Switch on automatic updates - let your devices fix themselves
Most break-ins don’t use clever new tricks - they use holes that were found and fixed months ago, on devices that never installed the fix. Turn updates on once and that whole category of risk mostly looks after itself. Five minutes, then you can forget it.
Your phone
iPhone: Settings → General → Software Update → Automatic Updates, and turn both on. Android: Settings → System → System update, and in the Play Store turn on auto-updating apps over Wi-Fi.
Your computer
Windows: Settings → Windows Update - leave automatic updates on. Mac: System Settings → General → Software Update → turn on automatic updates.
Your browser is the one that matters most
Your web browser is where most everyday danger arrives, so keeping it current matters more than anything. The big ones update themselves - just don’t sit on the little “relaunch to update” nudge when it appears.
Don’t snooze the restart
Updates often only finish when the device restarts. When it asks, let it - a fix you’ve downloaded but never restarted to install isn’t protecting you yet.
“Isn’t it risky to let updates install themselves?”
For a phone or an everyday computer, no - the small chance an update annoys you is nothing against the real, constant risk of running a known hole. Take the updates. (A business server is a different story: there you test first. But that’s not this.)
Last checked: 19 October 2026. Menu wording shifts between versions - tell us if anything’s moved.