NOW turn on three settings to block thieves

YOUR iPhone is packed with features designed to lock out thieves and keep your device secure.

From wiping your device before crooks can read your messages to tracking your cellphone remotely, here are three of the best.

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1. Restrict access to Control Center

if you a iPhone Users, you may be familiar with Control Center.

It allows access to some iPhone features – including some notes, controlling lights, and even media playback on your TV.

One of the great things about Control Center is that you can access it from the lock screen.

Importantly, you don’t need to unlock your device to use it.

However, this may be considered a security risk by some users. It may give a thief access to features like your camera.

Luckily, it only takes a few seconds to turn off the feature.

If you disable it, you can still use Control Center. But you need to unlock your device first.

Unlock your iPhone and then go into Settings.

Then tap Face ID and Passcode — or Touch ID and Passcode if you’re using a home button device.

Enter your passcode when prompted.

Then scroll down and look for the Control Center toggle.

Set the switch to the off position so that the button is gray instead of green.

That’s it: Control Center is no longer accessible from the lock screen.

If you ever change your mind, you can go back to the settings and turn it back on.

2. Erase your iPhone after 10 failed passcode attempts

When a thief tries to break into your iPhone, their first port of call is likely to be the passcode feature.

This is the sequence of numbers you set that unlocks your iPhone when it’s connected to the lock screen.

You can enable a special data wipe feature to make your iPhone wipe itself when there are too many failed passcode attempts.

Enabling the setting means your iPhone will be erased after 10 passcode attempts.

This means that the person who hijacked your iPhone cannot get their hands on your photos, texts and more.

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

Then scroll all the way down and toggle the wipe data switch to the on position.

Now if someone makes 10 unsuccessful passcode attempts, your iPhone will erase all your personal data.

Important: Even if your data is deleted from your iPhone, you should not lose it completely.

This is because the data will not be deleted from your iCloud.

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

3. Turn on Find My iPhone.

The Find My app is an Apple app built into all devices.

You can use it to locate your gadgets on a map, which is great for tracking down a lost or stolen iPhone.

It’s also possible to remotely erase your iPhone — or any other Apple device — to prevent thieves from stealing your information or files.

If your iPhone was stolen, open Find My on another Apple device that’s signed in with your Apple ID.

If you don’t have a second device, access the feature through a browser iCloud.com/find (You must sign in with your Apple ID).

You get a map with the locations of all your Apple gadgets.

Tap All Devices at the top of the page and select the gizmo you’re looking for to see its location.

Learn how to set up Find My. here.

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