What can you write on your phone's lock screen? Screen lock on Android: how to set it up? We protect our personal information from strangers: with a graphic key, fingerprint, PIN code and password. Which blocking method is the safest?

The iPhone is known to be a very useful thing, but it has hidden functions that many people are not even aware of. For example, not every owner of an Apple gadget knows that his phone contains a map of all the places he has visited, or that he can control the screen by turning his head.

Check out fifteen useful features that will make you a truly advanced iPhone user.

Re-entering the most frequently used text and phrases each time is a very annoying procedure.

In order to, say, not constantly enter the same email address, the iPhone can be taught hints. The user can type, for example, “soap”, and the entire address will appear on the screen. To do this you need to go to the menu “ Settings", In chapter " Basic" choose " Keyboard" and click on the item " Replacing text».

Click here + in the upper right corner, in the field Phrase enter the full phrase (in our case [email protected]), and in the Abbreviation field, enter the desired abbreviation, for example “soap”. Now, when writing the word “soap” in the text, iOS will offer to replace it with an email address [email protected].

In this way you can easily enter, for example, passport data, full name, etc. Try it, it's very convenient.

How to add and change the order of virtual keyboards

Try using, for example, one of the third-party keyboards below:

You can activate the new keyboard after installing it using the following path: Settings ->Basic -> Keyboard -> Keyboards -> New keyboards.

To use the keyboard, you must give it full access to iOS. To do this, click on the name of the keyboard and move the switch to the ON position, then confirm your intentions by selecting the option Allow.

The order of keyboards in the list can be changed by clicking on the " Change" in the upper right corner. This will allow you to know exactly which keyboard will appear next when switching.

You can switch the keyboard by clicking on the globe icon in the lower left corner or in the settings of the active keyboard.

How to turn off calls and notifications at night or at lunchtime

The "" function allows you to turn off sound signals for calls, alerts and notifications that come to a locked device. The user can schedule a time or select subscribers whose calls are allowed to receive.

In order to activate the function, you need to go to the menu “ Settings" and select " Manually».

This can also be done in Control Center by clicking on the crescent moon icon.

How to control iPhone with your head

You can activate the device control function using head movements by going to Settings -> Basic > Universal access-> and selecting Add new... In chapter Switches.

How to hide some unused native apps that can't be deleted

The iPhone comes with dozens of pre-installed applications that the user cannot remove. This is quite inconvenient, considering that many of them will hardly be used. Be that as it may, some unused applications can be removed from the home screen.

To do this you need to go to " Settings" and in the section " Basic" choose " Restrictions" Then you need to enter a password and specify which icons should be hidden from the home screen.

Unfortunately, you can only hide application icons: Safari, Camera, FaceTime, iTunes Store, Podcasts and News.

How to make the flash light up when making calls, receiving messages and notifications

Many iPhone users who like indicator lights for messages in old phones, they don’t even realize that they can activate this function in an Apple gadget. This can be done by going to Settings -> Basic ->Universal access -> Flash warnings.

How to set different vibration for individual contacts

You can find out who is calling not only by the ringtone, but also by the vibration sound. In order to set a specific vibration for individual contacts, you need to go to Settings -> Sounds -> Ringtone -> Vibration -> Create vibration.

You can set the vibration pattern by tapping on the screen. The created sample must be named and saved.

This vibration will be automatically set by default for all notifications, so before exiting the menu, you must return to the previous settings - option Not selected.

In order to set a specified vibration for a specific person, you should go to the list of contacts, select the required one, press the button Change and indicate the saved template in the “ Vibration».

Replying to messages from the lock screen is very simple - just swipe left on the message, thereby activating the " Answer».

You can find out the most energy-consuming applications by going to Settings ->Battery -> Battery usage.

iPhone saves data about all visited places and creates a hidden map. In order to view it, you need to go to Settings -> Confidentiality ->Location services and choose System Services -> Frequently visited places.

All places visited by the user are sorted by city. After clicking on the name of the city, a map will open with an exact indication of the location and time of its visit.

