APPLE has revealed an important security button that all iPhone owners should know about – it can save you from dangerous snooping.
It’s part of Apple’s Safety Check feature, which is designed to help you root out stalkers who may have access to parts of your iPhone.
The button itself is called Emergency Reset, but first it’s important to know how Safety Check works.
SECURITY CHECK ON IPHONE
Safety Check is designed to protect you from oversharing—or even stalking—through your iPhone function.
You can restrict a variety of iPhone settings related to content sharing, location, and more.
“If your personal safety is at risk, you can use Safety Check on iPhone to quickly stop sharing your information or with whom Assessment and update sharing with individual people and apps,” Apple explains.
The iPhone maker adds: “If circumstances or trust levels change, Safety Check lets you disconnect from people, apps and devices you no longer want to be connected to.”
HOW TO USE SECURITY CHECK ON IPHONE
First, you need to make sure you are running iOS 16 or later.
To check, just go to Settings > General > Software Update.
And you’ll also need to be signed in to an Apple ID on your iPhone that has two-factor authentication enabled.
After that, you’ll want to go to Settings > Privacy & Security > Security Review to see what your options are.
You can then review all of your privacy permissions related to apps and content on your phone.
It’s also possible to remove devices signed in to your Apple ID account, change your password, and update your emergency contacts.
You can stop sharing content from Apple apps, including:
- Activity
- Log in
- Health
- Home
- Shared calendars
- Shared items in Find
- Shared location with Find
- Estimated time of shared maps
- Shared notes
- Shared passwords
- Shared photos (including shared library and shared albums)
You can also prevent the sharing of information, including:
- Bluetooth
- Calendars
- Camera
- Contacts
- Files and folders
- Health
- Local network
- Positional services
- Media and Apple Music
- Microphone
- Movement and fitness
- Photos
- Reminder
- Research
- Speech recognition
There is also an option to update the device passcode as well as Face ID or Touch ID.
EMERGENCY RESET ON IPHONE
If you’re really worried, there’s a more nuclear option called Emergency Reset.
iPhone tricks you can try today
Here are some of the best…
- Typing cursor – Hold the spacebar while typing to turn the keyboard into a trackpad, allowing you to move between words and sentences more easily
- Close all Safari tabs – To do it all at once, simply hold the overlapping squares in the lower right corner and press Close all tabs
- Quickly delete lots of photos – Hold a photo, then swipe diagonally in Photos to select multiple images at once, then press Delete
- Convert currency quickly – Swipe down from the top of the home screen, then tap the bar and enter a currency (for example €200) and it will be automatically converted to your local currency
- Check if this is a battery upgrade – Batteries inside smartphones degrade over time. Just go to Settings > Battery > Battery Status and check the maximum capacity reading. In general, a battery is considered worn when its capacity is below 80%. If you’re below, you can buy a replacement battery from Apple
- Move apps faster – Hold an app until it wiggles, then (while holding) tap other apps to stack them so you can move them around more easily
“Safety Check has an option called Emergency Reset,” explains Apple.
“You use it to immediately stop sharing the items listed above, which includes all types of sharing. The hard reset also allows you to check and reset the settings associated with your Apple ID.”
To use the hard reset, go to Settings > Privacy & security > Security check.
Then tap on Emergency reset and follow the on-screen instructions.
Once done, go to Verify you’ve stopped sharing to make sure everything is working.