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iMetalG5

macrumors 6502a
Apr 13, 2005
786
0
I use to use it. Then stopped (might be dumb on my part). I always know where my iphone is. but my wife on the other hand... she uses it. a friend of mine uses it and lost his iphone and was able to get it back from the store where he dropped it. no one could use it so he thinks someone probably just turned it in...
 

MikeWard1701

macrumors newbie
Dec 17, 2009
4
3
UK
It's not just your personal information at risk!

Because there's no one I'm locking it against.. I keep the phone on me at all times.
Like I said, if someone found it, I WANT them to see the contacts.

Ask the people in your address book how they'd feel about their numbers/emails/addresses/DOBs being given to complete strangers.

If I found out someone I'd entrusted with my contact details was negligent not to secure that information I’d be furious.
 

bunnicula

macrumors 68040
Jul 23, 2008
3,816
817
I use it.

I have a friend who lost his phone while on vacation (okay, someone stole it in South America). He had all of his personal info in there. He was even using it to trade stock.

Seriously... I can't see why a person wouldn't wanna use one. At least put one on to passcode once you lock the phone.

I dunno. I am used to unlocking mine, I reckon.
 

dccorona

macrumors 68020
Jun 12, 2008
2,033
1
The one where you unlock the phone by swiping then entering a password.

Seriously how annoying would this get? I'd never do that..

I can understand requiring a passcode after an hour or so but not on the immediate setting.

And how scary is that "erase data" boy.. after 10 failed attempts there goes all your contacst and texts and photos etc..

btw, is there a way to backup my contacts and text messages on my pc?

so my douche bag friends dont get on there and make a bunch of gay porn webclips, set the background to a dudes nipple, and look through my private conversations like they did that one time at lacrosse camp

the erase data is an option, one which I dont have turned on. I can remote wipe from MobileMe if I lose it so I don't need that option

your text messages back up every time you do a backup of your phone
 

JediZenMaster

Suspended
Mar 28, 2010
2,180
654
Seattle
I haven't tryed this on mine but you can still force the iPhone into DFU mode even if there is a password on it and restore it right?
 

Mystikal

macrumors 68020
Oct 4, 2007
2,440
0
Irvine, CA
I think its a hassle for the amount of time I unlock my phone and end up doing nothing. Ill just remote lock it if I have to if it gets lost.
 

amazingdm

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jul 2, 2010
409
2
Ask the people in your address book how they'd feel about their numbers/emails/addresses/DOBs being given to complete strangers.

If I found out someone I'd entrusted with my contact details was negligent not to secure that information I’d be furious.

To be honest I don't care if anyone in my contacts gets pissed that some stranger has it. It's not THAT big of a deal.
It's not like I have their addresses or dob's in my phone anyway. If they did it's not a big deal..

I guess it's just me but I have no reason to lock my phone..
 

mantan

macrumors 68000
Nov 2, 2009
1,743
1,041
DFW
A friend of mine found a lost iPhone a couple of weeks ago.

It wasn't locked. And based on the emails, texts, pictures (many a bit embarrassing) and contact list it was apparent it was about a very popular outgoing 16-18 year old high school girl.

My friend used the Contact list to find the dad's name and call him. (Obviously as a dad himself he wanted the parents to be there when the phone was returned.)

The dad and daughter were both thrilled to get the phone back.

My friend doesn't own a smartphone and was amazed at how much of this girl's life he was able to piece together...who her friends were, how to contact them what they were doing, where they go and hang out etc.

That's not including the things most adults have on their iPhone. Email accounts with financial account information, work product, detailed contact information, etc. I think about the people who send me things (both personal and work) and trust that I take some precaution to keep their email from being common knowledge.

There is just too much important data on my device to not protect because I don't want to spend an extra 2 seconds entering a passcode.

I've had my phone stolen. And even with a passcode, I remember the gnawing feeling as I thought about ALL the data, accounts, passwords etc that I needed to change just to be safe.
 

warrmr

macrumors regular
Jul 7, 2010
102
0
Sorry if you lose an iPhone you aint getting it back!

There are some honest people in the world.

