.A. documents to selected reporters still prompts fury from many in the Obama administration, who say his revelations taught terrorists and other adversaries how to dodge the agency’s eavesdropping. They note that his disclosures, some of which were printed in The New York Times, went far beyond the phone records collection, touching on many programs that target foreign countries and do not involve Americans’ privacy.

“The only debate we’re really having in the U.S. is about the very first document that Snowden produced,” said Stewart A. Baker, a former N.S.A. general counsel and outspoken critic of the leaks, referring to the secret court order authorizing the phone records program. “The rest of the documents have been used as a kind of intelligence porn for the rest of the world — ‘Oooh, look at what N.S.A. is doing.’ ”

In a new memoir, Michael J. Morell, former deputy director and acting director of the C.I.A., expresses the dark view of many intelligence veterans, even blaming Mr. Snowden’s leaks for empowering the Islamic State extremist group, also known as ISIS or ISIL.

“ISIS was one of the terrorist groups that learned from Snowden, and it is clear his actions played a role in the rise of ISIS,” Mr. Morell writes in “The Great War of Our Time,” offering no elaboration. “In short, Snowden has made the United States and our allies considerably less safe. I do not say this lightly: Americans may well die at the hands of terrorists because of Edward Snowden’s actions.”

Given such assessments, prosecutors have shown no inclination to offer Mr. Snowden a plea bargain he would accept. The Russian government granted him a three-year residency last summer, and he has no obvious prospect of leaving any time soon. Even if Mr. Snowden acquired some kind of travel documents — the United States has revoked his passport and he is not a citizen of Russia, so he has no Russian passport — he would face a high risk of arrest in any other country and a return to the United States for trial.

Some Russian commentators have remarked on the paradox of Mr. Snowden’s calls for liberty and privacy from President Vladimir V. Putin’s increasingly authoritarian country.

“All these months he’s been pretending successfully he was not in Russia, but just somewhere, in some limbo,” Andrei Soldatov, a journalist who runs an investigative website covering Russian intelligence, said in an email. Mr. Snowden has found asylum, he added, “in a country which is on a crusade against Internet freedoms.”

Mr. Snowden’s main source of income, his lawyer said, is speaking fees, which have sometimes exceeded $10,000 for an appearance. His American girlfriend, Lindsay Mills, who represented him at the Academy Awards ceremony in February, has joined him in Moscow.

But Mr. Snowden’s standing, if complicated, is still a far cry from what it was after he first went public from Hong Kong in June 2013 as the source of the leaked N.S.A. archive. In Congress and on cable television at that time, there was much talk of treason, suggestions that Mr. Snowden must be an agent of Russia or China and even calls for killing him with a drone strike.

To date, there has been no evidence that Mr. Snowden took the N.S.A. data on behalf of any other country or shared it except with journalists. (Mr. Morell, the former C.I.A. official, says he believes that Mr. Snowden would have rebuffed any offers from Russia or China, “given his mind-set and his clear dislike for intelligence services of any stripe.”)

And he has proved a far more lasting draw than many predicted. His gaunt visage, with the shaggy haircut, stylish glasses and thin beard, has appeared on T-shirts and posters worldwide.

He was edged out by Pope Francis as Time magazine’s Person of the Year for 2013, and a campaign on Facebook and by Norwegian politicians to put him forward for the Nobel Peace Prize fell short. But he has given a hip, young face to the abstract anxiety shared by many people in the United States and beyond about the menace posed by government snooping when it is fully empowered by technology.

At Princeton this month, the director of the university’s program in law and public affairs, Kim Lane Scheppele, introduced Mr. Snowden to a crowd that filled a large auditorium and two overflow rooms. She acknowledged that it was unusual for a program on law to feature as speaker someone facing serious criminal charges.

“But the very size of this audience today,” she said, “indicates that Edward Snowden has done something very important, by disclosing information that alerted the public to what was being done in our name.”

