Improve protection of your iPhone (and data): Turn on these 5 functions immediately

Your iPhone has different settings that ensure better security for your smartphone and personal data. Here you will find them!

5 Functions for better security of your iPhone (and your data)

It is of course extremely important to keep the data on your iPhone and your personal accounts safe. Nowadays only a login name and password is really not enough anymore. Fortunately, the iPhone has a number of functions that greatly improve the security of your device and your own data.

1. Two-factor authentication

Perhaps one of the most important functions that you have to turn on on your iPhone is ‘two-factor authentication’. If you set that, you must now fill in an extra code if you log in to a new device or online. You will then receive the code to a device on which you are already logged in.

To turn on the function you open ‘settings’ on your iPhone. Then you tap your name and choose ‘Log in and security’. You can find the ‘two-factor authentication’ option then under ‘Security’.

2. Protection for stolen device

If your iPhone is stolen, that is of course terrible and quite dangerous. There is a considerable amount of private data on your device. But usually a thief cannot do with that data if the login code does not know. If they know the code you will of course dance the dolls.

That is why Apple has added an extra function that brings up the security of your iPhone when it is stolen. With ‘protection for stolen device’ you should always use Face ID or Touch ID to view passwords and credit cards. It is then no longer possible to fall back on the access code of your iPhone.

In addition, a kind of security delay is applied. If someone wants to change your password, they first have to wait an hour and then carry out a second authentication via Face ID or Touch ID. If you turn on the function, you also have the choice to only use the security delay if your iPhone is in an unknown location. Encouraging is as follows:

3. Private passage

The private passage function (or private relay) is not so much a security for your iPhone, but more to protect your personal data. The function has been on your iPhone since iOS 15 and with this you hide your IP address and you can use the internet anonymously.

Private passage is often compared with a VPN (Virtual Private Network). That is only partly justified. A VPN anonimizes all your internet traffic. Private Relay does not. So it only works if you use Safari as a browser on Apple devices. When you surf the web in another browser, your activity is visible.

Note: If you use the free iCloud version with 5 GB storage space, you cannot use private passage. You need a paid subscription with, for example, 50 GB, 200 GB or 2 TB storage space.

You have to turn on Private Relay yourself, because the function is standard. You do that by opening the ‘settings’. Then you tap your name and go to ‘iCloud’. Scroll down until you see ‘functions of iCloud+’. Then tap ‘private passage’. Then switch on the slider with ‘private passage’.

Incidentally, at iCloud+ you also get the option to automatically hide your own e-mail address. Apple then creates a random e-mail address every time and then sends the messages to your own address. Your e-mail address is then better protected against data breaches at other websites. After all, they do not know what your real e-mail address is. You also turn that position under ‘Functions of iCloud+’, at ‘Hide My e-mail address’.

4. Advanced data protection

Is the protection above not enough and do you want to protect the data on your iPhone even better? Then you can go to the Advanced Data Protection function.

The Advanced Data Protection function uses end-to-end encryption (encryption) to offer the highest level of security. That also means that the vast majority of your iCloud data can only be viewed on your trusted Apple devices, on which you are registered with you Apple ID. No one else – not even Apple – is then with your data.

If you lose access to the account, you can only repair your data with the password code or the password of the device, a recovery contact or a recovery key.

A recovery contact must be a trusted person, such as a family member or friend who also has an Apple device. They will then receive the recovery codes if you ever forget your password. If you choose to set a recovery key of 28 characters, you must keep them safely somewhere, or save them in a password manager.

You can set the function by following the steps below.

• Open the ‘settings’ and tap your Apple account;
• Go to ‘iCloud’ and scroll down;
• Tap ‘Switch on advanced data protection’.

5. Insulation mode

A function that was introduced in iOS 16 is the insulation mode (Lockdown Mode). The function was once devised to prevent cyber attacks. As a normal user, you don’t have to be very afraid of that, but it is nice to have this in the event of a (digital) need.

If you turn on the insulation mode, you only get access to Facetime conversations of well-known songs. Connections via the Lightning cable are also blocked. In addition, various file formats such as MP3, JPEG, PDF preliminary tenses and fonts are no longer loaded. This does your phone to protect you against malicious program code and unwanted files that are sometimes hidden.

So it is a pretty radical function that you should not just turn on. You can find the function as follows: open the ‘settings’ and scroll down. Choose ‘privacy and security’. Scroll to Gangen again and tap ‘Isolatie mode’. Then tap ‘Switch in insulation mode’.