How to protect your iPhone, iPad, and Mac from cyberattacks with Lockdown Mode

Learn how to activate Lockdown Mode on your iPhone, iPad, or Mac to enhance security and protect against advanced, targeted cyber attacks.

iOS, iPadOS, and macOS are already some of the most secure and privacy-focused operating systems, sufficient for 99.9% of users, as long as they follow basic security tips like enabling a strong passcode, avoiding random public USB ports, and never clicking links from untrusted sources.

However, there have been instances where individuals like journalists, whistleblowers, politicians, activists, government officials, and other high-risk people have been targeted by rare but highly sophisticated cyberattacks. Typically, the individual is tricked into unknowingly installing spyware or malware on their device, which can then spy on them and relay their microphone audio, call logs, texts, photos, location, passwords, and more to the attacker. In many cases, spyware is installed even without user interaction (zero-click exploit), making it impossible for the affected person to know they are being monitored.

One instance that caused a major media uproar was related to reports of the Indian government allegedly using Pegasus spyware to snoop on journalists. Similar state-sponsored sophisticated digital threats have also been used in other regions and countries to target dissidents.

Apple’s Lockdown Mode is designed for the very few individuals who need extreme protection from these complex, personally targeted mercenary digital threats. Such attacks almost never target the average user.

What happens in Lockdown Mode

Lockdown Mode enhances your security by preventing your iPhone, iPad, or Mac from functioning as it normally does, limiting or completely blocking certain features. For example, links sent via text messages are a common way to trick users into installing spyware, so Lockdown Mode blocks links in the Messages app.

Here’s what else happens when you enable Lockdown Mode on your Apple devices.

Photos app

• Location information is automatically excluded when you share photos.
• Shared Albums no longer show on the device with Lockdown Mode.
• New Shared Album invitations are blocked.

Messages app

• Links and link previews are no longer available. The web link you receive appears in plain text, and you can’t tap to visit it. But you can copy and paste the message into a web browser to visit that link.
• Except for certain photos, videos, and audio, all other types of message attachments, like PDFs, documents, ZIPs, etc., are blocked.
• Location sharing seems unavailable.

FaceTime

• Incoming FaceTime calls from unknown people (i.e., people who are not in your contacts or whom you have not called/talked to previously) are blocked.
• SharePlay to watch movies or listen to music together with others no longer works.
• FaceTime Live Photos are blocked.
• FaceTime Continuity Handoff to continue the call on your other Apple device is also unavailable.

Web browsing

• Certain complex web technologies like just-in-time (JIT) JavaScript compilation are disabled (unless you exclude a trusted site from Lockdown Mode — explained below).
• Photos on the web page may be blocked and replaced with a missing image icon.
• Web fonts may not be displayed, changing how a site looks.
• A “Lockdown Enabled” or “Lockdown Off” label appears near the address bar in Safari on iOS, iPadOS, and macOS.

Note: Some websites and webpages may not load or work correctly because of the above restrictions.

Wireless radio connections

• Your iPhone, iPad, or Mac no longer auto-joins non-secure Wi-Fi networks. These may include passwordless Wi-Fi networks at airports, libraries, cafes, etc.
• If you’re connected to a non-secure Wi-Fi, your device will disconnect automatically from it.
• The old 2G cellular connection is turned off on your iPhone. But you can turn it back on without disabling Lockdown Mode.

Connecting to other devices

• You have to unlock your iPhone, iPad, or Apple silicon Mac to connect to other accessories and computers.

Configuration profiles

• Your iPhone, iPad, or Mac can no longer install configuration profiles or enroll in Mobile Device Management (MDM) or device supervision, thus preventing the attacker from installing malicious profiles on your device. But if you or your organization want to install a configuration or management profile, turn off Lockdown Mode, install the profile, and then turn Lockdown Mode back on.

Other things

• Invitations in apps like Home are disabled from people you haven’t previously invited.
• Game Center is disabled.
• I also noticed AirDrop was turned off, but it’s always easy to turn it back on. However, I had some trouble using AirDrop between my iPhone and Mac, as it kept failing. But it worked between my two iPhones (both in Lockdown Mode).
• I need to accept the incoming AirDrop file transfer request even from my other devices that have the same Apple Account.
• By default, the Mail app stops loading images.

You may notice other such changes. But normal phone calls, texts, SOS emergency calls, etc., continue to work as usual on your iPhone in Lockdown Mode.