Then the huge, projected image of Mr. Snowden himself loomed over the stage. He laughed sheepishly, muttering about looking like Big Brother.

The next week, he spoke to the Nordic Media Festival in Bergen, Norway, a day after the court ruled against the N.S.A.’s phone data program. “This being struck down is really a radical sea change in the level of resistance that the United States government has faced thus far,” Mr. Snowden said, clearly excited. He predicted a ripple effect far beyond that program, saying, “It will affect every other mass surveillance program in the United States going forward.”

Last Friday, at Stanford, he fielded the inevitable question: Is he a hero or a traitor?

“It’s not about me,” he insisted. “It’s about us. I’m not a hero. I’m not a traitor. I’m an ordinary American like anyone else in the room.”

But he was not in that room in California, and he spoke a little wistfully about that.

“If the opportunity was presented, I would of course come home,” he said. “Because that’s where I live. That’s where my family is.”

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/20/world/europe/snowden-sees-some-victories-from-a-distance.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&_r=0

Android Users: How to Stop Giving so Much Personal Information to Google

If you’re using an Android phone or tablet, Google is already tracking a lot of information about you.
They do make it easy to close your account entirely, but most of us probably aren’t looking to disconnect that much — especially since you need a Google account to download apps from Google Play.
So cutting Google out completely is not what this guide is about.We’ve already covered how to remove all your data from Google, but this is a guide for those of you who love your Android device but are already looking to dial back how much data you give Google. Frankly, there are a lot of places to check, and while this list may not be comprehensive, I hope to cover the big things.

Ads

The vast majority of Google’s offerings don’t cost users a thing. This is because the tech giant derives most of its income from ads, and these affect you whether you have a Google account or not. The company uses tracking cookies and other methods to build an advertising profile around you.
It’s difficult to avoid them while navigating the web, but you can use your account to see some of this information for yourself. On Google’s ad settings page, you can tweak certain details to make them more accurate and opt-out out of a interest-based ads.

Search

Google’s primary business is search, so let’s address that next. The company not only saves a record of every webpage you visit, it keeps track of everything you type into the search bar, whether on the desktop or the Google Now app for Android.
On Android, this includes the seemingly local searches you perform to find apps saved on your phone. Fortunately, Google makes this information easily accessible at the top of its account history page, where you can opt not to save everything. So after you browse through Google’s record of your activity, feel free to turn it off. And adjust your search preferences while you’re at it.

Gmail

When you use Gmail, Google obviously stores a copy of everything you send on its servers. That’s simply an inherent part of how email works. But Google also scans your mail to send you ads. And not just text either — it scans images too. If you want out, your only option is to remove Gmail from your account and find a more secure email provider.

Contacts

One of the perks of using an Android device since the early days has been watching your contacts move smoothly from one device to another. This is because everything syncs to your Google account.
Of course, this means that the company stores all of this data. Considering that you’re saving phone numbers along with both email and street addresses, this is really personal information. You have the option to delete contacts one at a time if you wish, but we recommend you save the contacts to your device or in a good old-fashioned paper address book before you do.
For most Android devices, exporting your contacts to your SIM card involves going into the People app, selecting Settings, and then Export Contacts to SIM, though these instructions can vary from device to device thanks to heavily customized Android skins.

Calendar

Just like contacts, your calendar events sync as well. Only in this case, you can’t remove them from your account without losing access to Google Calendar entirely. But if you have a third-party app that you would rather use instead, you can export your calendars before deleting all of your events.

Drive

Whether Google mines the files in your Drive account the way it does Gmail is unclear, but either way, any documents you save on their servers remain available to them if at any point in the future they change their minds. Even if this doesn’t concern you, you may still want to toggle which third-party apps have access to your data. You can manage this in Drive’s settings in a web browser.

As for getting rid of your Drive documents (including content saved in Docs, Sheets, and Slides), that amounts to highlighting each file and selecting delete, followed by emptying the trash. Google may not immediately purge this data from its servers, but at least it won’t be visible to anyone who happens to gain access to your account, maliciously or otherwise.

