A new phone is exciting — and it is also about to hold your email, photos, banking and the keys to nearly every account you own. Ten minutes of setup now makes it far harder for a thief or a lost-phone finder to get into your digital life. Our GetMyPassword team walks through how to secure a new phone, from the lock screen outward.
Start with a strong lock screen
Your screen lock is the front door. Skip a four-digit PIN in favour of a six-digit PIN or, better, an alphanumeric passcode, and add fingerprint or face unlock for convenience on top of it. Avoid obvious codes like 1234 or your birth year. This single step blocks the most common way phones get raided after being lost or stolen.
Turn on find-my and remote wipe
Enable Find My iPhone or Find My Device on Android right away. If your phone goes missing, you can locate it, lock it, or erase it remotely so your data does not fall into the wrong hands. Make sure automatic cloud backups are on too, so a wipe never means losing your photos and contacts.
Lock down apps and accounts
- Install only from official stores and review the permissions each app requests.
- Turn on automatic updates so security patches install themselves.
- Set up your password manager first, then sign in to everything from it.
- Enable two-factor authentication, and keep your authenticator app on the phone.
Your phone is now the master key to your accounts — it receives your reset emails and your login codes. Securing it is not optional; it is the foundation everything else sits on.
Fresh start, fresh passwords
A new device is the perfect moment to retire weak, reused passwords. As you sign in to each app, replace any shaky password with a strong, unique one from our password generator and save it in your manager. By the time setup is done, your new phone is not just shiny — it is genuinely secure.
Frequently asked questions
What is the first thing to do to secure a new phone?
Set a strong screen lock — a six-digit PIN or alphanumeric passcode plus biometric unlock — and enable find-my with remote wipe. These protect your data immediately if the phone is lost or stolen.
Is a fingerprint or face unlock secure enough on its own?
Biometrics are convenient and secure, but they always sit on top of a PIN or passcode, which is still required after a restart or if the biometric fails. So a strong underlying code matters just as much.
Should I turn on automatic updates on my phone?
Yes. Automatic updates install security patches that fix newly discovered vulnerabilities. Leaving them on is one of the easiest ways to keep your phone protected without having to think about it.