TEXT TIPS

*Don't ever text personal information such as your PIN number, password, or banking information to anyone. Remember, once you send that information to another person, it gets stored in their cell phone and you don't want that.

*Put a password on your phone to keep others from accessing your text logs or email. This will also prevent thieves from stealing information stored in your phone.

*iPhone owners may want to change their SMS preview settings to make incoming text messaging more private. Apple iPhone Review has instructions on how to do this.
*Those concerned about privacy, can send anonymous text messages with services like AnonTxt.com.

*Don't forget to erase all your personal data before selling, recycling or donating your old phone. Many people are still under the impression that taking out your SIM card will do the trick, but that's not true. You'll need a series of codes to permanently delete stored information in one step, instead of manually. For this, you'll need to find out if your phone has a "master reset" feature, which wipes out all the stored data at once. Since every phone has a different set of "master reset" instructions, you'll need to either look them up online or on your phone's manual. Recellular has a database of these codes with step-by-step instructions. You'll need your phone's make and model to get started, so if you don't know it, check the back of the phone or the box.

*And last but not least, remember that no matter how secure you think your carrier's SMS servers are, the ultimate security of private text messages depends on the recipient.