YOUR PHONE CONTAINS a lot of personal data. You already know this but it’s easy to bypass this if you don’t have a lock screen at the very least.

But you shouldn’t just use a four-digit PIN and call it a day. Putting a little bit of effort into it can really help increase your security so if it does fall into the wrong hands, they will have a challenge on their hands.

Make a strong lock code

Starting off with the obvious, the code you need to unlock your phone is usually the main thing stopping someone from accessing your phone easily. Most modern smartphones include fingerprint scanners, most of which are pretty good, but you shouldn’t let your lock code be simple.

If you’re going for a PIN, make sure it’s the maximum length (for example, iOS allows it to be six digits long), or go a step further and use a password, or pattern.

The latter options better complement the fingerprint scanner as the times you’ll have to enter in a password will be infrequent. Unless someone gains access to your fingerprint

Make auto-lock faster

When you leave your phone down, it will usually spend a bit of time active before eventually turning off. It’s best to keep this window as short as possible so that someone won’t swoop in and start using it.

Better yet, get into the habit of pressing the power button when you’re finished using your phone.

Turn off Siri and other lock screen functions

In the case of an iPhone, you could likely access notifications, control centre (for quick options) and Siri without having to lock your phone

Similarly, in the case of Android, it’s best not to use lock screen widgets for the same reasons above.

Activate erase data (iPhone)

You can activate this by going into Settings > Passcode and Touch ID and scrolling down to the bottom. Activating this means a person has ten attempts to correctly guess your code or risk wiping everything from it. Also, it’s worth mentioning the benefits of backing up your phone so you can recover it later.

Activate find my phone

Granted, this doesn’t specifically deal with your lock screen, but if your phone goes missing, then it could be a lifeline for you. Depending on what you’re using, you’ll have to sign in to iCloud or Android Device Manager to activate it but through this, you can wipe the data from your phone remotely if you can’t find it.

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