Smartphone users warned over most commonly used and unsafe PIN numbers as yours may be on list

No matter how in touch with ‘the real world’ we like to think we are, plenty of us are probably bigger slaves to our smartphones than we admit.

We keep all sorts on them. From our photos to our private messages and from our passwords to the shopping lists in our phone notes.

And yet we might not be protecting them as well as we thought.

Practically the lock on a safe, our smartphone PIN numbers are what looks after most of our stuff. Yeah, sure, most of us use the likes of Face ID on our iPhones and Face Unlock on Androids nowadays, but a passcode is still the failsafe.

However, researchers have warned of the most commonly used and unsafe combinations. And surprisingly, like banking PIN numbers, they don’t include the ‘rude’ combo of ‘6969’.

It's important to have a safe code. (Getty stock)

While you might think having a longer, six-digit PIN code will be more secure.

But a study from Ruhr University, the Max Planck Institute for Security and Privacy in Bochum, Germany and George Washington University in the US found that they offer ‘little more’ security than four-digits.

With the assumption the attacker didn’t personally know the victim, the researchers had Android and Apple users set PIN codes with some choosing them freely and others having to select ones not included in a ‘blacklist’.

The team then went through and hacked through the passcodes, finding that six digit PINs were actually ‘less secure’.

That’s because if users have more numbers to play with, they seem to be more likely to make insecure combos.

“It seems that users currently do not understand intuitively what it is that makes a six-digit PIN secure,” explained researcher Markus Dürmuth.

The study also found that while four and six-digit PIN codes aren’t as secure as a proper password, they are better than using a pattern lock.

And the researchers put together a handy list of the ‘most dangerous’ combinations.

Experts warn against certain codes. (Getty stock)

Here’s the four-digit PINs to avoid:

· 1234

· 0000

· 2580

· 1111

· 5555

· 5683

· 0852

· 2222

· 1212

· 1998

And the six-digit PINs:

· 123456

· 654321

· 111111

· 000000

· 123123

· 666666

· 121212

· 112233

· 789456

· 159753

Yeah, some of those seem fairly obvious, right?

So, you might think using something like your date of birth is a more unique way of protecting your phone. But this could be risky considering people could find that out and use it to hack your device.

It’s highly recommended to instead use a password, consisting of both numbers and letters – but just don’t make that too obvious either.