How to enable power saving mode

Power saving mode can help extend the life of your iPhone battery. When the battery level drops to 20%, a notification appears asking you to enter low power mode. However, it can be activated even if the smartphone is fully charged. To do this you need to go to the application " Settings" and select the section " Battery" When the power saving mode is turned on, the battery level indicator turns yellow.

To save battery, non-essential features such as background app updates, Siri and some resource-intensive video effects are disabled.

Power saving mode turns off automatically when the device reaches 80% charge.

How to view selfies and screenshots in separate Photos app albums

This may be news to some, but the iPhone automatically saves pictures taken with the front camera and screenshots separately from the rest.

In order to quickly view the media files sent in the message (photos, videos, coordinates), just click on the “ Details" in the upper right corner.

You can specify the location in the message in the menu " Details" The mark is set indefinitely, for example, for an hour or until the end of the day.

How to reduce the screen brightness level to a level lower than that suggested in the settings

Few people know that by triple-clicking on the display you can reduce the brightness in a way that the standard settings do not allow. This makes using your smartphone at night much more convenient. You can activate the triple tap function as follows. Choose Settings -> Basic -> Universal access ->Increase and in the subsection Magnification area check the box Whole screen.

After triple-tapping the screen with three fingers (you need to touch quickly), a menu will appear in which you need to click on “ Select filter" and check the box next to " Weak light" Now you can reduce the brightness below the minimum set by Apple by triple tapping the screen.

Your smartphone's lock screen is something you use countless times every day.

If configured correctly, it will protect you from nosy friends, colleagues - not to mention potential hackers.

On most Android smartphones, you can enable unlocking using a swipe, a pattern, or by entering a PIN or password.

You can also choose not to lock your screen, although this puts you at risk.

Selecting an unlock method

To set or change your lock screen, go to Settings, Security, and tap Screen Lock.

You will need to confirm your current PIN, password or pattern.

You can then choose a swipe, pattern, PIN or password.

On the main security screen, if you have selected a pattern, you can choose whether to show the pattern after unlocking or not. Hiding it adds an extra layer of security when you open your phone in public.

If you have Android Lollipop, Marshmallow, or Nougat, you'll also need to decide how you want your notifications to appear on your lock screen: show all, hide sensitive content, or not show at all.

Hiding sensitive content means you'll see you have a new message, but won't see its contents until you unlock your phone.

For all methods, you can customize the message on the lock screen. If you lose your phone and good man finds it, he will be able to read it on the screen where it can be found.

Smartphones with fingerprint sensors can also unlock the home screen.

Your fingerprint can also be used to authorize purchases and log into apps. Depending on the device, you can add multiple fingerprints so trusted people can also open your phone.

Lock your phone using Android Device Manager

Enabling Android Device Manager is a smart move.

If your phone is lost or stolen, you can track it, make calls, block it, or erase all data.

You'll need to go into your Google settings (either in Settings or in the separate Google Settings app, depending on your model.)

On Google, go to Security and enable “remotely locate this device” and “allow remote lock and wipe.”

Keep in mind that if you want to find it, you'll have to turn on location services while the phone is still in your hands.

If you lock your phone remotely and don't have a PIN, password, or pattern, your lock screen will be replaced with the password you set from Device Manager.

You can also add a message and a button to call the specified phone number.

Using a third-party lock screen

If the built-in options aren't enough for you, there are plenty of third-party apps to choose from, including AcDisplay, GO Locker, SnapLock Smart Lock Screen, and Solo Locker.

Such apps offer alternative ways to lock and unlock your phone, view notifications, and the ability to customize background images and themes.

Snap Smart offers additional functions, including weather and calendar widgets, as well as the ability to control music apps directly from the lock screen.

This shell for Android was created, oddly enough, by Microsoft employees. They made the lock screen functional and at the same time beautiful and convenient. Picturesque can show the weather, news on topics that interest you, calendar events and, of course, notifications. The contents of the latter, by the way, can be hidden from outsiders. Plus, the application automatically installs on the lock screen different wallpapers from the database search engine Bing.

