If you don’t already have a smartphone, odds are you’ll grab one when your cell plan finally expires and you can grab a sweet touch phone for free by signing up with some other carrier.

With the wonderful little computers that drive your infinite texts and lack of need for real call minutes, comes the swanky ability to grab wonderful time-wasters — “Angry Birds,” anyone? — informative sources — thank you, BBC news — and even YouTube, Facebook and Twitter. All of these can be had thanks to those apps that are, for the most part, free.

But the funny thing about these little computer phones compared to their full-on computer cousins, is that with real computers, when you download a program, you worry about viruses, spyware and other forms of malicious programming.

Hardly anyone seems to worry about anything in those little apps. But if you read the download contracts when you install the app, they give full access to your phone and information and can send things back and forth without your knowledge.

Some of these programs can use your phone to send emails, alter your calendar, read your contact info and grant remote access to your home computer.

Currently, there aren’t a whole lot of viruses and hacking going on through these smartphones, but it is happening, and it is more dangerous than you might imagine.

As the smartphones become smarter, the ability to hide spyware in your phone increases; trojans and other viruses are easily programmed into these wonderful little apps and soundboards from “Mario Bros.”

The number of programs — Gmail, bank accounts, Facebook — that remain open while you have your phone in your pocket is the same as leaving it open on your computer. That Wi-Fi network you snag as you enter a hotspot is not completely safe.

Your phone can be programmed with an app to turn itself on, unlock your protective code and begin ringing simply by logging into a computer and sending a message to the program so you can find it easily when you have left your phone on silent from last night’s partying.

This also means anyone can, essentially, hack that system and turn off the ring option and sift through your bank account information or any other personal stuff you might use your phone for. Topping it all off are the companies that can now grab your personal info and resell it to other companies because the contract you clicked “accept” to download and didn’t bother to read allows the aforementioned access to anything and everything on you phone; including the ability to store whatever it wants and modify your phone’s hard drive.

What is the point of all this frightening information? Well, it is simply that your fun, little apps need to be treated with a lot more care in the future. For now, you are fairly safe, but as phones improve, so improves the ability for viruses, spyware and general hacking due to the increased technology.