A few years back I found a 3GS in the back of a taxi and handed it back to the taxi driver. (No idea if that phone ever got back to there owner. I wished i had kept it untill the morning then tryed to phone the owner. )


One of the guys I work with his wife had a 3GS that she lost in the park no insurance ect. Thaught nothing of it and he set himself up to buy a new one. The sunday night 4 days after it was lost it turned up at the local police station they called him and he picked it up the same day.


As for the reason I use a passcode.

1) I leave my phone on my desk at the office and i dont want people going through my messages/emails

2) my facebook account is on there so do not want to be Fraped

3) To prevent the causal gawpers (oooooohhh shiney new Iphone 4 let me look )
 

dccorona

macrumors 68020
Jun 12, 2008
2,033
1
To be honest I don't care if anyone in my contacts gets pissed that some stranger has it. It's not THAT big of a deal.
It's not like I have their addresses or dob's in my phone anyway. If they did it's not a big deal..

I guess it's just me but I have no reason to lock my phone..

well I had a teachers phone number in my phone, and someone took my phone and got the number out of it, and then prank called the number (from their own phone)

long story short, I was suspended from my last lacrosse game because the number was taken from me...passcode would have been nice then
 

lorenwade

macrumors 68000
Aug 27, 2008
1,951
0
Even a dumb code like 1111 is better than none at all. At the very least it's a deterrent.
 

ant69

macrumors 6502
Feb 2, 2009
267
99
If people are silly enough to be so lazy and not use a pass code (2 seconds is all it takes!!) they deserve to lose data/share any personal info with a stranger if the phone is lost/stolen..... coming from someone who had his iphone stolen before, luckily i have always had a passcode, mobile me - so i could do a remote wipe.....



Ant
 

mloffa

macrumors 6502a
Jul 13, 2009
966
40
I don't store that much personal data on my iPhone but I still require an immediate passcode.

I don't like when people at work or something take my phone and go into my twitter/facebook/notes.

Right now I use a simple 4-digit passcode.
I think I'm pretty slick because post people will be looking for number combinations but mine is a 4-letter word. ;)
I may change it to a more complex letter-based one if someone does get through the one I have now.
 

NQK

macrumors member
Jun 4, 2009
60
0
Alabama, U.S.
To keep mosey coworkers from peeking at your email.
To keep your 3 year old from calling everybody in your contacts while you're not looking.
 

mlts22

macrumors 6502a
Oct 28, 2008
540
35
Don't forget that if someone can use the phone, they just don't have access to the numbers and information... they can send and receive as you.

Why is this bad? I'll leave that to an exercise to the reader.

The time it takes to tap a 4 digit PIN a few times a day sure is a lot less than the time it will take in dealing with identity theft, and the police knocking at the door asking about calls made from your phone.

Here are my two centavos:

1: Get insurance (theft/loss) for the phone. I know some rental/homeowner's insurance companies cover everything from water damage, to theft, to loss, to accidental microwaving. However, too many claims, and your premium goes up. I use Asurion to cover this aspect.

2: Set the PIN and enable the 10 bad guesses == wipe. You sync the phone daily?

3: If the phone is JB-ed, consider an application backup program for the Cydia debs, or at least listing them so they can be redownloaded.

4: If the phone is JB-ed, consider iProtect. What sold me on this utility was the ability for it to lock the phone if someone swapped SIM cards. I use this to lock the Terminal app so someone can't bypass protection by popping a command prompt up and copying stuff off.

5: Make a list of apps on the phone, both Cydia (if JB-ed), and other. This way, you can re-download them if your computer doesn't have them syncable.

Trust me, iPhones may not seem like something security sensitive, but in reality, they are.
 

theautopilot

macrumors 6502a
Jul 27, 2010
709
39
No. It would be extremely annoying to have to enter a passcode everytime I wake my phone up.. god it'd be constantly.

Yeah man, i hear ya.

I never lock my house or car either, its so annoying having to carry and find keys all the time. I write my PIN code on my bank debit card too, sooooo annoying having to remember it.
 

detroit1

macrumors regular
Jul 11, 2008
185
0
i use it because if my phone gets taken during school, administration is allowed to look through it. now i have to be there first :)
 
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