2. LokLok

LokLok is a kind of messenger for exchanging messages directly on the lock screen. With its help, you can write text, add a photo or draw a picture, which will immediately appear on the lockscreen of your interlocutor. This turns the screen of a locked smartphone into a shared board for two or more people to share their notes and doodles in real time.

3. Corgi for Feedly

The creators of this program have calculated that every day the user sees the lock screen on average 110 times. And they offer us not just to contemplate the beautiful picture of the lockscreen all this time, but to read interesting news. The feed is generated based on your subscriptions in the Feedly service. In the future, the developers promise to integrate update feeds from Instagram and VKontakte into Corgi.

4. ZUI Locker

ZUI Locker focuses on privacy protection and customization options. You can hide the text of messages and edit the list of programs whose notifications will be displayed on the lock screen. In addition, ZUI Locker allows you to change the design and select programs and functions that will be available from the lockscreen. You can also choose a wallpaper for your lock screen and include cool animations for it.

5. Solo Locker

This lockscreen can be useful for forgetful users thanks to photo password hints. You can use pictures as a background for the numbers that are displayed on the lockscreen for entering a combination. So, you can mark the necessary numbers, for example, with photographs of loved ones, and fill in the rest with photographs of strangers. This way, you only have to remember the input sequence, which is much more difficult to forget.

What lock screens do our readers use?

10 years ago, to do 10 things, you needed 10 different devices. Today, many things for us have been replaced by the smartphone. We call, write, watch TV, read media and even pay using our smartphone. But that's not all.

We found a few more useful tools from your smartphone, which can help you in your daily life.

Inscription on the lock screen

• You have lost your phone, and the screen, of course, is locked with a pattern. Secret code Only you own it. It would seem that there is no hope for the return of your favorite gadget. It turns out that there is! In new versions of Android, you can add a message to the lock screen and, for example, ask to return the gadget.
• “Settings” - “Screen lock and passwords” - “Signature on the lock screen”. You can leave anything - a backup phone number or e-mail.

Guaranteed return of a lost smartphone

• If the inscription is small, then you can play it safe. Anti-theft class applications will help. They have a wide range of actions. For example, Cerberus can secretly take pictures with a camera, activate a microphone, lock a smartphone and/or delete data from it, find out its coordinates, or sound a loud alarm to attract the attention of others.

Memory saving mode

• Sooner or later, your smartphone's memory will let you down. To avoid this, you can use a flash drive, cloud services like Dropbox, or upload photos to your computer. Or you can be original and upload the photo to Telegram Messenger.
• Telegram allows you to send files, messages, and links to yourself. It can be freely used both as cloud storage and as a notebook. Just find your own number and text as much as you like.

Security system from a smartphone

• One of the options for using an old smartphone is to create a simple security system for your home. Motion sensor app will turn your smartphone into a surveillance camera that takes pictures whenever someone appears in the frame. Photos are sent to you immediately.
• Also You can use your smartphone as a baby monitor for your child(in this case, you will need an application that responds to noise). But remember that for real safety it is better to use special devices.

DVR

• Another one useful feature using a smartphone camera - video recorder. The smartphone must be secured so that the camera has maximum visibility. For maximum effect You can use applications that are designed to turn your smartphone into a DVR.
• Of course, we are not talking about using it all the time (for this it is better to buy a good DVR). But this is useful, for example, in cases where you rent a car on a tourist trip or use car sharing.

Access to the magic menu

• If you take your phone very seriously and spend a lot of time with it, then there is nothing wrong with giving it a detailed customization. To do this, you need to go to the “Developer Menu”.
• Settings - “About phone” - tap 7 times on the “Build number” item. Congratulations, you are now a developer! This menu has many options to improve performance, call quality and appearance systems.

Ultraviolet detector

• An ultraviolet detector is not only fun, but also useful. For example, you can use it to check banknotes for authenticity. You can do it at home with tape, a couple of markers and a smartphone.
• You will need a smartphone with a flash (flashlight), purple and blue markers and tape. Place a piece of tape on the flash, paint it with a blue marker, add another layer of tape on top, paint it with purple, then add two more layers in the same sequence. Ready!

