【AI前沿】These special phone and app features can help protect you from spyware

Spyware attacks on journalists, human rights defenders, and political dissidents are no longer rare or exotic. In early 2025, WhatsApp notifiedroughly 90 users— many of them journalists and civil society members across Europe — that they had been targeted by Israeli spyware company Paragon Solutions. Months later, Apple sent threat notifications to a new group of iOS users; forensic analysisconfirmed two of them, both journalists, had been hit with Paragon’s Graphite spyware using a zero-click attack, meaning they didn’t even have to tap a link to be compromised. These aren’t isolated incidents. They’re the norm.For the last 15 years, security researchers have documented countless cases where government hackers have targeted and successfully compromised journalists, human rights defenders, critics, and political opponents.These attacks rely on expensive, sophisticated, and stealthy tools that allow their operators to hack into and install spyware on computers, but especially smartphones, which hold virtually all of the data about a person’s daily life.Spyware gives its operators virtually full access to the target’s device and data. Government spies can record phone calls, steal chat messages, access photos, and switch on the device’s camera and microphone to record ambient sound and record nearby conversations. Spyware also typically tracks a person’s real-time location.In response to these attacks, tech giants now provide their users with better defenses. In particular, Apple, Google, and Meta offer opt-in features specifically designed to counter targeted spyware attacks.Generally speaking, these features add extra protection, sometimes by turning off or limiting some regular features. It’s a tradeoff, but having used these myself for a long time, I have never found them to be too onerous or annoying to use.Tech companies, security researchers who have studied spyware for years, and we at TechCrunch, recommend that you use these features if you suspect you may be a target of government surveillance because of who you are or what you do. Even if you’re not, these security features will keep your data better protected from entering the wrong hands.No security measure is perfect, and it’s a constant effort to keep security flaws at bay. Spyware makers find new ways to hack into phones and services, then software makers learn from those attacks and respond. Rinse and repeat.But that doesn’t mean these features are not worth using. On the contrary; these features have been proven effective.“These features are free, easy to enable, and the best defense we have today against sophisticated spyware,” saidRuna Sandvik, a security researcher who has worked to protect journalists and other at-risk communities for more than a decade. “If the features get in the way of something you need to do, you can easily turn them off again — meaning it costs very little to turn them on and try them out.”Here’s a recap of these features, and how to switch them on.Image Credits:TechCrunch / Screenshot /Apple’s Lockdown ModeApple’s Lockdown Mode is available on all Apple devices, including iPhones. Apple says that whenLockdown Modeis enabled, “your device won’t function like it typically does.” In exchange for this inconvenience, your device will be more secure.There is evidence that Lockdown Mode has helped in the past. Citizen Lab found that Lockdown Modestopped one spyware attackcarried out with NSO Group’s Pegasus software. As recently as March, Apple saidit has never detecteda successful attack on an Apple device with Lockdown Mode enabled.This is whatLockdown Modechanges on your device when you turn it on:Attachments received on iMessage other than some images, video, and audio are blocked by default.Links and previews in iMessage are blocked and appear as non-linked web addresses. (You can copy and paste the links into Safari or another browser if you want.)Fonts, some images, and some web technologies are blocked when browsing in Safari.Incoming FaceTime calls are blocked if you haven’t contacted that person before or in the last 30 days.Screen sharing, content sharing over SharePlay, and Live Photos are unavailable.Incoming invitations for Apple services are blocked unless you have previously invited that person.The Focus feature “and any related status will not work as expected.”Game Center is disabled.Location information is stripped when you share photos.“Shared albums are removed from the Photos app, and new Shared Album invitations are blocked.”You need to unlock your device to connect it to an accessory or a computer. When connecting a Mac with Apple-made processors to an accessory, the computer needs to be unlocked and you have to approve the connection with your passcode.You can’t connect automatically to open or public Wi-Fi networks, and you will be disconnected from any non-secure Wi-Fi networks that you previously connected to before enabling Lockdown Mode.Your phone won’t be able to connect to 2G or 3G cellula