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There are settings on your phone that you should make constant use of and probably don’t — Airplane Mode comes to mind. This particular setting should be enabled when you are charging your phone to actually speed up charging times. But there are also a few settings that you should feel free to disable because they are posing a privacy risk that isn’t worth the trouble. This is the one setting that privacy experts agree you should disable on your iPhone.
Wi-Fi Assist
It seems like a helpful enough setting, but tech experts like Olivardia Tan, co-founder of CocoFax, say Wi-Fi Assist is one iMessage setting you should turn off immediately. “Wi-Fi Assist allows you to stay connected when you have a poor Wi-Fi connection,” Tan says. “If you’re traveling and connected to local Wi-Fi (Hotel , Cafe, Restaurant), these Wi-Fi connections may not be reliable and your phone may automatically switch to using data from your KnowRoaming SIM if Wi-Fi Assist is on.”
In fact, Wi-Fi vulnerabilities are among the most exploited iPhone breaching methods, says Alina Clark, growth manager and co-founder of CocoDoc. “ Unfortunately, your own iPhone settings may be acting as the gateway to getting your phone hacked, and losing your data if that happens,” Clark says. “Changing your Wi-Fi settings to lock our public Wi-Fi networks can save you a lot of trouble if you're thinking about your security. It may be the most cliched security hack in the world, but it still remains true. To think of it, public Wi-Fi connections are common grounds for hackers because they're just that, open and accessible for everyone.”
In order to change the Wi-Fi-related settings, one needs to go through the “Wi-Fi” settings, click on “Ask To Join Networks” and “Autojoin hotspots” are both set to “Ask/ Ask to join “for both options shown, Clark says. “These two settings allow you to bridge the security gap that can be exploited when your phone joins a public network without your knowledge,” Clark says. “Spoofing and iPhone hacking happen quite frequently when you join networks without intending to. It also helps you avoid those instances where hackers will set up an open hotspot just to harvest data from all the phones that connect to the hotspot.”
In short: keep your phone and your data its safest by keeping a close and watchful eye on your Wi-Fi settings.
