How private is your iPhone data, and how to protect your privacy
How to improve your iPhone privacy: As simple as an iPhone's passcode can be - we'd recommend a custom alphanumeric code, not four digits, but even the latter is a deterrent to casual identity theft - it takes a lot of work to crack one. This is articularly the case because iOS builds in delays after you get the passcode wrong: each computation is deliberately designed to take longer than it needs to, at 80 illiseconds, and if you get it wrong six times in a row the iPhone is locked for a minute; further incorrect guesses result in longer delays. The latter measure in particular prevents hackers from using brute force to machine-guess hundreds of codes in quick
succession.
The six-wrong-attempts delay is always activated, but there's a second more drastic measure you can choose to activate if you are carrying highly sensitive or business-critical data. If you want, iOS will erase your data if someone (including you!) gets the passcode wrong 10 times in a row. Go to Settings > Touch ID & Passcode, enter your passcode and then scroll down to Erase Data. But only do this if you are willing to run the risk of accidentally erasing everything if you get drunk.
But the benefits of Touch ID are not straightforward, and my colleague Glenn Fleischman discusses this in a separate article, The scary side of Touch ID. As he puts it:"Someone might be able to coerce a password from you with a wrench... But it still requires that threat and your acquiescence. Mobile fingerprint sensors change that equation dramatically. An individual who wants some of your information must only get hold of your device, ensure it hasn't been rebooted, and hold an appropriate digit still for long enough to validate one's fingerprint."As I touch, touch, touch, I think about about Hong Kong and mainland China; about Afghanistan and Iraq; about Ferguson, Missouri, and police overreach and misconduct; and extrajudicial merican operations abroad and domestic warrantless procedures and hearings about which we know few details. I think about the rate of domestic violence in this country.
"As a nonconsensual method of validating your identity wherever you're carrying a device, coupled with software that likewise recognises it, Touch ID requires a bit more thought than just registering your fingerprints."
How to improve your iPhone privacy: Here's a small related item of interest, to anyone who wishes to keep their iPhone as private as possible. It's been ruled, in the US at least, that police can force a suspect to use Touch ID to unlock a device - following the reasoning that a fingerprint is a piece of physical evidence - whereas a
passcode is viewed as knowledge and is protected by the Fifth Amendment... not that there is any logical way for police to extract this information short of waterboarding.
In other words, for the extremely privacy-conscious, securing an iPhone with a passcode alone is actually a better
choice than using Touch ID.
Best iPhone privacy measures: iMessage
One of the quietly most secure aspects of the iPhone is the iMessage platform. It works across the Apple hardware platforms of iPhone, iPad, iPod touch and Mac to provide a well integrate messaging service. As long as you have either an iCloud email account or an iPhone with data plan you’ll be able to use iMessage.
If you message someone and the text bubbles are green, then you are sending text messages in regular SMS format (this is also only possible on iPhones as SMS can only be sent between mobile numbers). However, iMessages that send blue cleverly have detected that you and the recipient are Apple users, and these messages are sent over an Internet connection instead (so 3G, 4G or Wi-Fi). These don’t count against your text message package from your mobile operator and work like WhatsApp or Facebook Messenger chats.
