Phones · 6 min read · Both

Lock down your phone in 10 minutes

The five settings that stop most people getting into your phone, on iPhone and Android.

Most phone break-ins are not clever hacking. Someone picks up your phone, or knows your PIN. These five settings fix that.

1. Use a 6-digit PIN, not 4

A 4-digit PIN can be guessed by someone watching you type it. Six digits is much harder.

iPhone: Settings → Face ID & Passcode → Change Passcode → Passcode Options → 6-Digit Numeric Code.
Android: Settings → Security → Screen lock → PIN.

Why it matters: this is the single lock between a stranger and your messages, photos and banking apps.

2. Turn the screen lock timer down

Set your phone to lock after 30 seconds or 1 minute. A phone left unlocked on a table is an open phone.

3. Hide message previews on the lock screen

Two-step codes arrive by text. If they show on a locked screen, the lock does not help.

iPhone: Settings → Notifications → Show Previews → When Unlocked.
Android: Settings → Notifications → Notifications on lock screen → Hide sensitive content.

4. Install the waiting update

Updates close the exact holes that spyware uses. Settings → General → Software Update (iPhone), or Settings → System → System update (Android). Then turn automatic updates on.

5. Turn on Find My

So you can lock or wipe the phone remotely if it goes missing.

iPhone: Settings → your name → Find My → Find My iPhone → on.
Android: Settings → Security → Find My Device → on.