Use a longer alphanumeric passcode on the iPhone
Sep 02, '08 07:30:02AM
Contributed by: amutti
A lot of people don't know that Apple provides a free iPhone configuration utility, but they do, and it can add some great features you can't get any other way. The simplest use of the program is to enable complex passcodes on the iphone. I know some people don't want to have to type in a long password to get into their iPhone, but I'm a bit paranoid -- so protecting all of my email accounts, contacts, etc. with an annoyingly-long and complex password seems worth it to me. Here is how you do it:
- Install and launch the iPhone Configuration Utility.
- Click on Configuration Profiles in the Library menu on the left.
- Click the New+ button along the top of the window, and on the General tab, fill out the info (Name, Identifier, etc.); there is no need to digitally sign it.
- Next Click on the Passcode tab, and check Require Passcode on Device. Check the various options/restrictions you want to enable.
- When you are all done, click the Share button at the top of the window. An email will open with a configuration profile attached (see sample below). Send the email to your iPhone.
- Open Mail on your iPhone, and open the message with the configuration profile attached. Click on the profile attachment, and then follow the on-screen prompts to install the profile and set your new long passcode.
That's it! As a side note, I use the profiles to setup my email accounts, too. So if I have to restore my iPhone and set it up as a new phone, I can more quickly set up email.
Below is a sample of the XML generated by the utility. It enforces a minimum six-long alphanumeric passcode. If you save it to a plain text file with the extension .mobileconfig, and email the file to your iPhone, it should enable this passcode feature. Apple documents the DTD in their Enterprise Deployment Guide.
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