- We talk a lot about the iPhone settings
you should turn off,
but what about the settings that will break your phone
if you don't leave them alone
There are more than you might think?
- We're gonna show you how to avoid these fatal mistakes
but first, let's talk about one
of the best ways to stop big tech
from tracking you on your iPhone.
- First answer this question.
Do you want websites to be able to track you
across other apps and websites?
- I know I don't.
- Settings like this are what allow big tech
companies to create a digital fingerprint for you.
- Your digital fingerprint can be used
to identify exactly who you are online.
Big tech companies have become scary good
at identifying who we are, where we live,
what we want, and a whole lot more.
- I like to limit how much data big tech
can collect about me as much as possible.
Let's open settings, scroll down and tap on Safari.
Then scroll down and make sure the switch next
to prevent cross site tracking is on.
- And it's not just Safari, that's the problem.
A lot of data is collected about you
every time you open an email.
- You can't see them, but emails,
particularly marketing emails, contain tracking pixels
that can track pretty much anything you do,
like open an email, clicking a link, and much more.
There's an iPhone setting that hides your IP address
and loads the pixels images, that remote content,
that's in the email privately in the background,
so the companies can't track you
in all the ways David just said.
- [David] Let's tap back to the main page of settings.
Scroll up and tap Mail.
Then scroll down and tap privacy protection
and make sure the switch
next to protect mail activity is on.
Now that you're safer in Mail and Safari,
let's talk about another way
to shut down hackers on your iPhone.
- [David] Let's tap back to the main page of settings.
Scroll up and tap general than tap software update
and tap automatic updates.
Make sure the switch next to security responses
and system files is on.
- When Apple releases a rapid security response
it means there's a significant vulnerability on your iPhone
and that could leave your iPhone open to hacks,
data breaches, and more.
- We made an entire video about the signs
your iPhone is hacked.
We'll link that in a card above
and in the section below the subscribe button.
- There's another setting here in the general section
of settings that if you turn off
your iPhone can break.
But before we talk about it,
we need to talk about how online security works.
- [David] Security works online by comparing the date
of the security certificate on the website
to the date on your iPhone.
- If your iPhone's date and time don't match,
then the website won't load.
- [David] Let's tap back to the general section of settings.
Scroll down and tap date and time,
and make sure the switch next is set automatically is on.
- Next, we'll talk about one
of the most fundamental features of an iPhone, texting.
- IMessage is Apple taking text messaging to the next level.
iMessages are in blue, text messages are in green.
- When you activate iMessage for the first time,
your phone number gets sent to Apple, so other iPhones
know to send you iMessages and not text messages.
If you turn off iMessage,
those messages have nowhere to go.
They just live on Apple servers
until you turn iMessage on again.
Let's head back to the main page of settings.
Scroll down and tap on messages
and make sure the switch next to iMessage is on.
- Why even have an iPhone if you aren't gonna use iMessage?
- I know Google hates iMessage.
- Google has been trying to shame Apple into adopting RCS,
which is their version
of a next generation text messaging platform,
which they actually kind of control,
but Apple is not going to do that.
- [David] Next we're gonna scroll down in messages
and take a look at the send as SMS
and MMS messaging switches.
- When send as SMS is on
your iPhone will send regular text messages,
which appear in green bubbles
when iMessage is unavailable.
It's a good idea to lead this on.
- MMS stands for a Multimedia Messaging Service.
It's things like photos and videos.
You definitely wanna be able to send those.
- And the most important reason to keep these switches on
is that if you turn them off,
you won't be able to text your friends with Android phones
because they don't have iMessage.
- And one more setting here in messages is group messaging.
When this is off, you can't have a text conversation
with more than one person.
- Let's move on to a different section
of the iPhone settings app and talk
about two of the most important systems services.
- [David] Tap back to the main page of Settings,
scroll up and tap Privacy & Security,
tap location services, scroll down,
keep scrolling,
tap on system services, and here we are.
- We have a lot of these settings turned off,
but there are two that you definitely wanna leave on.
The first is find my iPhone.