Google+

Google+ has its own set of privacy concerns. Like any social network, you have to set things up so that posts only go out to the people you intend for them to. You have to also make sure you aren’t projecting your location out with everything that you send.
Who can invite you to join communities or tag you in photos? Did you want your Google+ profile to show up in Gmail? If this all seems like too much work, you can delete your Google+ account at the bottom of the settings page.
Google+ also is the service that can automatically backup your photos on Android, so you’ll probably want to open the app and go to Settings > Auto Backup and make sure that it is turned off.

Voice Searches & Commands

It’s very cool to say “OK Google” and have your phone answer any number of questions and obey commands. Sometimes it will respond regardless of which screen you’re on. But by default, Google saves a recording of everything you say.
Don’t believe me? Go have a listen. If you’re like me, you will probably want to erase those and tell Google not to keep making copies.

Location

Did you know Google tracks everywhere you go with your Android device? If not, then the information you see on this page might just freak you out.
Yup, that’s everywhere you’ve ever gone since buying your smartphone. If you find this more cool than creepy, carry on. Otherwise, you can tell Google to cut that out by toggling this setting off.
Just be careful. Certain apps, such as Google Now, try to turn this setting back on even when it isn’t a hard requirement. Keep a close eye on what prompts you say yes to.

Google Play

When you use Google Play to install content, Google has a list of everything you get. It’s part of the agreement, even if it’s just an implicit one. Unfortunately, this is just the nature of most cloud services. If you want out of the arrangement, your only real choice is to discontinue using the Play Store. That’s a big step, and I’m not saying you should go that far. But if you want to, here’s how to go back and clean your tracks.

Apps

There’s no fast way to erase all of the apps you’ve ever purchased, but you can delete items one at a time from the Play Store app. Select My apps from the navigation menu, switch to All, and tap the X on apps that you’ve uninstalled.

Books

To clear those novels and comics you’ve purchased over the years, just head to your Play Books library and select the three dots at the bottom of each book to download files to your hard drive and delete them from the web.
Note, some (if not most) are locked down with DRM, so you can’t use them elsewhere without your account (though, technically, you can strip them of DRM if you so choose). There’s no option to wipe your entire collection at once, so you will need to do things one item at a time.

Music

Google makes it easy to clear out the music in your library. Just go to Play Music settings and hit the Delete My Library button.

Movies & TV

There doesn’t seem to be anything you can do about this content. The most you can do is archive So if you don’t want a particular movie or show tied to your account for good, don’t buy it.

Newsstand

Just like with movies and TV shows, you’re stuck with your magazines and newspapers. If you don’t want Google keeping up with what you’re reading, subscribe elsewhere.

YouTube

YouTube settings are available on the account history page. There you can pull up a list of every video you search for, delete the inquiries you would prefer to keep quiet, and tell Google not to save all of your searches. You can also find all the clips you’ve watched and give them the same treatment. And if you have your own channel, you can get rid of the stuff up there too.

How Much Info Are You Giving Google?

If there’s one thing you take away from this post, know that you can access a great deal of information straight from the Google dashboard.
Out of the box, Android devices turn most of these features on. So does Gmail, YouTube, Google Maps, and every other service that the company produces. Google does a relatively good job of giving you control over your account, including the ability to export and download most of your data. But unless you make an active choice to manage settings, it will save and track everything by default.
Hopefully this guide helps you take control of your Google account.

Source: http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/android-users-stop-giving-much-personal-information-google/

Samsung Galaxy S5 - 50+ Tips & Tricks

Samsung Galaxy S5 - 50+ Tips and Tricks

Google Nexus 6 vs Samsung Galaxy S5 Review

Samsung Galaxy S6 hands on

Samsung Galaxy S6 vs. iPhone 6 and Galaxy Note 4: Designs Compared

Samsung Galaxy S5 Official Android 5.0 Lollipop - Review (4K)