Why Turning Off Your iPhone for 5 Minutes Does Not Enhance Your Security

Mobile device security is a topic that should not be taken lightly. In an increasingly digital world, our iPhones store a significant amount of personal and private information, making them attractive targets. Therefore, it is important for us to take the necessary steps to protect our data and ensure that it remains ours. However, can something as simple as turning off the iPhone for five minutes a day make it more secure?

iOS 16 DOWNLOAD

A recommendation that does not apply to the vast majority of phones

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese recently proposed this idea, arguing that it is a simple and effective way to prevent cyber risks. This statement is based on a 2020 guide from the United States National Security Agency (NSA), which suggests that rebooting the iPhone once a week can “sometimes” prevent attacks from certain exploits. However, the NSA clarified that these recommendations were intended for the intelligence community, not the general public, which Albanese did not specify in his recommendation.

When we talk about these types of attacks, we are referring to highly specific threats that are expensive to develop and generally targeted at individuals or specific groups, not the average iPhone user. As security expert Troy Hunt pointed out on Twitter, shutting down the phone for five minutes every night may be helpful in preventing these sophisticated attacks, but it is not a security measure that the general population needs to take.

That being said, even a reboot cannot eliminate all threats. We have seen, for example, Pegasus, a spyware that, after successfully jailbreaking the device, installs a hidden tracking application that provides access to all information. A reboot has no effect against this surveillance because the application itself restarts and continues to function.

With the understanding that we are talking about highly targeted and precise attacks against individuals of high political or military interest, Apple offers a much more robust solution for users who could be targets of these attacks: the Lockdown Mode. This feature is available on all iPhones with iOS 16 and later versions and includes extreme protections to limit exposure to zero-click exploits—those that do not require any user interaction. However, according to Apple itself, “very few users” should have Lockdown Mode enabled on their iPhones, as it is intended for those who “may be personally targeted by some of the most sophisticated digital threats.”

In this regard, while Albanese’s suggestion is not necessarily incorrect, it lacks the clarification that it is not suitable advice for all iPhone users. Shutting down the iPhone for five minutes a day is not a requirement for the majority of users, and doing so does not necessarily make the device more secure.

Furthermore, strictly adhering to this advice could even create a false sense of security. A user might think that simply turning off their phone every night adequately protects their device and data when the reality is quite different.

Apple already incorporates a series of security features in its operating systems—several new ones in iOS 17, such as Safari’s anti-tracking feature or the ability to securely share passwords—that protect users on a daily basis. Examples include using Face ID for payments and other transactions, where information is stored in the Secure Enclave, a secure and physically isolated section of our iPhone’s chip. The same rules apply to the App Store and the review process for applications, preventing abuse of the system, and end-to-end encryption—ensuring that even Apple cannot access the information—applies to iCloud data, Health, Passwords, and other sensitive information.

Nevertheless, there are effective measures that users can take to improve the security of their devices, such as using strong and unique passwords, keeping the operating system up to date at all times, being selective about the apps we install, and especially the permissions we grant them (which can be reviewed in Settings > Privacy), as pointed out by Hunt.

iOS 16 DOWNLOAD

Therefore, we can forget about turning off the iPhone for five minutes a day. It is much more important to understand and utilize the security and privacy tools that Apple provides and to practice good digital security habits. Often, it is something as basic as granting access to our photo library to an app where we unwittingly give away a significant amount of information. When it comes to security, every little detail matters. With all that said, let’s be clear that our iPhone does much more than we imagine to keep our information secure.

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