iPhone user shares ‘hidden’ privacy setting that can be a life-saver for protecting your data from thieves
After an iPhone user shared their story of their iPhone being nicked, one user offered a helpful tip to assist others in similar situations.
Reddit user Mongoos150 explained how they had their iPhone 15 Pro stolen and praised the use of Stolen Device Protection.
The post read: "As someone who just had their iPhone 15 pro stolen out of their hand - while unlocked - very near my home - I am so, so grateful to have had the foresight to have enabled Stolen Device Protection with the "always" option, and not the option that reduces protection when near / in your home.
Describing what happened, they said: "He grabbed the phone while it was unlocked and in use, shoved me down, and sped off on his bike. Truly nothing I could have done in that moment."
Advert
The user explained running home to log into iCloud on their MacBook and 'put the phone into lost mode' and lock the thieves out.
One user added a useful follow-up tip that you can stop thieves from making any changes to your Apple account by locking down certain settings in advance.
The top user replied: "Go to settings > Screen time > Restrictions > Don’t allow changes to Passcode & Face ID, Don’t allow changes to Account.
"It will prompt you to select a new password. Use a different password here. This will lock making any changes to your account. Now go back to settings, you will see your account tab disabled.
"If you want to enable account changes, follow the same steps but this time toggle “Allow changes” on."
This feature is typically used as a parental control tool to keep kids from tampering with settings. But people in the thread have pointed out how effective it can be for theft protection too.
"Nice. Never knew this existed. By disallowing passcode and face id, anyone including me will be unable to make any modifications to those unless i allow them again and know the passcode, right?" one replied.
"I do this. Incredibly helpful!" added another.
According to the official Apple forum, users can prevent changes to mobile data settings, volume settings, Driving Focus, TV Provider settings and whether apps run in the background or not.
Some people in the thread even mentioned how strange it is that Apple allows changes to your Apple ID password with just the phone’s passcode by default.
One wrote: "Personally I think it’s absolutely ridiculous you can change your Apple ID password with the passcode of your phone…"
Best make this quick change to thank yourself in the future.