How to Safely Lend Someone Else Your Phone

People who want to borrow your phone include the nephew who wants to play games for a few minutes, the friend who wants to see your vacation snaps, and the stranger who needs to make a call.

Privacy and security are at risk if you think about everything that your phone gives you access to: social media profiles, banking details, instant messenger conversations, photos and videos, and so on.

It's possible to give your phone to someone else without having to worry about what they will do with it. Before the exchange takes place, you need to take a few precautions.

It's an iPad

David Nield works for Apple.

You can enable Guided Access on the iPhone if you open up the settings and choose accessibility and Guided Access. The Guided Access feature is ready to go if you turn the Guided Access switch on.

If your phone doesn't have a home button or side button, you need to triple-tap it. You're able to restrict access to the volume buttons and the software keyboard if you choose to do so. You can limit Guided Access mode by turning off the Touchscreen function. Guided access is launched by tapping start.

If you triple-tap the button on your device, you'll be able to launch Guided Access, but you need to open up the app in question first. When you get out of Guided Access with another triple-tap of the same button, you have to set a password.

There's no way to switch apps, open up the Control Center, or even turn the phone off if you don't have a password. If you show someone your photos, they'll be able to see all of them inside the app.