Most people know that if you enter an incorrect passcode into an iPhone a certain number of times in a row, the phone will lock for a few minutes. It’s a safety feature to keep your information safe from eyes who should not be seeing it. Well, there’s an even greater (optional) layer of protection hidden in the iPhone settings. To access it, you go to Settings -> General -> Passcode Lock, and at the bottom you will see an “Erase Data” toggle.

Turning this feature to “on” will cause the iPhone, if an incorrect passcode is entered 10 times consecutively, to erase it’s memory completely. I just activated this option on my iPhone. I have a lot of data, contact information, account info, schedules, to do lists, and other sensitive material on my phone, and having this feature really helps me worry less about that data leaking out if I ever lose the phone. Hardware is easy to replace. Information… not quite so much. In addition, I really don’t want others having that kind of access to my personal information, should the opportunity arise.

I think this is a great security feature to use, and it isn’t so easy to set off that you’ll be losing any data by accident. At the very least, if you have an iPhone, you should be using the 4-digit passcode at minimum to keep your phone and data secure.

Keep yourself, and your information, safe.