With phones falling into the incorrect hands on a daily basis and California residents subject to warrantless cellphone searches , now’s a good looking good time to think of protecting your smartphone. Fortunately, it’s pretty easy and we’ll walk you during the process.

Photo remixed from an original by Conscious

Enable Password Protection

The simplest way to secure your smartphone is with a password, making it definitely the right place to start out. Most cellphones come with password protection, but we are able to’t examine the process for every single phone every made. Instead we’re going to be aware of the more popular mobile operating systems and how they’re password (or password-like) security works.

iOS
It’s very easy to set a passcode on iOS, nevertheless it’s no more secure than a PIN number. You simply get four digits, nonetheless it’s better than nothing. To set your iOS passcode, open the Settings app. From there, choose General and then choose Passcode Lock. Turn it on and enter your four digit passcode. In case you don’t already have a four digit passcode in mind, try and give you something random. Using your birthday, your anniversary, or the numeric equivalents of the letters on your name are all things someone could easily guess. A four digit passcode isn’t probably the most secure approach to begin with, so you don’t need to make it worse.

Android
Android’s additional security comes inside the variety of a swipe pattern (unless you’re running Android 2.2 Froyo, wherein case you can even set a PIN or password). To set one, go into your Android’s settings, choose Security, and then Change Unlock Pattern. Check Require Pattern and you’ll be capable of enter a swipe pattern. Making a swipe pattern is de facto like connecting the dots. Don’t create an obvious shape. That’s about as useful as choosing ” password” in your password. Developing with something easy won’t do much to assist, so determine a fancy swipe pattern you may remember. While you’ve got it, you’ll be ready to enter that pattern for your home screen to unlock your Android smartphone. Alternatively, in case you’re running Android 2.2, you may decide on a regular PIN or password in case you’re doubting the protection of your swipe pattern.

Windows Phone 7
In Windows Phone 7 you’re ready to set a lock screen password. To try this, flick left to move on your application list and press Settings. From there, press Lock & Wallpaper. Assuming it truly is your first time entering a password, switch on the Password option. After you do, you’ll be prompted to enter a new password twice. Try this and press Done to avoid wasting your changes. If you want help bobbing up with a positive password that you simply’ll actually be capable to remember, investigate this neat video guide .

Enable Remote Wipe

If you’ve added a passcode/password/pattern/p-whatever on your smartphone and you’re still paranoid, it can be time to explore remote wipe. Remote wipe does what the name implies: it remotely wipes the information to your phone and restores it to the factory settings. It really is not something you need to do on a daily basis, but must be prepared to initiate should your phone fall into the incorrect hands.

iOS
Installing remote wipe on an iOS device is simple, but only when you have all of the right ingredients. You would like a paid MobileMe account that’s currently active in your iOS device. You furthermore may must enable push and Find My iPhone. Where do you find these settings? First, open the Settings app, then choose ” Mail, Contacts, Calendars” from your options. On the subsequent screen you’ll see an option called ” Fetch New Data.” Tap that and you’ll have a switch that’ll assist you to enable Push. Once you’re done, go back back to the ” Mail, Contacts, Calendars” screen and judge your MobileMe account. (In case you don’t already have one, follow these instructions .) On the subsequent screen you’ll see an strategy to enable Find My iPhone. Try this and you’ll be ready.

Once Find My iPhone is enabled, you’ll manage to log into MobileMe and wipe your iPhone. You could try this by clicking the Account button up top and then the Find My iPhone option once the page loads. While you prefer to wipe your phone, newer models should get the message and successfully erase themselves in a number of minutes. Older models, however, seem to take much longer sometimes. When you have an iPhone 3G or original, be prepared to wait as much as two hours.

Android
Remote wipe is a built-in possibility on an Android device, but it surely requires Android 2.2. Additionally, you might want to have Exchange hooked up. Within the event Exchange is determined up, a remote wipe can only be performed by an administrator. While that may be you, chances are high that it’s not, so we’re going to skip this technique. Instead, you’re better off adding remote wipe via the Mobile Defense app. It’s free inside the Android Marketplace and you’ll wipe your Android phone from the Mobile Defense website, very similar to with MobileMe and Find My iPhone. Currently, Mobile Defense is in private beta so you might want to visit the download page and subscribe to the wait list .

Windows Phone 7

Windows Phone 7 can easily be wiped using Outlook Web Access. Look into the video above for a step-by-step walk-through of the process.

What Else Can You Do?

That’s nearly all of what you are able to do to secure your smartphone, but general online security tips are always relevant. Just ensure that you do have a robust password, you don’t save any sensitive data on your smartphone, and you avert California police and you have to be prepared.

It is easy to contact Adam Dachis, the author of this post, at adachis@lifehacker.com. You too can follow him on Twitter and Facebook .

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This post is tagged: additional security, california residents, connecting the dots, Mobile Operating Systems, numeric equivalents