Detailed view of the iPhone screen showing the settings app icon.

12 iPhone Settings to Check After Your Next iOS Update

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Your iPhone just installed an update, restarted, and everything looks the same — so it is tempting to assume nothing needs your attention. But an update is also the moment when new privacy controls arrive and a setting you changed months ago is worth a two-minute re-check. Here are the 12 settings worth checking, with the exact menu paths as they stand in the current version of iOS.

First, check which version you are running. As of 11 November 2026, the current iOS is iOS 27.2.1, released on 9 November 2026 for iPhone 11 and later. If your iPhone still shows iOS 26.x, you are on Apple’s older branch — iOS 26.7.3 was also released on 9 November 2026. Check your version at Settings > General > About.

1. Software Update and Automatic Updates

Go to Settings > General > Software Update > Automatic Updates and turn on Automatically Download and Automatically Install. Your iPhone will then download updates and install them overnight while charging and on Wi-Fi. Apple puts it plainly: keeping your software up to date is one of the most important things you can do to maintain your iPhone’s security.

2. Tracking: stop apps asking to follow you

Go to Settings > Privacy & Security > Tracking and turn off “Allow Apps to Request to Track”. Apps can then no longer ask permission to track your activity across other companies’ apps and websites, and any app that asks while the switch is off is treated as if you told it not to track you. It does not stop apps collecting data inside their own app, but it cuts off the cross-app tracking that builds a profile of you from many different sources.

3. Location Services, app by app

Go to Settings > Privacy & Security > Location Services and tap each app to choose Never, Ask Next Time Or When I Share, While Using the App, or Always. A weather app may need it while you use it; a shopping app almost certainly does not need it always. For each app you can also switch Precise Location on or off — with it off, the app only gets your approximate location, good enough for local news or weather and far less revealing than a precise pin. System features sit at Location Services > System Services, where you can review Significant Locations.

4. App Privacy Report: see who accessed what

Go to Settings > Privacy & Security > App Privacy Report and tap Turn On App Privacy Report. From then on it shows the last seven days of access to your location, camera, microphone, photos and contacts, plus the network domains each app contacted. Give it a week, then look for surprises — a game that checked your location when you never opened it, or an app that contacted a dozen advertising domains. The data is encrypted and stored on your device only, and turning the report off clears it.

5. Safari: Prevent Cross-Site Tracking

Safari’s tracking protection has moved in recent iOS versions, and the old path no longer works. On current iOS, go to Settings > Apps > Safari and, under Privacy & Security, make sure Prevent Cross-Site Tracking is turned on. Apple says Safari limits third-party cookies and data by default; this switch keeps it that way. On the same screen you will also find Hide IP Address and Fraudulent Website Warning, both worth leaving on. The older Settings > Safari path is outdated for iOS 18 and later.

6. Stolen Device Protection

The most important security setting on a modern iPhone. Go to Settings > Face ID & Passcode, enter your passcode, and tap Stolen Device Protection. It requires iOS 17.3 or later, a passcode, Face ID or Touch ID, two-factor authentication for your Apple Account, and Find My switched on. When it is on, sensitive actions — viewing saved passwords, changing your Apple Account password, turning off Find My — require Face ID or Touch ID with no passcode fallback, and critical changes made away from familiar locations are held behind a one-hour Security Delay. That delay stops a thief who knows your passcode from immediately locking you out. Apple says it is automatically enabled on new devices set up with iOS 26.4 or later, so it may already be on — check rather than assume.

7. Battery: set a charging limit

On iPhone 15 and later, go to Settings > Battery > Charging, where you can choose a charge limit between 80% and 100% in 5% steps. Keeping the limit at 80% most of the time reduces battery wear; raise it to 100% before a long day out. Optimized Battery Charging is available only when the limit is set to 100%. On iPhone 14 and earlier, the path is Settings > Battery > Battery Health & Charging, where you can switch Optimized Battery Charging on or off — there is no selectable limit on those models. It learns your routine, then holds the battery at 80% overnight and finishes charging just before you usually unplug.

8. Medical ID and Emergency SOS

For Medical ID, open the Health app, tap the Summary tab, tap your profile picture, then Medical ID, and turn on Show When Locked and Share During Emergency Call. Sharing your Medical ID during an emergency call also requires Location Services > System Services > Emergency Calls & SOS to be on. For Emergency SOS itself, go to Settings > Emergency SOS, where you can enable Call with Hold and Release — hold the side button and a volume button — and Call with 5 Presses (three presses in India). Your emergency contacts are added in the Health app’s Medical ID, not on this screen.

9. Find My: switch it on before you lose the phone

Find My only works if it was on before the phone went missing. Go to Settings > [your name] > Find My > Find My iPhone and make sure Find My iPhone, Find My network and Send Last Location are all on. Find My network lets the phone be located even when it is offline, and on supported models for up to 24 hours after it is switched off. Turning on Find My also turns on Activation Lock, which stops someone else from using your iPhone if it is lost or stolen.

10. Safety Check: review who can see you

Safety Check, at Settings > Privacy & Security > Safety Check, is designed for situations where a relationship changes — a break-up, a shared device, a job move — and you need to review who has access to your location, messages and accounts. It needs iOS 16 or later and two-factor authentication. Emergency Reset stops all sharing at once; Manage Sharing & Access reviews it person by person. There is also a Quick Exit button that closes Settings straight to the Home Screen.

11. Lockdown Mode: extreme protection, for very few people

Lockdown Mode sits at Settings > Privacy & Security > Lockdown Mode. It is an optional, extreme level of protection that Apple says is designed for the very few individuals who might be personally targeted by highly sophisticated attacks — journalists, activists, government workers in sensitive roles. It limits apps, websites and features, per device. For most people it is the wrong choice: it will break things you rely on every day.

12. iCloud Private Relay: a bonus for iCloud+ subscribers

If you pay for iCloud+, check Settings > [your name] > iCloud > Private Relay. It is not a full VPN and is not available in all countries, but it stops your network provider linking your Safari browsing, DNS queries and insecure app traffic to your identity. It must be enabled on each device separately, and you can turn it off for a specific Wi-Fi network from that network’s settings if a site misbehaves.

What an update does not do to your settings

You may have seen posts claiming that iOS updates secretly switch your privacy settings back on. Apple says the opposite in its own user guide: “When you update to the latest version of iOS, your data and settings remain unchanged.” Fact-checkers found no report from Apple, security researchers or the specialist tech press supporting a reset; the claim traces to a single unsourced social media post. One real precedent exists: a 2023 bug briefly re-enabled one setting for some users, and iOS 17.1 fixed it — a bug, not a policy. The honest reason to re-check after an update is simpler: new iOS versions add new permission categories with fresh defaults, and a two-minute review costs nothing.

The bottom line

Twelve settings, about ten minutes. Check your version first — iOS 27.2.1, released 9 November 2026 — then work through all twelve settings above. Most need setting only once, but the update is the natural moment to confirm they are still as you left them. For more on keeping your connection private, read What Is a VPN, and Do You Actually Need One at Home?, and for help spotting machine-made fakes online, read How to Spot AI-Generated Text, Images and Video.

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