How To Make Your iPhone Secure In Three Simple Steps

Almost everyone uses Apple's Touch ID or Face ID technology to secure their iPhone or iPad. By forcing your phone or tablet to scan your fingerprint or face before unlocking, you're assuring that no one, whether a nosy roommate or a burglar, has access to your device. However, your device is not completely with just these security measures.

Even if your iPhone or iPad is locked down, anyone with physical access to your device can still tap their way through some apps and device settings. Someone could, for example, respond to a message from your lock screen without ever unlocking your phone. Hence, your iPhone is not completely secure.  

To prevent people from accessing anything on your device, follow the three settings changes below.

Hide the notification content on the lock screen

You may have noticed that alerts on your lock screen are hidden until you pick up your phone and unlock it with your face if you have a newer iPhone with a Face ID.

You can enhance this security feature by instructing your Apple device to never expose the contents of a message. Instead, you'll see an alert from a specific app, which you can access by touching on.

This will prevent prying eyes from reading the contents of your incoming emails and texts. To double-check your settings, go to Settings > Notifications > Show Previews and select either When Unlocked or Never from the drop-down menu. Even when your phone is locked, the content of your notifications will always be visible, as the name implies.

Restrict what you can do with a locked iPhone or iPad

This is, without a doubt, the most crucial aspect of completely safeguarding your Apple device. Enter your passcode in Settings > Face ID/Touch ID & Passcode, then go down to the section under Allow Access When Locked.

There's a list of several device functions there, including Siri and Today View, as well as Control Center and Wallet. Even when your smartphone is locked, you can use every feature that has the switch in the on position directly from the lock screen.

Go through this list and disable any functionality that you don't want others to have. If you truly want to keep your phone and no data sharing, I recommend turning off all of them. Someone could control your smart home depending on how many and what kind of HomeKit devices you have. Thankfully, before you can unlock a door or open a garage door, Apple demands confirmation.

Enable Erase Data

This should only be done if you routinely back up your iPhone or iPad and are confident in your ability to recover your data.

Go to Settings > Face ID/Touch ID & Passcode > input your passcode, then scroll down to the bottom of the page. Toggle the Erase Data switch to the On position.

When you switch on Erase Data, your smartphone will factory reset itself when someone erroneously enters the passcode 10 times. The procedure isn't something that can be completed in a matter of minutes. After a few unsuccessful attempts, your phone or tablet will establish a time restriction before allowing someone to retry entering your passcode. The period between attempts will be extended after an additional failed attempt. It would take 1 hour and 36 minutes for someone to reach the 10-failed-attempt milestone before the wipe feature was activated.

Summing Up

Take a few minutes to clear up your privacy settings so that you have more control over what kind of data and apps can be accessed while your phone is locked. Turning on the Find My function on all of your Apple devices is a smart idea so you can track down a lost or stolen phone and have peace of mind that no one can access it.

Author

Zainab is a content creator & a passionate blogger. She is a professional tech blogger & an avid reader by soul. She loves to explore topics related to news/technology, particularly SMS backup & restore. In her free time, she enjoys penning down her thoughts with a cup of coffee.