Construction level from a smartphone

• Smartphones have long been equipped with an accelerometer and a gyroscope - sensors that allow you to determine the position of the device in space. By downloading the application for Android or iOS, you can replace a standard construction spirit level with it. At least for small household needs, it is definitely suitable. For professional construction it is better to use a separate tool.

It seems that the locked screen is an obstacle to accessing the smartphone. However, as it turns out, a selective patterned lock can be cracked in just 90 seconds, and to bypass fingerprint security you'll need an inexpensive dental composite and some Play-Doh.

There are five ways to lock the screen on Xiaomi. Let's look at the features of each of them in detail.

Password and PIN

The most popular and effective smartphone protection. The user can create a PIN code of at least 4 digits or a password consisting of upper and lower case letters, special characters and numbers. It's not easy to guess unless we apply some of the most common combinations such as qwerty, asdf, 1234 or 1111, dates, names or names.

Despite the high effectiveness of such a password, one smart user discovered a vulnerability that allowed access to a password-protected Android 5.x smartphone.

Just launch the Camera app and then enter a very long string on the emergency call screen. This caused the device to temporarily freeze and then become completely unusable. This vulnerability was fixed when the system was updated, but from time to time new methods appear that help to bypass the password lock (i.e., unlock the phone without knowing the password) or PIN code.

With this method, unlocking your device requires you to place your finger on the screen in a given pattern in a nine-dot box. The pattern should be from 4 to 9 points. This gives about 150 million possible combinations. However, in practice, users only use a fraction of this number, so the method itself is not as secure as it might seem.

According to a survey of mobile security experts, one in four Xiaomi smartphone protected by one of the 15 most popular graphic keys. In theory, this means that it could take up to 90 seconds for an attacker to unlock a smartphone.

Iris scanning

The peculiarity of each person’s iris is its unique location and unchanged over the years. This allows the iris, like a fingerprint, to be used as biometric security.

To scan the iris of the eye, a special module and an LED illuminating the face are used infrared light. The scanning process is very fast - unlocking the smartphone in this way takes less than a second.

Unfortunately, despite the apparent high level security, this method was very quickly hacked. For the hacker hiding under the nickname Starbug, a correctly created photograph of an eye and contact lens, applied to it. Last Samsung Galaxy An S8 equipped with an IRIS scanner was successfully unlocked using this approach.

Therefore, Xiaomi did not use such protection technology in new smartphone models.

Fingerprint

A fingerprint scanner is nothing new in the world of technology, but it has only recently gained popularity in the consumer market. The role is to identify the user following the unique pattern of grooves and ridges on the fingertip. Every person in the world has their own unique pattern.

However, the fingerprint scanner, like any other security, does not provide 100% protection. It is enough to buy an inexpensive dental composite and you can gain access to the user’s palm. In 2014, hackers managed to print the fingerprint of the German defense minister based on a photograph published on the Internet.

Smart Lock

As a curiosity, you can change the method, which protects your smartphone and does not require you to enter a PIN code or draw a pattern every time you want to use it.

Android smartphone users can use the Smart Lock option, which allows them to automatically unlock the device in certain situations. The smartphone remains unlocked:

• when the device detects that it is near the body,
• when in a certain place,
• if within range of a specific Bluetooth device,
• when it detects the user’s face or voice command (unlocking a smartphone by voice).

These features work thanks to the accelerometer, Bluetooth, GPS and front camera. Additional protection– automatically turns on the screen lock after 4 hours of inactivity.

How to protect your smartphone?

To protect your smartphone, do not use simple patterns (shape patterns) to lock your screen. Avoid references to names, dates, and common words when using PINs and passwords.

Disable all functions that allow you to give access to your smartphone to a third party. And the best thing is to use double protection and minimize the number of unsuccessful unlocking attempts

What is the safest locking method?

As you can see, none of the above screen lock methods guarantee complete security of our data. To avoid being an easy target, you need to use a complex password and follow it yourself important rule: safety is more important than comfort! Use complex passwords rather than convenient graphic keys.