A privacy checklist for your second phone

A second phone is easy to forget about, and forgotten phones are where security slips. Here's a short checklist to run through once. It takes ten minutes.

On the second phone

1. Screen lock on. A PIN or password, not just a swipe. Anyone who picks up the phone shouldn't be able to read your codes.
2. Updates installed. Settings → System → Software update. Old phones still get important fixes for a while.
3. SIM PIN. Set a PIN on the SIM itself, so it can't be moved to another phone and used.
4. Only the apps it needs. Remove apps you never use on that phone; fewer apps, fewer permissions.
5. Lock-screen previews off. Hide message contents on the lock screen, since codes arrive by text.

On the iPhone

1. Face ID or a strong passcode. Your iPhone now shows the second phone's texts too.
2. Notification previews "When Unlocked". Settings → Notifications → Show Previews.

With iTell

1. Pair in person, only with your own phones. The QR code is valid for five minutes and only one iPhone can be paired at a time.
2. Unpair what you don't use. Sold or lost a phone? Unpair it on the Android phone and free its seat in your account.
3. Send logs only when you need help. Diagnostic logs are sent only when you press send, after you've seen what's inside, with numbers and texts removed on your phone first.

Why this matters

With iTell, your calls and texts travel only between your two phones, encrypted, with no server in between. That makes the phones themselves the place to protect. A locked screen and a SIM PIN close the most common gaps.

More on how iTell protects the link: security.