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When you are attempting to better protect your privacy as you use your devices, there is one setting that if often overlooked and deserves your love and attention. The quality of the iPhone camera is only getting more impressive with each new model, and it isn’t uncommon for users to rely on it as their sole camera or video-taking source. But keep in mind that all of the photos and videos you store on your phone leave you vulnerable should a hacker get into your phone. Tech Expert Darren, founder of Wipelock, spoke to SHEFinds.com about the one camera setting you need to turn on to protect your privacy (and bonus points: It will give you back a ton of storage space).
That photo you are taking is so much more than a pretty image. It also captures metadata that includes info about where the photo was taken, which can compromise your privacy, the time and data that the photo was shot, and even the camera settings that were used. One of the best ways you can help protect your privacy is by NOT storing photos and videos on your device, where they can easily be stolen.
Consider iCloud your personal security vault. According to Darren, uploading photos to iCloud and opening the Optimize iPhone Storage option both help to protect your privacy and free up storage on your device (so it’s a win-win).
Storing photos to iCloud is simple and it takes just seconds to set this up. Tap Settings > [Your name] > iCloud > Photos. Turn on iCloud Photos. Make sure the setting Upload To My Photo Stream is selected to ensure that all of your photos are automatically uploaded to iCloud whenever you are connected to WiFi.
“When you open ‘iCloud Photos,’ your iPhone will automatically upload the full-resolution photos and videos to iCloud and replace them with smaller versions,” Darren says. “This can save the iPhone storage greatly! If you want to switch to the original full-resolution version, just check the ‘Download and Keep Originals’ option.”
