Phone Medics

In the early days of the iPhone, users enjoyed service plans for AT&T (and later Verizon) that promised unlimited data. Unfortunately, it was too good to last. After a few years, the carriers decided that giving smartphone users unlimited data was either technologically problematic or insufficiently profitable (there’s some debate on this point), and they began to be replaced by limited data plans. Once that happened, we had to start worrying about how much data we used, because the last thing anybody wants is to burn through their monthly allotment and start being charged by the gigabyte. With that in mind, we’re going to spend the next couple posts talking about some of the ways you can manage your cell phone’s data usage, so that you still have some data left at the end of your month. In today’s post, we’re going to talk about how to handle data usage on your iPhone. Next time we’ll cover Android. Turn Off Wi-Fi Assist When you go looking for ways to reduce your data usage,...

A parent’s most important (and sometimes hardest) job is keeping their kids safe. That’s as true when they use technology as it is when they do anything else. With technology, though, the process can sometimes be tricky and confusing. It can be hard to know the best way to protect our kids from unsavory content on the internet, and our wallets from accidental in-app purchases. Fortunately, Apple offers some great options for managing your kids’ activity on their iPhone. In today’s post, we’ll walk you through some of those. Restrictions Your first line of defense is the Restrictions section of your iPhone’s settings app. You can find it by opening up Settings, tapping General, and then tapping Restrictions. When you turn restrictions on, you’ll be asked to set up a passcode. Of course, you’ll want to pick something that’s different from the passcode that unlocks the phone, and something the child who will be using the phone doesn’t know and won’t be likely to guess. Once you get i...

As more and more of our everyday life is lived online, passwords are becoming more and more important. You need a password for just about everything you do online, and a lot of things you do offline, too: social media, email, banking, shopping, logging into wifi, logging into your personal computer, logging into your work computer, and even unlocking your phone, if you’ve got a passcode lock. All these things require their own password. It can all be very difficult and confusing to manage. In today’s post we’re going to give you some tips and tools for creating strong passwords, keeping track of your passwords, and what to do if you forget a password. Good Password Practices First things first, we’re going to talk about some tips for creating and using strong passwords. The first and most important tip is pretty simple: don’t pick something that’s easy to guess. “Password” is a lousy password. Variations on your or your family members’ names aren’t great either. Those are all th...

Cell phones have taken an increasingly important role in people’s lives since they first started to see widespread adoption in the ‘90s. With the rise of the smartphone a decade ago, that process has accelerated, to the point that for many of us, our cell phones are vitally important tools for certain aspects of our lives. They’re the keeper of our calendar, our contacts, our family photos, they’re our means of communication with friends and family, how we find our way in a new place, and so much more. As our phones have taken on greater importance, the need to secure them has also grown. That’s why today’s post will be focusing on ways to secure your cell phone and its data. Keep Your Phone Backed Up The first step to securing your cell phone is keeping your data backed up. That may seem odd at first, since we don’t normally think of backups as a security feature, but think of it this way: what’s the most important thing on your phone? It’s the data, right? When we panic ove...