Galaxy Note 5: How to Enable Encryption

Protecting our personal data is becoming more and more important so today’s tutorial will be all about how to encrypt the Galaxy Note 5.

There are many reasons why one might decide to encrypt your smartphone and there really isn’t a right or wrong reason to want to do so. Some might think it’s a bit too paranoid to encrypt your smartphone because of NSA spying, but it seems like every other month or so we find another incident that makes this more and more useful.

You also might want to sell or trade your Galaxy Note 5 in the future(or right now) and there have been reports of lingering data left on Android smartphones after a simple factory reset.

To avoid this issue, you’ll want to encrypt your Galaxy Note 5 and then perform the factory reset before you decide to sell or trade it. This is even a good idea before you throw it away/take it to get recycled. You never know who will get their hands on your smartphone after you no longer have it and it’s better to have peace of mind than to worry about it at all. There’s also been a judge ruling that police officers can force a person to give up their pin code/pattern for the lock screen but cannot force someone to decrypt their device.

It’s also interesting to note that all current iPhones are encrypted by default, right as the user pulls it out of the box. So a person just might want to encrypt their Galaxy Note 5 just to ‘keep up with the Joneses’, so to speak. Either way, let me walk you through the steps needed to encrypt your Galaxy Note 5 so that all of your personal data remains safe.

Warning – Be warned that the only way to disable encryption(after it has been enabled) is to perform a factory reset on the Galaxy Note 5. This will wipe any and all personal data that you have from your smartphone. So be sure to make a backup if you ever need to do this.

Requirements

You’ll see a couple of warnings like this about data loss and while this is true, you shouldn’t have this issue at all. This is the reason why you are required to charge your Galaxy Note 5 to at least 80% because if the device runs out of battery(or if it randomly resets) then you will be required to factory reset to get it working again. If your Galaxy Note 5 is unstable(meaning, that it reboots at random) then it is not advised to enable encryption at this time. You’ll probably be best to do a factory reset first. This way you will be starting fresh and shouldn’t have that random reboot issue to worry about.

Galaxy Note 5 Enable Encryption

1. Launch the Settings Application
2. Scroll Down to the ‘Personal’ Section
3. Then Tap on the ‘Lock Screen and Security’ Option
4. Next, Scroll Down and then Tap on the ‘Other Security Settings’ Option
5. Tap on the ‘Encrypt Device’ Option That You See in the List
6. Read the Information Here, Then Enable a Password or PIN Code if Asked
7. When Ready, Tap on the ‘Encrypt Device’ Button You See at the Bottom
8. Confirm Your PIN Code or Password for Your Galaxy Note 5
9. Read the Next Warning Page and Keep the Galaxy Note 5 Connected to a Charger
10. Tap on the ‘Encrypt Device’ Button at the Bottom Again
11. Then Wait Through the Black Screen with the Lock Icon
12. Your Galaxy Note 5 Will Reboot
13. Wait for the Encryption Process to Complete
14. Then Wait for the Galaxy Note 5 to Reboot Again
15. Enter Your PIN Code or Password When Prompted

Explanation

Again, you’ll need to charge your Galaxy Note 5 to at least 80% before you can begin to enable encryption. This is incredibly vital because it can take some time to encrypt your Galaxy Note 5. During this time, if your device loses power then you will lose all of your data. Modern smartphones like the Galaxy Note 5 shouldn’t take more than 15-20 minutes to encrypt so this shouldn’t be an issue. Still, the length of time that it takes to enable encryption will depend entirely on how much data you have on your device.

Once you have the Galaxy Note 5 charged up, keep it connected to a charger and then launch the settings application. From here, you’ll need to browse to and tap on the Lock Screen and Security menu option. In here, there’s another menu option called Other Security Settings that you’ll need to tap on and then you’ll find your first Encrypt Device button. This will display some information about encryption but most of this you should already know from reading this tutorial. You’ll need to enable a password or a PIN code before you can proceed here.

After the Galaxy Note 5 has been encrypted, you can then remove this password or PIN code and switch to something like trusted devices/locations or a pattern. Android just needs you to have a password or PIN code before you enable encryption because this password or PIN code will be used to decrypt your Galaxy Note 5 each time you reboot it. Once that has been set up, you’ll see a padlock appear and then your Galaxy Note 5 will reboot shortly afterwards. This will reboot the Galaxy Note 5 into the real encryption process as you are not allowed to be in the core Android OS during this process

From here, you’ll see a progress percentage during the whole encryption process and again, this can take some time. Be patient and wait for it to get to 100% and then the Galaxy Note 5 will reboot again. This will be the first boot process that you are prompted to enter your PIN code or password and this is the same prompt that you’ll see each and every time you boot the Galaxy Note 5 with encryption enabled. It only takes a few seconds to do and you will quickly get used to it if you are the type to reboot your smartphone often. Most people will rarely reboot their smartphone anyway though so it won’t be a big deal to them.

Once you are back into Android, you can then change your security method back to a pattern or something like your smartwatch as a trusted device. From here on, you’ll no longer be required to use a password or a PIN code for your security method. This is all that is needed and again, if you ever need to disable encryption completely then you’ll need to do a factory reset on the Galaxy Note 5. So please be sure to back up all of your important data with PC software like Samsung Kies or Samsung Smart Switch.