Having your iPhone stolen is traumatic enough, but it hurts more to know that even your most intimate data is in the hands of unscrupulous individuals. Fortunately, there are more than a few things you can do to make sure that even if thieves find a way to steal your iPhone, they won’t get your data easily.
Set a longer passcode
Your The iPhone passcode can easily be used against you. Thieves have long used the trick of peering over someone’s shoulder to see their iPhone’s passcode before stealing the device. Once they have that code, it’s easy to access all of your personal information, and they can even use it to disable built-in security features like Where’s tracking. You can avoid this by covering your phone every time you need to type in the passcode, but you can also use a stronger, more complex passcode.
Go to Settings > Face ID & Passcode > Change Passcode > Passcode Options and select a longer numeric passcode (10 digits or more) that is harder to memorize at a glance, or an alphanumeric password.
Enable Find My
This seems obvious, but it bears repeating: Find My Tracking lets you locate your device if it’s lost or stolen. It is one of the best anti-theft features on your iPhone. While it is enabled by default, you should check if it hasn’t been disabled accidentally. Go to Settings and tap your name at the top. So, visit Find My > Find My iPhone and enable everything on that page.
Step away from iCloud Keychain
While iCloud Keychain is great for managing passwords, you should be aware that your iPhone passcode can be used to access any data in this service. This means that if someone accesses your phone, they will also be able to access your email, bank account and other sensitive accounts. To be on the safe side, it’s best to switch to a Dedicated password manager app which will protect you if your phone is stolen.
Use your Apple Watch to lock your iPhone
If someone snatches your unlocked iPhone from your hand, you can still lock the device using your Apple Watch. To do this, you will need to set up an automation using Apples Shortcuts app. First, go to Settings > Fire and tap the + button to create a new focus. Call it something like Screen Lock.
You don’t need to enable any triggers for this automation. Open the Shortcuts app and go to Automation tab and select Create personal automation. Scroll down to Focus section and select Screen lockthen tap On power upand strike Next. Faucet Add actionuse the search bar to find and add the following actions:
- Screen lock
- Set up Wi-Fi
- Set up mobile data
to press Next Still. Finally, disable Ask before you run and tap Done.
You can now open Control Center on your Apple Watch and enable lock screen focus. This will automatically lock your iPhone and enable Wi-Fi and mobile data so you can use Apple’s anti-theft features to your advantage. It’s a good way to quickly lock your iPhone to make it harder for thieves to restore it.
If your phone is stolen, enable Lost Mode
The moment your phone is stolen, use another device to go to iCloud.com/find, sign in with your Apple ID credentials, and mark the device as lost. This will protect your data and make it harder for thieves to erase and sell your device. Whatever happens, do not remove the device from your Apple ID.
Restrict access to features from the lock screen
Your iPhone lets you access many useful features from the lock screen. Thieves can use this feature to buy expensive goods with your stolen credit card, Moreover. You can prevent this by disabling some features. Go to Settings > Notifications > Show previews and select When unlocked. Then, go to Settings > Siri & Search and disable Allow Siri when locked. Finally, you should go to Settings > Face ID & Passcodetype the passcode and go to the file Allow access when locked section. Check all the options here and disable everything that can be accessed when the phone is locked.
Set up an additional lock for apps with sensitive data
Assuming thieves don’t have access to your iPhone passcode, you can set up a Face ID lock on many apps. In case your unlocked iPhone gets snatched, this will protect important information like your bank details or your social media accounts. Thieves won’t be able to open these apps without knowing your passcode.
While many apps let you enable Face ID for authentication, you can also use a hack for it add this block to apps that don’t support it.
Use screen time restrictions to good effect
Screen Time can save your data when your iPhone is stolen. It lets you disallow certain settings, as we described in the linked piece. Use this to your advantage by going to Settings > Screen Time > Use Screen Time Passcode. Make sure you’re using a different passcode for Screen Time and not the one you use to unlock your iPhone, then save this passcode in a password manager or other secure place. After that, go to Privacy Content and Restrictions in Screen Time and disallow Account Changes.
Put a passcode on your SIM card
You can also lock your SIM card with a four-digit PIN. When thieves smuggle your SIM card into another phone, they’ll need this PIN to unlock the SIM card. Before you enable it, know that this also prevents your SIM card from automatically connecting to mobile data after you restart your iPhone. This could negatively impact security features like Find My, which require an internet connection to work. If that’s not a problem, you can go to Settings > Mobile data > SIM PIN and enable this feature. Make sure you keep this PIN in a safe place in case you forget it.
Activate blocking mode when you are in unsafe places
Finally, consider enabling lockout mode on your iPhone in case you travel to unsafe places or if you fear losing access to sensitive data if it’s stolen. Here is ours complete guide to iphone lock modewhich will tell you what it does and how to enable it.
[Reddit]
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