Turn on Lockdown Mode on your iPhone, iPad, or Mac

You need to turn on Lockdown Mode individually on all your devices where you want to harden the protection. The process is identical across the latest version of iOS, iPadOS, and macOS.

iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch

1. Open the Settings app on your iPhone or iPad.
2. Tap Privacy & Security.
3. Scroll to the bottom and tap Lockdown Mode.
4. Tap Turn On Lockdown Mode.
5. Read what’s limited or blocked and tap Turn On Lockdown Mode to confirm.
6. Tap Turn On & Restart from the popup and enter your device passcode.

Your iPhone or iPad will restart with Lockdown Mode enabled.

On Mac

1. Open System Settings on your Apple computer running macOS Ventura or later.
2. Select Privacy & Security.
3. Click Lockdown Mode from the bottom.
4. Click the Turn On button next to Lockdown Mode.
5. Read about the changes and click Turn On Lockdown Mode.
6. Click Turn On & Restart.
7. Type your Mac’s admin password and hit OK.

Your computer will restart in Lockdown Mode.

After you turn on Lockdown Mode

What happens on your device is already mentioned above. In addition to that, here are a couple of points to consider:

• Turning on Lockdown Mode on your iPhone also turns it on for your paired Apple Watch. There are no separate steps for watchOS.
• Once you turn on Lockdown Mode on one of your devices, you may get a popup alert on your other devices with the same Apple Account, asking you to consider turning on this extra protection. You can tap Turn On and Restart in the popup to enable Lockdown Mode even on this device or hit Later to dismiss it.

Exclude certain websites and apps from Lockdown Mode

Because of WebKit restrictions, some websites may not work properly in Safari. However, if you trust a website, you can add it to the excluded list, and then Lockdown Mode will no longer affect that website, allow you to access it as intended.

On iPhone or iPad

1. Visit the website in Safari on your iOS device.
2. Tap the Page Menu button in the address bar, followed by the three dots icon.
3. Scroll down, switch off Lockdown Mode, and hit Turn Off to confirm.

You can see a list of all your excluded websites and manage them in settings.

1. Go to iPhone or iPad Settings > Privacy & Security > Lockdown Mode.
2. Tap Configure Web Browsing from the bottom.
3. Tap Excluded Safari Websites.
4. You can now turn Lockdown Mode on or off for the listed sites. You can also tap the Edit button, select the websites, and delete them from the list, or hit Clear All Websites to remove them all in one go.

Furthermore, Lockdown Mode may also affect some apps. For instance, I noticed that the Apple Mail app stopped loading images in the email body, showing a banner at the top asking if I’d like to load them.

If an app is affected by Lockdown Mode, you’ll see a popup when you open it for the first time. The popup reads: Lockdown Mode is Turned On For “app name.” Certain experiences and features may not function as expected. You can turn off Lockdown Mode for this app in Settings.

Such affected apps start showing in Settings > Privacy & Security > Lockdown Mode > Configure Web Browsing. You can turn off the toggle to stop Lockdown Mode from impacting it.

On Mac

1. Visit the website in Safari.
2. From the top menu bar, click Safari > Settings for website domain. Or, click the Page Menu button in the address bar.
3. Uncheck Enable Lockdown Mode.
4. Hit Turn Off on the confirmation popup.

You can view, manage, and delete all your excluded websites by following these simple steps.

1. Open Safari and click Safari > Settings from the top menu bar.
2. Go to the Websites tab of your Apple browser settings.
3. Select Lockdown Mode from the bottom of the left sidebar.
4. Click the drop-down menu for a currently open or configured website listed here to turn Lockdown Mode on or off.
5. You can also select a configured website and hit the Remove button to eliminate it from your exclude list.

Enable 2G connectivity on your iPhone

2G cellular connection — which is being replaced by 3G, 4G, and 5G globally — is disabled when you enable Lockdown Mode (though it can still be used temporarily for emergency calls if needed). However, if you want your Lockdown Mode iPhone to use 2G networks, you can turn it on from Settings.

1. Open the Settings app on your iPhone and go to Privacy & Security > Lockdown Mode.
2. Enable the switch for 2G Cellular Connectivity, and confirm by tapping Turn On.

Turn off Lockdown Mode

If you believe you’re no longer under attack, you can turn off Lockdown Mode on your iPhone, iPad, or Mac.

1. Open iOS Settings or macOS System Settings and head to Privacy & Security > Lockdown Mode.
2. Hit Turn Off Lockdown Mode, followed by Turn Off & Restart.

Your device will reboot into normal mode with all your iOS or macOS features.

More Apple security features:

• How and why to enable Stolen Device Protection on your iPhone
• Why and how to enable Advanced Data Protection for iCloud

Source link: https://www.idownloadblog.com/2025/03/25/how-to-use-lockdown-mode-iphone-mac/