iPhone 101: Protect your device with a passcode

So this has come up on the RSS feed again! Why TUAW? Your blurb says "It's bad enough that you left your iPhone at the post office. At least the shmoe who finds it won't be able to call China."

Yes they will!!! That was the point of so many comments on this howto, passcode lock WILL ONLY secure your data, not your phonebill. If I don't notice that I've lost my phone until the next day (say on a Saturday night after a few shandys) I'm going to be liable for as much £££'s as the crook has managed to rack up.

Apple REALLY need to fix this and sites like TUAW should be actively pointing out the flaw instead of promoting it (falsely) as a feature.

I have a question for anyone who may have an answer.

My school has a mobile web system which I can access via Safari on my iPod Touch. Because most of the academic sites here are accessed via personal or university certificates, it requires me to have a pass code. However, I find it extremely inconvenient when I am driving. I will usually just use my shuffle instead, but is there a way to use certificates with out a pass code? I'd really like to be able to drive using my iPod Touch when driving without causing a serious hazard while trying to change the song!

I forget my passcode of my iphone and i tried few times but the passcode is wrong and the display message in my iphone is "iphone is disabled connect to itunes", iam not able to use my iphone, please provide me all the possibilities of solutions to unlock my passcode to use my iphone.

Wow! I like the green background.... Which one is it ??

If your iphone is stolen call AT&T and suspend your number then no one can make calls. Personaly i like the emergencey call. I use it to call people more than actually going through my contacts

I still use an Edge iPhone and have found that, after upgrading to 2.x in July, I no longer have the option to turn the passcode off, the option has disappeared from Passcode settings. Not a big deal as I can stretch out the lock period to four hours but still strange. (Another, I presume, Edge/2.x-specific bug requires me to hit the "on" button twice to activate an inactive email; it never activates on the first try, always on the second).

I think one trade off might be the ICE information we are all encouraged to have o our phone - including the ICE app.

if a 4 digit pin isn't enough security, see my post on macosxhints for using the iPhone tools to create a long alpha numeric passcode. (I'd paste the link, but I'm posting this on my iPhone -- no copy and paste!!!)

Ok, as per the two above comments, this isn't a troll message. But I did just try to call any number from the emergency number menu when the phone was locked and yes it did call it. What a massive security hole!! Anyone who steals your phone can call whatever number they like and you will be charged, locked phone or not.

My old Nokia would just restrict people to certain emergency international phone number combos 911, 111, 000, 112 etc. Why does apple release such a great phone with so many simple easy to fix flaws in it.

Of course this adds another level of protection to your personal data but will it help you get your iPhone back once it's been taken? Well no, but here's another tip:

Put your phone number on your wallpaper and include a short message asking for whoever is in possession of your precious device to return it... you can even offer a reward. There's no guarantee you'll get your iPhone back but since they won't be able to do much else with it they might just consider giving it back (especially if there's money involved).