How to Keep Your iPhone Secure

So you’ve bought a new iOS device and you care for it. You wouldn’t want to see it in the hands of a thief and you wouldn’t want to see it get lost. If your iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch get stolen it’s not only the device you’ll lose. You will also lose your personal data such as accounts, passwords and other sensitive documents. You might end up with your personal pictures all over the Internet or see yourself on YouTube as you drunkenly scream and shout at the party your next door neighbor invited you to.

Thank God that Apple made it possible to protect your device from thieves and lucky finders. If you have installed and set up Find My iPhone you’re one step closer to protecting your device. In this article we’ll show you how to secure your iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch.

The first thing you should take into account is the Passcode Lock. You can set the Passcode Lock from Settings > General. Scroll all the way down to Passcode Lock and turn Passcode to On.
Now you will be able to pick a four-digit code to protect your device with. If you slide the Simple Passcode button to the Off position you will be able to set a longer, alphanumerical passcode that will take much longer to guess. It can be anything that is easy to remember for your and hard to guess for other.

Now that you have turned Passcode Lock to On you have further options to secure your device. Erase Data is such a measure and it will delete all the data on the device if an unauthorized person tries to guess your passcode. After a number of attempts all the data on your device gets deleted. This include all your contacts, your passwords and messages, images and videos and other files you have uploaded to the iDevice.

You can go a step further and secure your device with an app provided by Apple and that is called Find My iPhone. Find My iPhone will track your iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch and after you install the app your should go to Settings > iCloud. Also, you should make sure that Location Services is set to the On position (you can do this from Settings > Location Services).

Let us presume your device will get lost or will get stolen. You will then be able to log in to iCloud and use your Apple ID to do so. Then, with the help of a common web browser your will be able to track your lost device. This is useful if you also have Passcode Lock set to On, since once someone finds your iDevice and will not plan to return it, they will be able to quickly disable Find My iPhone and then your device will be lost maybe forever.

Let’s presume you have indeed forgotten to turn Passcode Lock to On. You will have one last line of defense and that is called Restrictions. Go to Settings > General > Restrictions and you will be able to enable this feature. This feature will give you the opportunity to manage how certain settings are changed, You will be able to grand permission or deny permission to install or delete certain apps. You can also do the same for Mail settings or access to iCloud.

Enabling Restrictions will prompt you to create a passcode. It can be a different one from the one used to lock your screen. We would advice you to pick a different one for better protection. Pick one you will remember and that is different from your birth year.

You are advised to implement as many safeguards as possible. There are already tutorials on the Internet teaching people how to circumvent certain security aspects of the iPhone (such as bypassing the Passcode).

Apps for securing your iPhone

Besides built-in apps, there are other third party apps that can be used to secure your device with.

Dot Lock Protection Pro

This app costs $0.99 and its the swiss army knife equivalent to iPhone security. It will enable you to pick from several ways of securing your device, from entering passwords using a standard keypad to requiring you to draw a pattern to unlock your phone, much like Android does. If your iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch gets stolen the app will take a snapshot of the thief and pass it to you along with GPS data and the date the image was taken. The app will also let you hide certain information that is regarded as personal, such as notes, images, videos, bookmarks, contacts and browser history – to name just a few.

Quick tip; if your iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch gets stolen it is best to notify your local enforcement agency and not take matters into your own hands. You can provide the officers with information on the suspects and you will have a much better change at getting your iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch back than chasing shady characters in dark alleys.

Passwords apps for your iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch

If keeping your data safe is the critical point for you, you should take into consideration one of the many passwords apps available for these devices. if you store credit cards on your device or personal identification data suck as scans of your ID and other sensitive documents, you should take a look at mSecure ($9.99) and 1Password Pro ($14.99).

Use the tips above to secure your device and take a look at the apps we have recommended. If you device gets lost or is stolen from you you will be more than happy to track it down easily using the tips above.