Privacy & Security

How To: Remove Unwelcome Suggested Contacts from Your iPhone's Share Sheet for Good

It can be convenient to have suggested contacts pop up at the top of your iPhone's share sheet. But all those faces and monograms can make the sharing menu cluttered, give away who you've been chatting with recently and through which apps, and show up in screenshots and screen recordings. Thankfully, there's a way to eliminate that whole row of suggestions — it's just not obvious.

How To: Block Those Annoying Cookie Consent Notices from Appearing on Websites in Safari

As a means to combat annoying and intrusive advertisements in Safari, Apple added native support for content blockers on the iPhone. Instead of being bombarded by notifications, banners, and pop-ups, content blockers prevent them from opening, which can also be said about those annoying cookie consent notices that many websites now have.

How To: Can't Use Face ID in Landscape Orientation on Your iPhone? Use These 13 Tips to Get It Working Smoothly

The iPhone 13 and iPhone 14 series models have a new feature on iOS 16 that lets you use Face ID when your iPhone is in landscape orientation. This is most helpful when trying to make purchases in apps and games where you use your iPhone rotated on its side. If you're having issues using Face ID in landscape mode, there may be some easy solutions to getting it working.

How To: Change This One Thing on Your iPhone to Make Your Passcode Nearly Impossible to Hack

There's only one thing keeping hackers, thieves, law enforcement agencies, and maybe even the people you thought you could trust from breaking into your iPhone should they ever get possession of the device. Their odds of bypassing that thing are pretty good, but there's an easy way to make it an almost impossible feat.

How To: Your Android Phone May Be Spying on You — Here's How to Tell and Take Control

Is your smartphone eavesdropping on you? It's a question that will never go away because it's easy to envision hackers or malicious apps taking over your device to spy on conversations, snap photos, or even record video. But fewer people will be asking it, thanks to Android 12, which has a new privacy feature that visually warns you of possible invasive surveillance.

How To: Dial These Secret Codes to See if Someone Is Hijacking Calls & Texts on Your iPhone

Malevolent hackers can divert your incoming calls and texts to any number they want, and they don't need to be a criminal mastermind to do it. Even friends and family members can reroute your incoming calls and messages so that they know exactly who's trying to reach you, and all it takes is seconds of access to your iPhone or wireless account. These secret codes can help uncover them.

How To: See Passwords for All the Wi-Fi Networks You've Connected Your iPhone To

Your iPhone goes with you pretty much everywhere you go, and unless you have unlimited data on your cellular plan, you've probably connected to dozens of Wi-Fi hotspots over the years. Wi-Fi passwords are saved to your iPhone so you can auto-connect to the router or personal hotspot again, but finding the plain text password for a network hasn't always been easy.

How To: Hide Your WhatsApp Online and Last Seen Statuses from Everyone or Just Some of Your Contacts

By default, everyone on WhatsApp can see when you're using the app. If someone recently messaged you and sees you're currently online, they may think you're avoiding them if you don't respond right away — especially if you don't share read receipts. However, you can block them from seeing your online or last seen status and apply it to everyone or just specific contacts.

How To: Create a Shortcut to Google's Password Manager on Your Android Phone for Faster Access to All Your Credentials

Everyone should know that assigning complex passwords to sensitive digital accounts is the best practice for protecting yourself against hacking. Those who adhere to password creation best practices also know that keeping up with passwords for every account is nigh impossible, even when using passphrases. This is why using a password manager is highly recommended.

How To: There's an Easy Way to See All the Unsent Messages in Your iMessage Conversations

While you can quickly see the edit history of a modified iMessage in the Messages app, there's no way to view an iMessage that somebody in the conversation deleted unless you happened to see it before it disappeared. But that's only true if you didn't implement these security measures on your iPhone.

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