A ten-minute pass
Your phone leaks more than you think, and nearly all of it is fixable from the Settings app. Nothing to install for the first eleven.
They are in order on purpose — the first five matter most. Tick them off as you go.
The text of a message shows on your lock screen by default. Anyone glancing at your phone on a table reads it without touching anything.
Settings › Notifications › Show Previews › When Unlocked
Control Centre, Wallet and replying to messages all work while the phone is locked unless you say otherwise. Turn off the ones you never use from the lock screen.
Settings › Face ID & Passcode › Allow Access When Locked
Without this, the phone can be unlocked by holding it up to your face while you're asleep.
Settings › Face ID & Passcode › Require Attention for Face ID
If someone watches you type your passcode and then takes the phone, this is what stops them changing your Apple Account password and locking you out.
Settings › Face ID & Passcode › Stolen Device Protection
Long-press any app icon and require Face ID to open it. Works for banking, messages, notes, anything you'd rather not have opened by whoever is holding the phone.
Long-press the app icon › Require Face ID
Photos carry the coordinates of where they were taken, and that travels with the file when you share it. Strip it from the share sheet before you send.
Share sheet › Options (top of the screen) › Location off
Most apps ask for your whole library when they need one picture. You can change this for apps you already said yes to.
Settings › Apps › [the app] › Photos › Selected Photos
Hidden is the first place anyone looks, and deleted photos sit in Recently Deleted for 30 days. Make both ask for Face ID.
Settings › Apps › Photos › Use Face ID
Your iPhone keeps a dated list of everywhere you regularly go. It's encrypted, but it's there, and anyone with your passcode can read it.
Settings › Privacy & Security › Location Services › System Services › Significant Locations
One switch that makes every app ask first, and cuts off the ones that never bothered to.
Settings › Privacy & Security › Tracking › Allow Apps to Request to Track
Turn it on, use your phone normally for a week, then look. It lists which apps opened your camera, mic and location, and which servers they talked to. It is usually a surprise.
Settings › Privacy & Security › App Privacy Report
Everything above protects your phone from strangers. None of it helps when you hand your unlocked phone to someone who asked to see a photo — and that is the moment it actually happens.
That's the gap Photo Vault fills: a separate gallery behind its own passcode, a separate lock on every album, and the app switching away the second you put the phone face down.
Get Photo Vault on the App Store