Staying Up To Date & Secure

Computer scams, privacy concerns, and security issues are in the news almost every day. Staying safe and secure online takes a little bit of diligence but it’s worth the effort because the amount of work you’ll have if you are hacked is much, much worse. Previously, I talked about how using strong passwords is one key to staying secure. Another important way to stay secure is to make sure you keep your devices up to date. Luckily, this is easier than it has been in the past.

Stay Up To Date

Updating your devices is a pain, I know. Updates take time to install and the alerts pop up at times when it’s just not convenient to do the installation. However, these updates almost always include important security updates that fix issues that could be used to gain access to your data or devices. Staying up-to-date is really the most important way to stay safe and secure. So, as a general rule:

ALWAYS INSTALL UPDATES

This is pretty easy to do these days because the latest operating system (iOS 12) can automatically install updates for you. That way you don’t have to think about it. To make sure this is turned on, go to Settings on your iPhone or iPad, and then tap General and then tap Software Update:

If Automatic Updates is listed as off, tap on it and then tap the switch to turn it on:

Note: If you have an update that hasn’t yet been installed, then the screen will look something like this:

In that case, after you turn on automatic updates as described above, your device will automatically install this update for you later, or you can tap Download and Install if you want to install it now.

All Set!

Your device will now install operating system updates at night without your needing to tell it to. It must be connected to WiFi and plugged in to power before it will do this, so I suggest always plugging in your device before bed. That way it will have a full charge in the morning, and if needed, it will install updates.

App Updates

Along these same lines, your device can also automatically update any apps that you have installed, but this is a separate setting. This setting is usually already turned on, but just to make sure, head back to Settings and tap iTunes & App Store and verify that Updates is turned on. If not, just tap the switch.

Always Up to Date!

With these settings, your device will keep everything up to date automatically. It’s one less thing you have to manage and, more importantly, one less thing to worry about.