Regardless of where you fall on the ensuing encryption wars, it’s good sense to have a robust passcode on your phone these days. And with the advent of Touch ID, it makes having a complicated passcode in iOS much, much less of a tribulation.

touchIDandPasscode

“Sounds great! How do you set one up?” Here’s how:

  1. Go into Settings.
  2. Then head into “Touch ID & Passcode”.
  3. Type in your existing passcode. Tap the “Done” link in the upper right corner.
  4. On the next screen, scroll down a bit and tap “Change Passcode”.
  5. Type in your existing passcode. Tap the “Next” link in the upper right corner.
  6. On the next screen, before you start typing in a new digit-based passcode, tap the “Passcode Options” link instead.
  7. Then tap the “Custom Alphanumeric Code” option.
  8. Type in the new alphanumeric passcode that you want, followed by the “Next” link in the upper right corner to continue.
  9. Retype your new passcode in and click “Done” in the upper righthand corner.

Boom! That’s it! Not sure why this valuable option is so buried in the settings but, at least it exists.

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Extra Credit/Security:

For additional security on your device, you can set your phone to erase itself entirely after 10 botched attempts at logging in. It’s a lot easier to set that up too! Here’s how:

  1. Go into Settings.
  2. Then head into “Touch ID & Passcode”.
  3. Type in your existing passcode. Tap the “Done” link in the upper right corner.
  4. Scroll ALLLLL the way down to the bottom of the next screen and toggle the switch to the right of “Erase Data”.
  5. Bask in the confidence you now have, knowing that pretty much no one on the planet can break into your phone and look at your private data!

Now, get on out there and enjoy your way more secure iOS device!