- If you have an AppleCare Plus theft and loss plan,
but find my iPhone isn't on.
Your phone won't be covered if you lose it
- A second, Emergency SOS.
Let's just read what Apple says about it.
- [David] When an emergency call is placed in addition
to location already provided to emergency services
your iPhone or Apple Watch will make supplementary data
available through the enhanced emergency data service.
- If you dial 911, they'll always get your location.
This gives emergency responders
more specific information about where you are.
Leave it on.
- These system settings can be confusing
and the settings app overall
can be a little bit tricky to navigate.
- That's why we created PDFs for our channel members,
so they know exactly which settings to turn off and turn on.
- To get those and a whole lot more,
click the join button below this video.
- Bad things happen to good iPhones
and that's why you should never turn off iCloud Backup.
- If your iPhone gets lost or smashed,
iCloud backup is a life saver.
You can get your phone up and running again
in just a matter of minutes.
We're gonna tap back to the main page of settings.
Scroll up and tap on your name at the top of the screen.
Then tap iCloud, tap iCloud backup,
and make sure the switch
next to back this iPhone is on.
If you don't have enough iCloud storage space,
there is a middle of the road solution.
Tap on your iPhone.
- [David] You'll see it's labeled this iPhone,
and turn off the switches next to the biggest apps.
Golf Battle, 483.2 megabytes, I don't think so.
Tap turn off.
- Or sometimes you might have to turn off
the switch next to iCloud photos.
In my opinion, even though it stinks,
iCloud is something worth paying for.
- These next two tips are all about protecting
your privacy when you're on a WIFI network.
Let's tap back to the main page of settings, tap WIFI,
and then tap on the blue eye next to your WIFI network,
that's the information button.
And make sure private WIFI address
and limit IP address tracking are on.
- Private WIFI address makes your iPhone
look like a different piece of hardware
on every different WIFI network by changing its Mac address.
No need to get technical there.
- Limit IP address tracking hides your IP address
from known trackers, like Google Analytics
to help keep you anonymous online,
but it's not a VPN like iCloud Private Relay.
- Right, iCloud private relay hides
your IP address everywhere,
but also has a nice way of breaking a lot
of websites that you wanna visit.
- Like sports betting websites.
In this next setting, it may sound obvious,
but it's really important.
- My dad turned off cellular data recently.
He has an unlimited data plan,
but he was concerned about overage charges.
Then he called me for help
because his phone stopped working when he went outside.
We won't get into his thinking in this video.
That's beyond the scope of what we can talk about.
- But cellular data is something you should leave on.
Let's tap back to the main page of settings.
Tap on cellular and make sure the submission
to cellular data is on at the top of the screen.
- Your iPhone almost always uses WIFI before cellular data,
if it's available, the only time you should turn off
cellular data is if you're traveling overseas.
- [David] Next, we're gonna tap on cellular data options
and take a look at the data roaming switch.
- I have Verizon and data roaming isn't a thing anymore,
so unless you have a cell phone plan from the 90s,
leave data roaming turned on.
- But you know what's still a thing.
And as relevant as ever, public safety alerts.
Let's head back to the main page of settings.
Scroll down and tap notifications and scroll all the way
to the bottom of this list and make sure Amber alerts
emergency alerts, and public safety alerts are on.
- Yes, there have been issues with this.
A few years ago, residents of Hawaii hid their children
in storm drains when they got an alert
about an incoming ballistic missile.
- That was bad, but the system has been fixed.
- This next setting is one Apple recommends leaving on
and we totally agree.
- [David] Let's tap back to the main page of settings.
Scroll down and tap accessibility.
Tap display and text size and scroll down
to the auto brightness switch.
- Turning off auto brightness can affect your battery life
and long-term display performance.
- People running into trouble when they max
out their iPhone's brightness
and just leave it on all day.
- And especially with the iPhone 14 Pro
in its 2000 nit display,
that'll drain your battery super fast.
- Let's turn on the switch next to auto brightness.
And to learn about more settings
Apple recommends leaving on,
check out our next video
that is appearing on the screen now.