Nosotros often see people asking whether they are at risk of having their text messages read past 3rd-parties looking to steal their information. In this article we want to cover just how much of a risk it is to you as an iPhone user and what you lot can do to ensure you're fully protected against it.

Can someone spy on my text messages?

Yes, it's definitely possible for someone to spy on your text letters and it's certainly something you should be aware of – this is a potential way for a hacker to gain a lot of private data virtually you – including accessing PIN codes sent by websites used to verify your identity (such as online banking).

Hither's how someone might gain access to your text messages:

  1. They can steal or physically become hold of your iPhone and try to view them.
  2. If you lot backup or synchronize your phone to iCloud then anybody who has the details for that account, or even has their telephone continued to the aforementioned account (a family member, for case), could potentially see your personal text messages.
  3. If someone installs spyware onto your device, then they tin remotely access any of the data on your iPhone – including all of your text letters.

How can I stop someone reading my messages?

Luckily, there are a few methods you can utilise to prevent people reading your text messages:

Use a potent passcode.

This prevents anyone that steals your phone from accessing and reading your messages and makes information technology much harder for someone to guess your passcode. The longer your passcode, the better. According to this article about law hacking iPhone passcodes in the US, the best passcode length is between 9 and 12 characters.

Disable text bulletin forwarding.

This is a feature that allows other devices logged into the same iCloud account to receive iMessages. This is nifty if you are using multiple Apple devices, but if you are sharing your account with some other person or family member, this means that they will receive your messages on their device.

The best mode to combat this is to not share your account with anyone. It'due south much more secure for everyone to have their own accounts.

Alternatively, you tin can but disable text message forwarding past tapping Settings > Messages > Text Message Forwarding.

Turn off lock screen bulletin previews.

Having new message previews announced on the lock screen of your device is a potential security take a chance. This makes information technology very simple for someone to just read your text messages without fifty-fifty having to log into your iPhone.

To disable this feature, tap Settings > Notifications > Messages > Show Previews and change to 'Never' or 'When Unlocked'.

Use an anti-intruder app.

Apps such as iAntiTheft will let you to utilize an alert to grab or deter whatever would be snoopers from tampering with your telephone by using different triggers to find interference (eastward.g. when the device is moved or when the power cable is unplugged).

Enable two-cistron hallmark for iCloud.

Enabling this characteristic adds an extra layer of protection on elevation of just using a password. This feature requires whatsoever attackers to also have physical access to your device as any login attempts require inputting a unique code that is displayed on the device associated with the account.

This prevents any hacking attempts even if the attacker knows the account credentials.

Additionally, enabling this feature volition besides let yous to cake iCloud monitoring tools such as Highster – which is a commercially available spy service commonly used for monitoring backed-upwardly information from victim's iPhones.

Utilise security software to protect your device.

Sometimes the just style to fully protect yourself is by installing some protective software that will be able to check your device to ensure that nix malicious has been installed.

Software such as our own Certo AntiSpy is designed to protect you against outside threats and scan for whatsoever installed spyware on your device, along with whatsoever other signs of hacking.

Once you've scanned for whatever spyware on your device using Certo AntiSpy, keeping your iPhone updated, using a strong passcode and also enabling two-factor authentication volition get a long way towards keeping your phone strongly protected in the hereafter.

What virtually other data on my iPhone?

Alongside text messages, if a hacker manages to install spyware onto your device then there is virtually no limit to the amount of information they can excerpt, this can include:

  • Chat letters (Whatsapp, Facebook Messenger, etc)
  • Photos and videos
  • Web browser history
  • Online accounts (email, online banking, social media, etc)
  • GPS location (both live-view and a history of locations visited)
  • Telephone calls (once more, they tin can be accessed either live or recorded)
  • Login details for any apps installed on the device (dating apps, social media apps, etc)
  • So much more than

Every bit you can see, that's such a huge amount of information – enough that someone could do some serious impairment to your life and identity. That'south why here at Certo, nosotros're so passionate near helping our customers keep their phones protected.