Three of the WORST iPhone mistakes you can make – and they could cost you

DON’T make simple iPhone blunders that could easily be avoided.

If you want to steer clear of hacks, leaks, cyber-snooping and more, here are three iPhone mistakes you mustn’t make.

1

Re-using passwords

There’s almost no excuse to re-use passwords these days.

We’re constantly told to choose complicated passwords – and it’s never been easier to do just that.

iCloud Keychain remembers the passwords you type on your phone, encrypts them, and stores them in the cloud.

So you can choose very strong passwords without having to remember them – your phone will simply enter them for you at log in.

This is one of the best defences against hackers.

“iCloud Keychain remembers things so that you don’t have to,” Apple explains.

“It auto-fills your information – like your Safari usernames and passwords, credit cards, Wi-Fi networks and social log-ins – on any device that you approve.

“iCloud Keychain stores your passwords and credit card information in such a way that Apple cannot read or access them.”

And the Safari web browser now has a special feature called Strong Passwords.

When you sign up to a service on Safari, you’ll get an option to use an auto-generated password that’s very difficult for hackers to crack.

This password is automatically saved in your iCloud Keychain so you don’t even have to remember it.

On your iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch, follow these steps:

• Tap Settings > [your name] > iCloud (on iOS 10.2 or earlier, it’s just Settings > iCloud)
• Tap Keychain
• Tap the slider to turn on iCloud Keychain

There’s even a new system introduced in iOS 16 called Passkey that can make your account even more secure – by letting you log in without any password at all.

Not using auto-erase

When you lose an iPhone, it’s stolen, or someone nearby is trying to break into it, it’s possible someone could get access.

One way is to use passcodes, hoping that you’ve chosen an easy number like 000000 or 123456.

These simple passcodes are a go-to option for crooks trying to gain access to your mobile.

You can turn a special Erase Data function on so that your iPhone wipes itself when there are too many failed passcode attempts.

Activating the setting means that your iPhone will be wiped after 10 passcode attempts.

This will remove all of your personal data from the device.

Importantly, even though your data will be erased from your iPhone, you shouldn’t lose it completely.

That’s because the data isn’t deleted from your iCloud.

So as long as you have regular backups on iCloud, you should be safe.

That means the person who has hijacked your iPhone won’t be able to get their hands on your private photos, texts and more.

And when you replace your iPhone, you’ll be able to restore it to nearly the same state as your previous model using iCloud.

So how do you do it?

Go to Settings > Face ID & Passcode and then enter your passcode.

Then scroll all the way to the bottom and set the toggle for Erase Data to the On position.

But be wary of using this feature if you have young children who regularly get access to your iPhone – because they may accidentally wipe it.

Letting apps track you

A simple change to your iPhone settings so advertisements stop tracking you across the web.

The App Tracking Transparency feature allows you to control which apps are able to track you.

When you download and open a new app, you’ll get a notification that asks if you want to let the app track your activity across other companies’ apps and websites. 

You’ll also see information about what the app would track. 

At this point, tap Ask App not to Track to block that activity or Allow.

Also, to opt-out of app tracking across every app, you download by going to Settings then Privacy then Tracking.

Then toggle off Allow Apps to Request to Track.

This result is that any app that tries to ask permission will be automatically blocked from asking and informed that you have requested not to be tracked. 

After this, all apps will be blocked from accessing your device’s information used for advertising, according to Apple. 

For apps already downloaded and that may have tracking permissions set up for, you can still turn those permissions on or off. 

This is done by going to Settings, tapping an app, and then tapping to turn off Allow Tracking. 

Alternatively, go to Settings then Privacy then Tracking, and tap to turn on or off each app in the list.

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