IF YOU'RE worried about snoopers reading your texts, this iPhone setting will help you sleep at night.

Once activated, it makes Apple's facial recognition system even more secure – ensuring your messages and data are safe from prying eyes.

Apple launched Face ID back in 2017 as an alternative to passcodes to make unlocking your iPhone easier.

It uses a laser project and scanning tech to accurately map your face in 3D, identifying you with a "one-in-a-million" failure rate.

However, it's possible for crafty so-and-sos to bypass the security feature by scanning your face without your knowledge, such as when you're sleeping.

To stop this, you can ask your device to examine whether your eyes are open and your attention is directed towards the device before unlocking.

The setting is called "Require Attention for Face ID" and utilises the TrueDepth camera, Apple's artificial intelligence-powered face-scanning tech.

Apple says the "TrueDepth camera will provide an additional level of security by verifying that you are looking".

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To try it out for yourself, head to Settings > Face ID & Passcode. Turn on Require Attention for Face ID.

Your iPhone will now unlock only when your eyes are open and looking at the screen.

The setting does have its drawbacks, however. When turned on, for instance, you can't unlock your iPhone with Face ID while wearing sunglasses.

The same technology can also reveal notifications and messages, keep the screen lit when you’re reading, or lower the volume of alerts.

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Head to Settings > Face ID & Passcode. Turn on Attention Aware Features.

It's not the only way that pranksters can bypass the lock on your iPhone.

An easy trick lets anyone holding your iPhone or iPad send messages to your friends and family even when it's locked.

It involves sneakily using Siri to get around the lock screen.

Apple's personal assistant Siri lets your send messages and emails and even make phone calls without touching your iPhone or iPad.

Simply ask her to send something to a contact using the "hey Siri" wake word and she'll dutifully oblige.

The problem is, Siri opens up your phone to mischief-makers trying to send trick messages from your phone.

By default, gadgets with Siri (that's anything newer than an iPhone 4S or iPad 3) allow you to speak to her even if your screen is locked.

All a trickster needs to do is get hold of your phone and say "Hey Siri, send a message to Dad" or "Hey Siri, send a message to Rosie" and they'll be asked to dictate a message.

Anything they say will then be sent to your contact but will look like it was sent by you – potentially landing you in hot water.

Fear not though, as Apple has handed fans an easy way to switch off the feature.

Head to Settings > Siri and search > Ask Siri > turn off Allow Siri When Locked.

In other news, a four-tonne chunk of a SpaceX rocket is on a collision course with the Moon, according to online space junk trackers.

Boeing has sunk $450million into a flying taxi startup that hopes to whisk passengers across cities by the end of the decade.

Personalised smart guns, which can be fired only by verified users, may finally become available to U.S. consumers this year.

And, scientists are embarking on a mission to unravel the mystery behind dozens of grisly child mummies buried in an underground tomb in Sicily.

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