iOS

Apple believes in your right to privacy. Here is some advice on how to use the tools it has given you to protect your privacy on an iOS device.

Use a better passcode

You probably already use a 4-digit passcode, but you can improve that with a 6-digit or alphanumeric code.

You change this in Settings>Touch ID/Face ID & Passcode, select Change Passcode and then tap the small Passcode Options dialog. Alphanumeric codes are harder to decipher, just make sure you remember the code.

To read this article in full, please click here

Apple has disabled Group FaceTime following discovery of a flaw that could potentially let people hear audio from other people’s devices without permission. What’s going on and what can you do about it?

The bug, in brief

A 9to5Mac report based on a video published to Twitter by @BmManski revealed that this flaw lets a user listen to audio captured using another person’s device before they accept or reject the call requesting a FaceTime chat. The problem only affects iOS devices running iOS 12.1 or later (pending an update).

To read this article in full, please click here

Many enterprises rely on zip files to exchange data, particularly confidential data – compression helps keep information safe, even against inquisitive ads trackers lurking inside “free” email or online storage services. How do you handle these things on iPad or iPhone?

How to handle zip files on iPhone

While it isn’t especially obvious, iOS provides some limited features that let you archive and decompress zip files. You can even create a nice little Shortcut to do this for you:

• Open Shortcuts, Tap Create Shortcut
• In the search bar, type Extract Archive: That shortcut should appear in the list below, tap it to add it to your workflow.
• Returning to the search bar, type Save File. When it appears tap it to add it to the workflow you are building.
• Tap the switch button at top right of the shortcut name
• In the next pane you can name the shortcut and give it an icon. The most important change you should make is to enable Show in Share Sheet (flick to green).
• You can create a second Shortcut to make archives. Just tupe Make Archive to find the relevant flow and then add Save File and Show in Share Sheet as decribed above. Don’t forget to give it a name, such as Make Archive.
• Shortcuts can work with multiple compression formats, including .tar, .zip and .iso.

How to use it:

To read this article in full, please click here

Enterprise security professionals will be pleased to learn that it will soon be possible to enhance the already considerable device security of Apple’s iPhones with hardware-based physical authentication dongles using the Lightning port.

A highly secure proposition

Announced at CES 2019, the key fits on a keyring and comes from the authorization experts at Yubico. The hardware connects to iOS systems using the Lightning connection and is also equipped with USB-C for Macs. This is quite a big deal.

To read this article in full, please click here