7 Ways to Protect Your iPhone in 2017

There are many threats to your iPhone these days, threats far more severe than a wobbly coffee cup or loose grip over pavement. Malicious hackers and malware threats exist everywhere, meaning your personal information (and everything else you use and keep on your iPhone) is at risk.

We use our iPhones for just about everything these days, whether that’s credit card transactions and purchases to communicating our personal information (addresses, locations, etc.). That means our iPhones are treasure troves for people seeking to take advantage of all that data.

Not all is lost, though — here are seven easy ways you can keep your iPhone (and your online identity) safe in 2017:

7. Update to the latest version of iOS — immediately.

Those sometimes annoying software updates don’t happen without provocation. Apple usually develops updates in response to attacks as they happen. For instance, take one of the more recent threats: an active malware threat was going around that could essentially turn your phone against you. How? It transformed infected iPhones into mini-spys, reading private texts and emails, recording phone conversations, tracking locations, and could even turn on cameras and microphones without users even realizing it. The second Apple became aware of the issue, it developed protective updates to the iOS platform in response.

The moral of the story? Update your software the second a new release pops up.

1. Go to Settings.
2. Then tap General.
3. Tap Software Update.

6. Create a passcode.

It’s a fundamental part of your phone security: know how to create, use and change your passcode.

1. Open Settings
2. Tap Touch ID & Passcode (or, on older models: Settings > Passcode) and go from there.

Know that turning your passcode off makes your phone vulnerable to anyone who can physically get close enough to it — and that’s a risk you don’t want to take. You have options to set up a six or four-digit passcode, or even a custom code. Whatever option you take, it’s best practice to change your passcode after a few months, just to be on the safe side.

5. Turn Siri off on your lock screen.

Siri is helpful, especially if you’re not able to get to use your hands in that instance — for example, if you’re occupied and need to make a call, or need to dictate a text.

The flip side of that coin is if Siri is active without unlocking your iPhone, that means pretty much anyone can use Siri to dictate messages to any contact on your phone, make calls or even update your social media. The same convenience turns into a double-edged sword.

To limit Siri, go to..

1. Settings
2. Siri
3. Toggle “Access on Lock Screen” to off.

4. Enable Find My iPhone.

Find My iPhone is an amazing tool to have handy, whether you’re forgetful about where you last left your device, or whether you’re worried it might have truly been stolen.

To access Find My iPhone, go to your iCloud and see where your device is on the map. With “Lost Mode” you can track your device, even if you don’t know where it is. You can even lock your device remotely, or remote erase it — just in case.

If your phone was stolen, you can track it using the GPS signal it emits — although we suggest calling your local police station when it comes down to actually confronting whoever might have stolen it. You can even ring an alarm from a remote location, ensuring authorities can pick it up once they arrive.

3. Manage all of your passwords.

The best practice with passwords is to use a complex, random combination of numbers, letters, and punctuation to create something completely unique and difficult to hack. The issue is that they’re troublesome to remember, and even more troublesome to remember across multiple types of accounts.

That’s why a password manager is your best friend. A password manager does all the remembering for you — you just type your master password into your password manager, and it will auto-populate associated passwords for all of the websites you visit.

Of course, not all password managers are ranked equally, and if your password manager is hacked, that compromises all of your accounts. Double check the security and safety credentials of the password managers you look into, and you’ll see that a few rise up over the rest. Always take into consideration what you’re willing to spend, and your specific security needs.

And always keep in mind that using a password manager is a better option than using the same weak password across all of your accounts.

2. Back up your photos.

Aside from our personal information, our phones stow some of our most precious personal memories, and depending on how often you take photos and videos, you could be required to rent more and more space in Apple’s iCloud, which starts getting expensive. You do have two alternatives: flash storage or an alternative cloud storage solution.

If you’d like to physically keep a drive on you, the iKlips DUO+ Dual Interface Flash Drive is a great option for iPhone users. You can easily share files between all your Apple devices, and rest assured only you can access them. With this flash drive, you can view, manage and back up your photo galleries at lightning fast speeds: you can transfer at up to 25 MB/s on Lightning devices and up to 130 MB/s on USB devices.

Buy the iKlips DUO+ Dual Interface Flash Drive here for $69.99 — that’s reduced from $79.

If you prefer the flexibility of the cloud, pCloud Premium Cloud Storage: Lifetime Subscription is a perfect option for your iPhone. It’s an extremely secure way to back up all of your files without them taking up any more space on your devices. pCloud also boasts unrivaled transfer speeds, and 500GB of cloud storage and 500GB of download link traffic. You can even access your files across multiple devices.

Buy pCloud Premium Cloud Storage: Lifetime Subscription here for $59.99 — that’s 87% off.

1. Encrypt your online data with a VPN.

We’ve said it before, we’ll say it again: every iPhone user should be using a VPN.

A VPN is a virtual private network that uses a system of private servers to host data and information, meaning you’re able to browse the internet safely and securely, with your online identity totally encrypted. Any time we use the internet, we’re exchanging and sending data — a VPN helps keep that data private.

A great option is a powerful VPN solution like VPN Unlimited. VPN Unlimited protects your information over both Wi-Fi and cellular connections, helping to secure all your online activity. It also provides unlimited traffic bandwidth and unlimited high-speed connectivity, meaning you don’t need to deal with the lag time that’s sometimes associated with VPN usage.

VPN Unlimited works over a server system that includes 53 locations in 39 different countries, with fast server switching and app operating. Get it here for $29.99.