iPhone 5 Portable Genius

Protecting Your iPhone

These days, an iPhone is much more than just a phone. You use it to surf the web, send and receive e-mail and text messages, manage your contacts and schedules, find your way in the world, and much more. This is handy, for sure, but it also means that your iPhone is jammed with tons of information about you. Even though you might not store the nuclear launch codes on your iPhone, chances are what is on it is pretty important to you. Considering all this, you should take steps to protect your iPhone, and that’s what the next few sections are all about.

Locking your iPhone with a passcode

When your iPhone is asleep, the phone is locked in the sense that tapping the touchscreen or pressing the volume controls does nothing. This sensible arrangement prevents accidental taps when the phone is in your pocket, or rattling around in your backpack or handbag. To unlock the phone, you either press the Home button or the Sleep/Wake button, drag the Slide to Unlock slider, and you’re back in business.

Unfortunately, this simple technique means that anyone else who gets his or her mitts on your iPhone can also be quickly back in business — your business! If you have sensitive or confidential information on your phone, or if you want to avoid digital joyrides that run up massive roaming or data charges, you need to truly lock your iPhone.

You do that by specifying a passcode that must be entered before anyone can use the iPhone. You can either set a simple four-digit passcode, ...