Keep your iPhone safe!

Use a Password

To provide a first defense, guard your iPhone data with a password at Settings>General>Passcode Lock. Then enable the ‘Erase Data’ option which will wipe out all data on your phone after 10 failed passcode attempts.

Next, enable auto-lock at Settings>General>Auto-Lock. And to prevent anyone from secretly picking up your phone in the first place, install an anti-theft app like these ones.

Anti-theft and snoop detection alarm (Apple Appstore)

This app works based on the iPhone’s accelerometer. Once it is armed, any movement detected by the accelerometer will be interpreted as an attempt to swipe your iPhone.

Sensitivity is adjustable and just in case you trigger the alarm by mistake, there is a disarm sequence which is a pre-programmed sequence of taps that you define. Heaven help you if you forget the disarm code.

It works for the initial shock when the alarm is activated, but the disarm sequence is a joke: holding down the volume button will mute the alarm while pressing the Home button will shut down the app.

Motion Alarm (Apple Appstore)

This app has lots of different alarm tones ranging from a dog barking to police sirens.

It lets you set a motion sensitivity level such that even a brief touch is enough to trigger the alarm. A stealth mode option mutes the alarm but allows the app to secretly send its GPS coordinates to a preset e-mail address. Imagine the surprise of the thief when you show up at his doorstep.

This one is just as easy to disable: a quick tap on the Home button does the trick. The GPS notification does not work either.

MobileMe/iCloud (Apple)

This is more a suite of services than an app. The Find My iPhone feature in MobileMe is filled with bells and whistles.

From the MobileMe site, you can assign a passcode remotely (if you forgot to do it before) or set the phone to pop up a message (‘Hey, you! Gimme my phone back!’).

It will also estimate your handset’s current location on Google Maps. However, if you are still not sure where your iPhone is, you can remotely wipe out all data from prying eyes.

This is the most powerful of the security apps here since it can hide its presence from the thief and is impossible to disable unless the phone gets a hard reset.

iHound

It works almost like MobileMe except that without the passcode enabled, it is easily overcome.

Once you realise your phone is stolen, log on to the iHound website to send menacing messages (‘I have called the cops and I know where you are’) and sounds (car alarms) direct to your iPhone. While the crook is still trying to figure out your passcode, track him down by activating the GPS broadcast feature to find out where your iPhone is on Google maps.

As long as no one can break your passcode, iHound is pretty effective. The snag is that you must remember to activate it if you want to enable location tracking.

Or you have to pray that the menacing sounds and pop up messages are enough to trigger the phone bandit’s guilt.