The iPhone wins the battle of security compared to Androids. But that doesn’t mean you should relax. Hackers want your expensive phone, and they want the data on it even more. In many countries, owning an iPhone is a sign of prestige. They think if someone’s wealthy enough to own one, they probably have more money in their bank account. Here are the tips you need to protect your iPhone from hackers.
Only Use Your Own Charger
Restaurants, coffee shops, and landmarks often have chargers sitting around. Since a lot of people pass by, this is a great initiative to give your phone a small boost in power so you can be on your way. Well, hackers look at it from a different perspective. They hijack chargers and use them to access data. When you’re out and about, it’s best to carry your own charger or a power bank. If not, wait until you get home.
Don’t Open Email And Text Links
Spam and scam emails try to trick you into clicking on a malicious link. By default, don’t click on links in an email. And if you do, never insert your email and password into the login page. Hackers will send you all types of emails. They’ll send emails that say somebody tried to log in or tried to change your password or 99% discounts on brands you already use. Don’t trust them.
Don’t Use Siri
Siri was used to hack iPhones using ultrasonic waves. They can access messages and make fraud calls using AI, mimicking your voice. They can call your family, friends, and coworkers and pretend you’ve been in an accident and ask for money. Go to your Settings panel and disable Siri completely. You might be used to asking this personal assistant to do all sorts of things for you. But it’s better to toggle it off for security reasons.
Use A VPN
What is VPN on iPhone? Most people are familiar with VPNs on computers because they mask your IP and encrypt your data. Well, the same thing works on your phone. Virtual private networks protect your privacy online and allow you to connect to public networks without worrying.
Don’t connect to free Wi-Fi if you don’t have a VPN. Use mobile data instead. Hackers are waiting for unsuspecting victims to target with man-in-the-middle attacks on public networks. Before you connect, enable your VPN.
Lock Your Screen Completely
To enhance your security, you have to tinker with the Settings for a while. One of the things you must disable is lock screen access. By default, notifications, calls, smart home controls, and messages will show up on your locked screen. Disable every option to show up on your lock screen, or at least disable the previews if you want to see where the notification came from. As an added bonus, keep your phone to yourself to avoid visual hacking.
Disable Location Tracking
Allowing Google Maps to track your location when you’re visiting an unknown neighborhood or another country is absolutely essential. But you don’t need every app to do so. By default, phones allow apps to track your location without a specific need for it. Why would you like a game to know where you are at the moment?
Change this setting and review access for every single app. You’ll be surprised by all of the apps that want to see where you are. Turn off the setting for everything that doesn’t make sense to you. Or, go one step above it and disable it for all of them.
Don’t Jailbreak
There’s a reason why it’s so hard for applications to make it to the App Store. There’s rigorous testing to make sure no malware gets planted. Many people want to take customization to the next level and jailbreak their phones to install apps from third-party sources. Well, that’s just asking for a breach to happen.
As soon as you jailbreak your phone, your warranty becomes redundant. Hackers will use every tactic in their book to make you think you can install a useful app through a source that’s not the App Store. Don’t buy their lies, and never jailbreak your phone.
Make Stronger Passwords
It’s common knowledge that you need strong passwords with special characters, uppercase, lowercase, and numbers. But the first line of defense on every iPhone is the passcode. Most people have 4 to 8 numbers to unlock their phone, and it’s a tap scheme. You remember how to move your fingers more than the numbers themselves.
Well, you can make it even more complex and add an alphanumeric code that’s the same as a password. Again, make sure you remember it because you’ll be using it often.
Don’t Use Password Autofill
First, you make a stronger password for every account, and then you disable autofill. What’s next? Take a cold shower and walk through the fire? All jokes aside, there’s a reason why you should not use autofill. If someone steals your phone and everything’s logged in, they can use it without any issues.
When it comes to autofill, it’s either convenience or security. You can choose whether you want to keep your credit card information or your personal info.
Update Regularly
Finally, remember to update often. It’s easy, simple, and it takes a few minutes to reboot your device. But in the meantime, your iPhone gets equipped with the newest software to fix security breaches, solve bugs, and it comes with an improved user interface. Make sure to do it often.
