Your phone can be a valuable asset in the hand of anyone; there is a whole lot someone else can do on your mobile device. From the simplest of activities like scrolling through your phonebook to that which might rock your pocket/purse in some ways [especially if you are on low budget], your phone opens a vast avenue of opportunities through which a stranger or even a friend can infiltrate your life – this can be very devastating at times, I must confess. But you do not need to be a secret service agent before you take precautionary measures towards safeguarding what is yours. Here are some tips to help you secure your phone and/or valuable information:

  1. Formatting: We often do not get to think of formatting our mobile device until it starts acting up or loading slowly. But formatting is yet important to undertake before giving out your phone [as a gift] to another person. This will help you keep sensitive information from getting into ‘wrong hands’. However, before you go ahead with the formatting, you should make sure you have created a backup of the data saved on the phone. To effect the format, just locate the ‘factory data reset’ option and have the phone restored to the default setting. For Smartphones; switch off the phone and press down the power button and the volume up/down buttons – depending on the phone you use – at the same time and then select ‘clear data’.

  2. Using App Locks: There are an ample of software applications that you can use to lock the apps you have on your phone. These will not only keep prying eyes away but also stop strangers from accessing your prized asset (that is, your phone). Software applications like AppLock-Fingerprint, SpSoft AppLock and Perfect AppLock and so on will help you achieve this objective to a great extent. More so, this is a good way of keeping confidential information [available on your device] safe in case the phone gets stolen.

  3. Locking and unlocking your call credit with codes: This is quite simple and straightforward. To lock your credit, just dial

*33*0000#

if you want to unlock, dial

#330*0000#

and send.

To make it more personalized, you will have to create some sort of PIN [a 4-digit number] and then press

**03*330*0000*PIN*PIN#

and send.

For instance, let’s say the PIN you selected is 8342, it will appear like this:

**03*330*0000*8342*8342#.

Having done that, you can now proceed to lock your credit by dialling

*33*8342#

To cancel or deactivate the setting, dial

#33*8342#