Apple has a little-known security feature, often described as a hidden ‘secret code,’ that can reveal if someone is snooping on your private conversations.
Every iMessage chat generates a unique security code, like a digital fingerprint.
If you and your contact see the same code, your messages are safe and fully encrypted.
However, if the codes don’t match, it could mean your texts are being intercepted, or more innocently, that your contact recently changed phones or reinstalled the app.
To make this process easier, Apple introduced Contact Key Verification, found under Settings and Apple ID, which displays a verification code that you and your iMessage contacts can compare.
If the codes line up, you can tap Mark As Verified, which saves the code to that person’s contact card.
‘When you manually verify a contact, iMessage Contact Key Verification verifies that the code you have saved matches the one provided by the iMessage servers for that contact and notifies you if the verification code changes,’ Apple explained.
To turn it on, open Settings, tap your name, scroll to Contact Key Verification, switch on Verification in iMessage, and tap Continue.
Apple lets users check a code within text message to ensure their conversations are kept private
‘When you use iMessage, your messages are end-to-end encrypted so that nobody other than you and the person that you’re messaging with, not even Apple, can read them while they’re in transit between devices,’ Apple shared.
‘iMessage Contact Key Verification further protects your iMessage conversations and helps verify that you’re messaging only with the people that you intend.’
For additional assurance that you’re messaging with the person you intend, you can manually verify contacts.
To manually verify, you need to have that person saved in Contacts.
You can verify a contact directly on your device by going to Conversation Details, where both you and the other person generate a code simultaneously to share and compare.
Another option is to use a Public Verification Code, which you can share so that the people you’re messaging can verify you.
Apple noted that this code does not contain any private information, meaning you can safely post it on social media or another account where your contacts can find it.
To mark a contact as verified, you can copy and paste their Public Verification Code into their Contact Card.
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First, open the iMessage conversation and tap the contact’s name, or select them from the Contacts app.
Then tap Info and select Edit. In the ‘verification code’ field, type or paste the Public Verification Code your contact shared.
If you don’t see this field, tap the Add (+) button, choose More Fields, and select ‘verification code.’
If the code matches and is verified by iMessage Contact Key Verification, a checkmark will appear on their Contact Card and next to their name in iMessage conversations.
If it does not match or is not verified, no checkmark will appear.
Apple suggested that users may want to double-check the code or confirm they are messaging the correct person before continuing.