Users and Apple say the iPhone is the safest smartphone out there, but you can make it safer still.
Start with the log-on. Do you use a fingerprint? You should. Joy initially had difficulties getting her Android phone to recognize her index finger. The solution was to use more fingers. Now she uses her middle finger to get into the phone, and this one rarely misses. (No comments, please.) If you have an iPhone X, you can use your face instead of a fingerprint. It's rumored that all iPhones coming out this fall will have Face ID. It's inevitable.
What about a hacker breaking into your iCloud account on the Web? It's a good idea to set up "two-factor identification." If you Google that phrase, along with "iPhone," (or Android if that's what you use), you can find simple instructions for setting it up. With two-factor ID, you'll need a code that was just emailed, phoned, or texted to you, as well as your password, whenever you're logging on from a new machine. This stops the bad guy or girl in their tracks.
There is a device called GrayKey, which its maker claims can crack any iPhone password or code. It comes in two versions, one for $15,000 and one for $30,000, used by some police departments and presumably some government agencies. An Israeli firm, Cellebrite, will crack a cellphone code for you for $5,000 a pop. That's plus airfare, because you have to take the phone to Israel.
If it's installing phone apps you're worried about, try the free Malwarebytes mobile app for iPhone or Android, which blocks anything suspicious. In our test, it tagged an app called Lost Android, so we removed it. If we ever lose our phone and it isn't in range of Alexa or our Google Home speaker, either of which can make our phone ring to announce its location or its address, we can go to MyAccount.Google.com and click "find my phone."
BOOK SHOUT
Joy has a bookstore habit and buys more books than she reads. A free app called BookShout fixes that.
BookShout sets a daily goal for you, with a progress bar that moves along as you're reading a book. After reading just 1,000 words, Joy got a congratulatory email. After 5,000 words, she received 50 cents in BookShout bucks. The first day, she ranked 1,535th among her friends, but quickly moved up to 534th a few days later. It's all so gratifying, she might just finish a book called Only Humans Need Apply, which chronicles the rise of robots. (These robots can also read books, though their reviews are somewhat mechanical.)
To start, either download the app from the app store onto your phone, or go to bookshout.com to read books on your computer. We compared BookShout's e-book prices with Amazon's and found them to be identical. BookShout also has a category called "free books."
INTERNUTS
MrOwl.com lets you save your favorite websites to a page that others can see. If they like your collections or you like theirs, you can "heart" them. We clicked "history" and learned that a Union commander in the Civil War issued orders freeing the slaves in South Carolina, Florida and Georgia, though this was well beyond his authority. The orders were rescinded by President Abraham Lincoln 10 days later.
RECOVERING PHOTOS ON YOUR IPHONE
We don't own an iPhone, but the site Comparitech.com gave us some good tips for recovering photos from one.
First, open the Photos app on your iPhone. Look at the bottom right-hand corner of the screen and tap "Albums." Scroll down and look at "Recently Deleted," which has all the photos you deleted in the past 30 days. Your lost photo might be there. Now tap "Select" in the upper right and choose the photos you want back. Then tap "Recover."
Next, try logging on to iCloud.com. Your photos may have been automatically backed up there. Tap "Photos" to see everything saved. If your storage is full, use the iTunes app to back up your photos to your computer. If you've done this regularly, you can recover any lost photo.
HEY GOOGLE!
If you have the Google Home speaker, you no longer have to say "Hey Google," every time you want its attention. If eight seconds or less have passed since your last question, you can just ask a follow-up, which doesn't have to be related to the first one.
But first you have to set this up. Go to the Google Home app on your phone. Look for the three stacked lines called the "hamburger icon" or the word "Menu." Tap it, then tap "More Settings." Tap "Preferences" and turn on "Continued Conversation." While you're there, tap "Getting Around" and tell Google how you usually get around -- car, public transportation, walking, biking, jet pack, etc. The next time you ask for directions, the Google assistant will tailor her response to your preferred mode of movement.
Bob and Joy Schwabach can be reached by email at [email protected] and [email protected].
Business on 08/18/2018