If you ever find yourself worried about someone trying to use your face or fingerprint to unlock your iPhone without permission—like if someone tries to hold the phone up to your face to activate Face ID, or forces you to place your finger on the Touch ID sensor—you can protect yourself using a technique called Hard Lock.

Activating Hard Lock on an iPhone disables biometric unlocking methods such as Face ID and Touch ID, requiring a passcode to unlock the device instead. This could be useful in certain situations, such as when traveling through international borders or during interactions with law enforcement.

Many iPhone users are unaware of this feature, but it's actually very simple to perform. Best of all, you can trigger it discreetly without even taking your iPhone out of your pocket.

How to Hard Lock an iPhone

• For iPhones with Face ID: Press and hold the Side button along with either Volume button for approximately 2-3 seconds

You’ll notice a haptic vibration, and the screen will display the “Slide to Power Off” and Emergency options.

Since all it takes is pressing and holding the Side and Volume buttons until you feel the vibration or see the shutdown screen, you can do this easily from your pocket, purse, or bag.

This is a useful trick that every iPhone owner should be familiar with. DaringFireball recently brought attention to it, offering the following suggestion:

“The second thing is to know your rights. Never hand your phone over to a police officer or anyone who resembles one, including TSA agents. If they say you must, don't comply—they may lie to you. If they really want your phone, they’ll take it. But they won’t get anything from it because you’ll have already hard-locked it, and you’ll remember that you’re not obligated to provide your passcode.”

DaringFireball also pointed out a recent incident where someone's iPhone was unlocked using Face ID by authorities, giving them complete access to the device’s data.

So, if you're concerned about unauthorized biometric access to your iPhone, it's worth learning how to use the hard lock method. You can activate it secretly while it's still in your pocket or bag. Alternatively, you can simply choose not to use Face ID at all, which means you'll just enter your passcode manually each time you unlock your iPhone, similar to how older models functioned before biometric features were introduced.

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