Every one of these settings only matters on your worst day. A stolen phone, an accident, getting locked out of your account. And by then it is too late to switch them on.
None of them take long. Do them while the kettle boils and they are sorted for good. If you have just got a new phone, do them now while you are in the settings anyway.
Menus move around between models and software versions, so if a path below does not match your phone exactly, type the name of the setting into the search bar at the top of Settings.
1. Stolen Device Protection
Why it matters: the most common way people lose everything is not clever hacking. Someone watches you type your passcode in a pub or on a train, then takes your phone. With your passcode, they can change your Apple ID password and lock you out of your own account, your photos and often your banking, within minutes.
Stolen Device Protection stops that. When your phone is away from familiar places like home or work, big changes need Face ID or Touch ID, then a one-hour wait, then Face ID again. A thief with your passcode but not your face gets nowhere, and that hour gives you time to mark the phone as lost.
Where to find it:
- iPhone: Settings, Face ID & Passcode, Stolen Device Protection. On newer iPhones it may already be on, but it is worth checking.
- Android: search "Theft protection" in Settings.
The catch worth knowing: that protection applies to you as well. If you are selling, trading in or resetting your phone somewhere that is not home or work, and you have forgotten your Apple ID password, you will have to wait an hour before you can change it. You cannot get round it online either, because those settings are locked on the web while the feature is on. Erasing the phone away from home also needs Face ID or Touch ID, with no passcode fallback.
We see this in the studio all the time. Someone arrives to trade in their phone, has forgotten their Apple ID password, and ends up waiting an hour at the counter.
So before you sell, trade in or give away an iPhone, do two things at home: turn Stolen Device Protection off, and make sure you know your Apple ID password. It is still absolutely worth having on the rest of the time. That one-hour delay is exactly what makes a stolen phone useless to a thief.
2. Medical ID and emergency contacts
Why it matters: if you are ever in an accident, paramedics can see your allergies, medication, blood type and who to call, straight from your lock screen, without needing your passcode.
Most people have the Health app and have never filled this in.
Where to find it:
- iPhone: open the Health app, tap your picture in the top corner, then Medical ID. Tap Edit, fill it in, and make sure Show When Locked is switched on. Add your emergency contacts at the bottom.
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Android: search "Emergency information" in Settings.
3. A recovery contact
Why it matters: if you forget your Apple or Google password and have also lost access to your phone number, getting back into your account can take days or even weeks. A recovery contact is someone you trust who can help you get back in quickly.
They cannot see your data or get into your account themselves. They just get a code that helps verify it is really you.
Where to find it:
- iPhone: Settings, tap your name, Sign-In & Security, Account Recovery, then Add Recovery Contact.
- Android: check your recovery phone number and email are up to date at myaccount.google.com, under Security. If either is an old number or an email you no longer use, change it now.
4. Find My, set up properly
Why it matters: most people assume it is on. Usually it is, but the useful extra setting often is not.
"Send Last Location" makes your phone report where it was just before the battery died. Without it, a lost phone that has gone flat is very hard to find.
Where to find it:
- iPhone: Settings, tap your name, Find My, Find My iPhone. Check Find My iPhone, Find My network and Send Last Location are all switched on.
- Android: search "Find My Device" in Settings and make sure it is on.
5. A legacy contact
Why it matters: this is the one that stops people in their tracks.
If something happens to you, your family cannot simply get into your iCloud or Google account. Not to save your photos, not to get your contacts, nothing. Without a legacy contact set up, getting access usually means going through a court order process, which is slow and upsetting at the worst possible time.
A legacy contact is someone you choose who can request access to your data after you have died. They cannot see anything while you are alive.
It feels morbid for about thirty seconds. Then it feels like one of the kindest things you can set up for the people you love.
Where to find it:
- iPhone: Settings, tap your name, Sign-In & Security, Legacy Contact.
- Android: use Google's Inactive Account Manager at myaccount.google.com, under Data & privacy.
If there is someone older in your family who would never find this setting on their own, this is the one to sort out with them.
So, just to summarise.
Five settings, about five minutes, and every one of them only matters on a bad day:
- Stolen Device Protection, switched on, and switched off before you sell or trade in
- Medical ID filled in and visible on the lock screen
- A recovery contact for your Apple or Google account
- Find My on, with Send Last Location
- A legacy contact, so your family can get to your photos
If you would rather someone set these up with you, pop into the studio on Hollands Road in Haverhill and we will go through them together.
Harrison, Calatech