It’s not a pleasant thought if you own an iPhone. Even if you have the handset password-protected, someone with access to it can still bypass your security and access your voicmail, e-mail and texts.
It’s done by pressing the emergency call button when on the unlock screen, flowed by a double click on the home screen. That takes you to the favorites page without needing to enter the unlock code.
However, according to MacWorld.com, that’s going to be remedied very soon. Apple has promised a fix this month for the rather gaping security hole.
In an email to the site, Apple spokesperson Jennifer Bowcock wrote:
"The minor iPhone security issue which surfaced this week is fixed in a software update which will be released in September."
In the meantime Bowcock suggested that, for security, users set their iPhones so that a double click on the home button takes them to the home screen. If password protection is turned on, that’s the unlock screen.