It happens to all of us: You’re out and about, and your iPhone is low on power. You can’t wait until you get home, you need to charge it as quickly as possible. Or maybe you’re getting ready to board a plane and want to charge your iPhone’s battery. In many locations (stores, airports, parks, etc.), you’ll find public charging stations that you can plug in (often for free) and get some power for your iPhone’s battery.
However, using public charging stations can put you at risk of juice theft. As the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) describes it, data theft occurs when a hacker uploads “malware onto public USB charging stations to maliciously access electronic devices while they are charging.” When you see this generic charger, it’s not obvious that the charger has been hacked to steal user personal data from connected devices. Obviously this is not something anyone wants.
Regardless of how you personally assess this risk, there is a simple remedy (besides never using public charging stations). In iOS 26 and iPadOS 26, Apple added a feature that has been available on Macs for a while: Wired accessories. You may have seen this in action on a Mac, where the default is to ask if you trust an external device when you connect it.
In iOS 26 and iPadOS 26, the default is for Wired accessories The setting is Automatically allow when unlocked. You can change this. Here’s how.
foundry
How to modify Wired accessories session
- In iOS or iPadOS 26 or later, open Settings.
- handle Privacy and security.
- Scroll down until you find protection to divide. handle Wired accessories.
- You have four options here:
- Always ask: The operating system will always ask for your permission.
- Order new accessories: The operating system will only ask when connected for the first time. And every time after that, he wouldn’t ask.
- Automatically allow when unlocked: The operating system does not ask for permission if the device is unlocked.
- Always allow: The operating system never asks for permission.
We recommend Always ask or Order new accessories Settings. If you frequently connect accessories, you can choose the last setting so that you are not bothered by the permissions box all the time. When asked to do so Allows and Do not allowyou can choose Do not allow, Your device will still charge.
foundry
If you want to go a step further in protecting yourself, you can use the Nitrokey Data Blocker USB-C/C (€7, about $8), which blocks data transfers over USB-C. Plug the Nitrokey into the charger port, then connect your device to the Nitrokey. Nitrokey also protects against the risk of hacking the charging cable itself.
This article originally appeared on our sister publication Macquilt It has been translated and translated from German.