It can be unnerving to think about all of the personal information and data stored on your iPhone. From emails and contacts to your location, a person who gets hold of your device can unlock a great deal about you — but less so if you are making good use of your phone’s privacy settings.
There are several ways to keep your data better protected, including one you probably have never thought about. According to tech privacy experts, this is the one iPhone setting you need to change right now for privacy.
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Snapping photos with our iPhones has become so second nature that many of us rarely think twice about keeping those photos stored on our devices. “I think you will agree that the photos we take with our phones reveal an awful lot about us, including our most intimate moments,” says Martynas Kavaliauskas, co-founder and CEO of TrackingFox. “Photos can easily reveal your location, your recent activities, and even the identity of people close to you.”
Kavaliauskas says that access to your photos can easily make you vulnerable to privacy attacks, and that your photo gallery is a “treasure trove of information that you should guard at all times.” But you may be surprised to learn that a number of apps actually request access to your photos, which makes it easier for your personal information to leak.
Tech Expert Todd Ramlin, manager of Cable Compare, agrees that changing one setting is important to restrict the level of access apps have to your photos.
“Photos can be personal and you can choose if apps have access to any or all of yours,” Ramlin says. “When an app requests access to your photos, you can give full access, access to selected photos, or block access. No matter what you choose, if you change your mind, you can go to Settings > Privacy > Photos and change the access level. It’s also not a bad idea to check what permission existing apps have and set them to where you want them."
To change this photo setting and keep your privacy better protected, go to Settings> Privacy> Photos.
“You will see the apps you have granted access to Photos,” Kavaliauskas says. “Screen all the apps and turn access to Never for those apps you think do not need access to your Photos.”
