Small settings, big difference: an online safety spring clean

Reading Time: 3 minutes 

August is Women's Month, and there is no shortage of advice out there about staying safe online. 

Here are six settings you can change on your phone before your coffee gets cold. None of them require you to understand how the technicalities. All of them make it a little harder for someone to know more about you than you have chosen to share. 

1. Turn off the location tag on your photos 

Every photo you take can carry a pin - the exact spot it was taken. Send a picture of your new lounge to a group chat and, depending on the app, you may be sending the address with it. 

iPhone: Settings → Privacy & Security → Location Services → Camera → Never. Android: open Camera, go to Settings, switch off Location tags. 

A few taps, done, and it applies to every photo from now on. 

2. Check who can see your WhatsApp profile photo 

By default, everybody can. That includes people who have your number but are not in your contacts - the plumber's cousin, the group chat you left in 2021, whoever bought the second-hand car you advertised. 

Go to WhatsApp → Settings → Privacy. Change Profile photo, About, Status and Last seen from Everyone to My contacts. 

3. Look at who you are still sharing your live location with 

Live location is one of the genuinely good inventions of the last decade. Sending your trip to a friend when you get into an e-hailing car at night, or letting someone track your journey home, is a real safety net. 

The problem is that these shares often outlive the reason for them. Somebody you dated in 2023 may still be able to see where you are. 

Check three places: WhatsApp (Settings → Privacy → Live location), Google Maps (Location sharing), and Find My on iPhone. Turn off anything you would not switch on again today and ensure only the people you choose can view it.  

4. Do the shared-account sweep 

When a relationship ends, the paperwork ends long before the logins do. Streaming profiles, a shared photo backup, a family location group, the online shopping account with your card saved on it. 

This is not about suspicion. It is admin, like closing a joint account. Change the password on anything that was ever shared, and switch on two-factor authentication so a password alone is not enough to access your account or information. 

5. Start with your email, not your passwords 

If you only do one thing on this list, do this one. 

Your email address is the master key. Almost every other account you own resets its password by sending a link to that inbox. Someone in your email is one click away from being in everything else. 

Put two-factor authentication on your main email account today. It takes about ninety seconds, and it does more for you than changing ten other passwords or trying to regain access once your account has been compromised. 

6. Learn the quiet exits 

Most people know one option: block. It works, but it is loud, and if the person is someone you have to keep seeing - a colleague, an ex, a buyer who will not take the hint - loud is not always what you want. 

There are softer tools: 

• Instagram Restrict limits someone's comments and messages without telling them anything has changed.
• WhatsApp lets you block without any notification going out; they simply stop seeing your updates.
• Mute on most platforms removes someone from your feed while leaving the connection intact.

Nobody gets a notification. Nobody gets a confrontation. That is often the point. 

If it goes further than settings 

Sometimes a tidy-up is not enough, and it helps to know that South African law has caught up with this. Keep the evidence - screenshots with dates, message threads, numbers used - before you block or delete anything. 

Useful numbers: 

• GBV Command Centre: 0800 428 428, 24 hours. Dial *120*7867# for a call back, or SMS "help" to 31531.
• SAPS emergency: 10111.

And the connection underneath it all 

We spend our time making sure your fibre internet line is fast and keeps up with all the things you want it to do - and that includes feeling in control of what it carries in and out of your home.