How to protect your smartphone and its data (pictures)

From passcodes to tracking apps, Windows Phone, iOS, and Android each offer several ways to secure a device. Apple, however, is the only company to have a mobile app that syncs with its phone tracking feature. Once downloaded, you can use the Find My iPhone app to locate a phone that has been lost or stolen and take further action. Though in this example I'm using the app to track my own device, you can see how the simple interface is designed.

Using Find My iPhone requires an iCloud account. After you're set there, you should turn on the Find My iPhone feature on the iCloud page of the Settings Menu.

Remember that the default setting in iOS is for the Notification Center to be accessible from the lock screen. To change that, go to the Notification page of the Settings Menu and slide the toggle to off.

You also must manually turn off access to the Control Center from the lock screen. You'll find this page under the Settings menu as well.

More security options are buried in the General page of the Settings Menu. Here you can change your passcode, select which features are accessible from the lock screen, and have your phone erase itself if someone enters the passcode incorrectly 10 times.

Google's service is called Android Device Manager. To start using it, you'll need to go to the Google Settings app on your Android device.

After selecting the feature, you should check both boxes for an optimal experience.

Next, go to the Security page of the Settings menu to select a lock screen code and deactivate access to any features from your lock screen.

Android beats its rivals hands down when it to lock code choices.

On Windows Phone, Microsoft's Find My Phone feature has its own page under the Settings menu.

Windows Phone, however, has far fewer passcode choices. You can use only a 4-digit PIN.