What the Tech? Locking down an iPhone

(ABC 6 News) – As you know, someone can unlock your phone while you sleep by aiming the camera at your Face. I suggested turning on “require attention” in settings under Face ID, which will require your eyes to be open to unlock your phone. As I heard from some viewers, that isn’t enough security. A really snoopy person could grab your phone, even with your knowledge, to unlock the phone this way.

So, here’s something you can do if you really really want to keep someone from seeing what’s on your phone: The quickest way to lock a phone and require the passcode to unlock it is to hold down the volume button and the power button for a few seconds at the same time. You’ll get the screen asking if you want to call for help or shut down the phone completely. But here’s the thing: if you tap “cancel”, the phone will require a passcode the next time you want to unlock it. If you suspect someone is snooping on your phone, you can see which apps were open while you were catching some ZZZ’s

The snooper can always clear website traffic, but you can see what apps were being used at a specific time by going to screen time and activity. You can also go to battery settings to see when the phone was in use. This shows usage by the hour and which apps were in use during those times. So if What’s App or Messenger were on the screen at 3 am while you were asleep, you might want to have a word with someone.

Legal experts say the police can demand someone unlock their phone using biometric data such as their face or fingerprint, but police cannot force someone to enter a passcode to unlock the device.