We’re living in a beautiful bipolar world of constant paranoia. I can only imagine how superior conspiracy theorists must feel right now. When every strong opinion has an equally strong opposite thought and facts get disproved every day, the only thing you’re sure about is your hatred towards your opponent. But as much as we love online chaos, we don’t want it to affect our real lives established in our phones. This article will teach you about iPhone security and ways to improve it.
- How Secure is iOS?
- Turn on Automatic iOS Updates
- Enable Face ID Touch ID
- Set up Two-factor Authentication for Application
- Use Ad Blocker AdLock to Protect iPhone from Malicious Ads
- Set a Stronger Device Passcode
- Turn Off Siri and Autofill When Not Needed
- Don’t Use Public Wi-Fi Without a VPN
- Set Auto-Lock to 1 Minute or Less
- Turn On “Find My iPhone”
- Encrypt Your Backups
- Use iCloud
How Secure is iOS?
Some may say it’s annoyingly secure yet only because you can’t thoughtlessly make changes to it doesn’t mean intruders can’t. Yes, iPhones are harder to attack but they are likewise harder to protect. The closed iOS system is solely controlled by Apple, which theoretically makes it more securer than other OS’ but it sets limitations to what security software can do. There is also a trend of the deterioration of the iOS security from update to update and, while Apple promptly fixes them with patches, the trend is concerning. It’s not that Apple’s been cutting corners, the reason must be in the overwhelming popularity of iPhones in the world (18% of global market share in 2022) and the prevalence of remote work. With two years of the pandemic, we got used to giving access to our devices through various apps, and hackers have been taking great advantage of it ever since. The incompetence of regular users and the unpreparedness of global security systems only worsened the situation.
The good news is that you don’t need to be a sophisticated user to improve the security on an iPhone. This guide is so simple that even your grandma’s grandma would understand.
Turn On Automatic iOS Updates
And, if possible, don’t turn it off. As we have mentioned above, Apple might release raw glitchy updates but they quickly fix them with new patches. You might not even notice that something was not quite right. There is how to do it:
– tap Settings
– tap General
– tap Software update
– turn on Automatic updates.
Enable Face ID Touch ID
Face ID and Touch ID are exceptionally safe and convenient biometric security systems, as you always keep your face and your fingers with you. They can’t be tricked even after the case of your sudden and unfortunate death as they stop responding to a dead body! So, yeah, keep that in mind.
How to enable Face ID:
– tap Settings
– tap Face ID & Passcode
– if asked, enter your Passcode; if you don’t have a Passcode check the 6th part of this article, it’s important
– tap Set Up Face ID
– Hold your device in portrait orientation, position your face in front of your device, then tap Get Started.
– Position your face inside the frame and gently move your head to complete the circle. If you’re unable to move your head, tap Accessibility Options.
– When you finish the first Face ID scan, tap Continue.
– Gently move your head to complete the circle for a second time.
– Tap Done.
How to enable Touch ID:
– tap Settings
– tap Touch ID & Passcode
– If asked, enter your Passcode
– tap Add a Fingerprint and put your preferred finger on a Touch ID sensor; hold your phone comfortable as you usually you do
– keep holding your finder on a sensor until you feel a vibration, or until you’re asked to lift your finger.
Set Up Two-Factor Authentication for Application
Every application that has access to your financial, health and other sensitive personal information provides two-factor authentication. Usually, it’s a password and a passcode you receive in a text or email each time you’re logging in. Please, check the Settings of your most used applications and enable two-factor authentication.
Use Ad Blocker AdLock To Protect iPhone From Malicious Ads
The scientists are yet to come up with the number to define how many times I have accidentally tapped on a pop-up ad and been redirected to a fishy website. While not every advert is malicious, it’s better to block them all with the world’s best ad blocker for iOS AdLock. Besides from blocking ads, AdLock is capable of detention and prevention of malware and spyware and protection of your privacy.
Set a Stronger Device Passcode
A weak passcode will compromise the overall security of Face ID and Touch ID. Please, refrain from setting your date of birth, other significant dates, 123456, and vice versa, all zeros and other obvious number sequences for your passcode. All-digits passcodes are already weak enough, so make it harder for intruders to unlock your phone and choose a random number:
– tap Settings
– tap Face ID & Passcode or Touch ID & Passcode
– tap Turn Passcode On
– enter a six-digit passcode
– enter your passcode again to confirm it and activate it.
Turn Off Siri and Autofill When Not Needed
While autofill saves our time, it can be dangerously exposing if your phone ended in the third person’s hands. And debates on whether Siri is a privacy risk have been rolling since ever. The only thing we know for sure is that if we turn them off, they won’t collect our data and potentially pass it to someone unwanted.
Turn off Siri:
– tap Settings
– tap Siri & Search
– turn off three top toggles under the Ask Siri section.
Turn off Autofill:
– tap Settings
– tap Passwords; unlock the screen
– tap Autofill Passwords and tap the toggle to turn it off.
Don’t Use Public Wi-Fi Without a VPN
When you use VPN service, it encrypts your traffic, making it impossible to intercept. Even if you connect to a fake Wi-Fi spot designed to scam you, VPN will provide a nice strong layer of protection for you and your data. We won’t recommend a specific VPN service because no one has purchased an ad spot we’re not sure if it fulfills your needs, so better check an App Store top-10 VPN services and choose your warrior.
Set Auto-Lock to 1 Minute or Less
Not only will this tip guard your iPhone from strangers’ eyes, but it will also prolong its battery life.
– tap Settings
– tap Display & Brightness
– tap Auto-lock and choose how quickly you want your screen to go dark when you don’t use it. Mine’s on 30 seconds but I don’t enforce it.
Turn On “Find My iPhone”
The truly secure iPhone is the one whose location you know exactly. If you haven’t enabled Find My iPhone feature yet, it’s time to do it:
– tap Settings
– tap your name then tap Find My
– tap all three toggles to enable them, hence you can always find your iPhone even if it’s not connected to the internet.
Encrypt Your Backups
Now it’s time to feel like a totally badass advanced user. If you store sensitive confidential information on your iPhone or you want everybody to think so, you should definitely classify your backups with encryption!
All jokes aside, encryption means all your files, wi-fi settings, passwords and other personal information will look like gibberish. The only way to make them make sense is to enter the correct password. That’s basically what encryption is. Here is how to do it:
– On a Mac with macOS Catalina 10.15 or later, open the Finder. On a Mac with macOS Mojave 10.14 or earlier, or on a PC, open iTunes.
– Connect your device to your computer with the included USB cable. Then locate your device on your computer.
– From the General tab or the Summary tab, select “Encrypt local backup” under the Backups section.
– Come up with a password. The more complicated the password, the better, but keep in mind you’ll have to remember it or remember where you put a piece of paper with a password written on it because there is no way to restore your backup without a password. Don’t come after me if you forget it.
Use iCloud
The most illogical article ending I have ever provided. Throughout the text, I’m giving you the examples of vulnerability of online services, then conclude that the Apple cloud server is the best storage for your files. And I choose this hill to die on.
Arguably, iCloud is the most secure cloud storage we have as of today. All data is transferred to computers and mobile devices using secure sockets layer via WebDAV, IMAP, or HTTP. It uses end-to-end encryption, which means information is encrypted with keys derived from your device and your device’s passcode. This means you’re the only person who has keys to access and decrypt your data, and the only person who can grant access to trusted devices via Apple ID sign-in. Not even Apple itself can access your end-to-end encrypted data. Cool, huh?
