There are few things worse that not being able to feel safe if your own home. It’s meant to be this place of comfort and safety where you can let down your guard and be at peace. When that is shattered, then it feels as though there is no place that you truly belong and can be free.
While your physical home is that for so many of us, our phones are that for our digital lives. We may or may not have a computer or tablet, but we all carry a phone of some sort on our bodies most of our waking days and near us at nights.
Into these devices, we pour our lives.
Our thoughts.
Our fears.
Our hopes for the future.
It would not not be wrong to say that there is nothing on this planet that knows us better than our phones. My spouse, my best and closest friends – they don’t know me like my phone knows me. I tell it all of my secrets, both good and bad. With it, I search for questions I have, and make plans. I use it as a second set of digital eyes to record my surroundings. All of its sensors are at my disposal to record my world.
What’s more, my phone more than likely knows me more than I know myself. It certainly has a better memory than me. Remember what you said to Michael and Scott on September 2nd, 2021? Your iPhone does. Do you know where you were on April 29th? You could maybe sit down and figure that out given enough time, but your phone certainly knows where you were.
By this point, you may be feeling a little unnerved if you haven’t already been thinking about your phone like this. It truly has become an extension of our brains, that we hold in our hand. But what is truly unsettling is understanding all of that, and not being sure that it only accessed by you. I’m not even talking about whether you’ve shared your passcode with a spouse (which I still maintain is bad idea). What I’m talking about is digital spyware or other means where others who mean you harm have access to your phone’s contents without even being in the same room or even city as you.
While this may feel like an impossible horrible situation, the good news is that with a few fairly quick and easy steps, you can quickly ensure that your phone is once again completely within your control – and feel confident that you are the only one in control.
First Things First – Change Your iCloud Password
iCloud is the skeletal system of your phone – holding all services and features together. Text messages, photos, reminders, calendar – they all are sync’d in the cloud through iCloud. If someone has your iCloud password, they can have a backup copy of all your digital life and you may not know it. However, here’s the great thing: if you change your iCloud password, all devices that you are signed into will be signed out. This is why this is step one.
To change your iCloud Password:
- Go to Settings
- Select your name at the top of the screen
- Select Password & Security
- Select Change Password
Turn on Two-Factor Authentication
While it’s great to have a fresh new password on your iCloud account and know that you are not signed in anywhere else, let’s add an additional layer of security to ensure that you won’t be compromised in the future. Multi-factor Authentication ensure that even if someone has your iCloud password, they will also need something else that only you will have access to to get into your account.
To turn on two-factor authentication:
- Go to Settings
- Select your name at the top of the screen
- Select Password & Security
- Select Two-Factor Authentication
Trusted Phone Number
One last thing on the Password & Security screen: ensure that the trusted phone number listed is your phone number and no one elses.
With your iCloud now secure, lets turn our attention to your Phone
Before going any further, I recommend that you do a full backup of your phone. This is safe to do since you just changed your iCloud password and added the additional security of Two-Factor Authentication – your backups are secure.
To ensure your backup is current, connect your phone to power and wifi, then go to Settings – your name at the top of the screen – iCloud. From the iCloud screen, select Show All under Apps using iCloud and ensure that all options are selected as we are doing a full backup of everything on your phone (photos, mail, passwords, notes, photos, texts, did I mention photos?). Once everything is on, go back, select iCloud Backup, and then select Back Up Now.
Once the Backup is complete (it will say “Last success backup” followed by today’s date and time), we’re going to reset your device to factory settings – spooky, I know, but it is one sure-fired way to ensure that there is nothing wacky going on your phone device. Malware and hidden software programs are rare on iPhones, but going this big extra step will ensure that you have peace of mind that your device is free and clear.
To Factory Reset Your iPhone
- Go to Settings
- Select General
- Transfer or Reset iPhone
- Erase All Content and Settings
Once the erase is complete, the phone will be as though you got it fresh out of the box from the store. You’ll be guided through setting the phone back up with a new passcode (I suggest using an actual password and not numbers as this is harder to be seen by someone nearby), and restoring your backup from iCloud.
This process does take some time, and it can be a bit annoying to do all of this, but afterwards you can rest easy knowing that that beautiful tiny brain in your hands, really does only belong to you.