What Passwords You Should Have On Your Smart Devices & Why They Should Be There

 

Putting a password on one or more function on your mobile device is a good idea for more reasons than just theft protection. Theft protection is probable the first reason that comes to mind, but you will also want to consider it if you ever let your children use your device, or to make yourself think twice about your purchases. These extra steps in your routine will stop unwanted access and give you a second chance to consider your app purchases that can lower your bank account $0.99 at a time – and that adds up.

The first password you will want to put on your phone, iPod Touch, tablet, Kindle Fire, or other device is a lock screen password. This is a password that is required to even use the device at all. If you keep yourself logged into anything or save any other passwords on your smart device you will want to use a lock screen password. Should you lose your device, this will stop the random finder from accessing your Facebook, personal accounts, and even your bank account if you have them on your device.

The second password you will want to add to your device is a purchase password. This is the password that requires entering to download free or purchased apps, buy books for your device, or anything else you can auto purchase through your app store/marketplace. This is the password that is especially important if you let your child use your device. Almost every game, including free ones, that can be downloaded give upgrade options to purchase coins/credits/extras within the game and without this password in place all it takes is a tap by a child to access the credit card profile that the device requires you to add to your profile to get started.

If you buy device specific gift cards you can usually add those without adding credit card as well. They are a great way to limit how much can be accessed, but an extra step to get there. And even in this case it’s not a bad idea to have a password on it if it’s a child’s device, you will have to approve every purchase they make if you don’t give them the password. It helps you monitor what they are doing.

Another option to avoid those purchases is to put an empty pre-paid card on the profile.

The third password to set up is your parental controls password. There are some devices that ask you to set this up automatically, but don’t require to to put in the parental control settings. Several devices also allow you to set up separate profiles on the device so you can allow children to only have access to certain things you allow on the device. The parental control password allows you to access the profiles and make changes as needed, but stops the child from being able to switch profiles or make the changes themselves.

If it’s a child’s device you should consider not putting your credit card on it, requiring a purchase password so you can monitor and setting up the controls that limit time and types of things they can access the device. You will want to remember how to change the passwords, especially the lock screen one – this comes in handy if you you need to take the device away for a while – then even if they do manage to get their hands on it they can’t access it without the password.

Tips for your passwords. 

• Make them easy for you to remember, but not easy to guess. An easy to remember word with a series of numbers breaking it up usually works. Example: Favorite729Food
• Don’t use the same password for everything on the device. Some devices only allow pin codes one place and require letter number combinations in others, so they force you to have different ones anyway. Some don’t.
• Don’t use password apps or programs that you stay logged into. It’s one thing to have them to help you remember passwords, but staying logged in so they will automatically populate for you defeats the whole purpose.
• Don’t give the kids the password unless you want them to be able to bypass the controls you have put in place.
• Do make sure you know how to set and change the passwords and be sure to do from time to time or any time you think someone might have found it out.

Do you have any additional tips you would suggest?