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Apple released iOS 18.1 in October, more than a month after the tech company released iOS 18. While iOS 18.1 brings a few new features and bug fixes to your iPhone, like call recording, Apple introduced a highly sought security feature with iOS 17.2 in December 2023 called Contact Key Verification. The tool is meant to help verify that the person you’re texting is who they say they are, and you can turn it on in just four steps
Here’s how to enable Contact Key Verification and how to use the new security feature. Note, both you and the person you’re messaging need to have this feature enabled for it to work properly.
How to enable Contact Key Verification
1. Open Settings.
2. Tap your Apple ID (your name and picture) near the top of your screen.
3. Tap Contact Key Verification near the bottom of the menu.
4. Tap the switch next to Verification in iMessage.
Next you’ll see a splash screen that explains Contact Key Verification. Tap Continue on this screen.
You might be taken to another splash screen that says you need to update some of your devices to turn the feature on. You can either tap OK and then update the devices, or you can tap Remove Devices in Settings. You should probably update your devices even if you don’t plan on using Contact Key Verification.
Verifying the identity of yourself and others
After you’ve enabled the feature, the Contact Key Verification menu will have a new option called Show Public Verification Code. Tap this new option and you’ll see a string of letters, numbers and symbols. This code is how people verify they are messaging you.