3 Tech Tips You Should Act On This Week

- June 24, 2026

TECH TIPS — THURSDAY, JUNE 25, 2026

3 Tech Tips You Should Act On This Week

Privacy, AI workflows, and smartphone security — practical moves that make a real difference.

🔑 Tip #1: Ditch Passwords — Switch to Passkeys Now

Security

What to do:

Go to the security settings of your most-used accounts — Google, Apple, Microsoft, PayPal, GitHub — and look for a “Passkeys” option. Enable it and follow the prompts to register your device’s fingerprint, Face ID, or PIN as your authenticator. Once set up, you’ll never need to type that account’s password again.

Passwords are the single weakest link in personal security. They get phished, reused, leaked in data breaches, and guessed — and no amount of complexity fully solves those problems. Passkeys are fundamentally different: they’re cryptographic credentials stored on your device that can’t be stolen via a phishing page because they never leave your hardware. As of mid-2026, nearly half of the top websites support them, and adoption has accelerated sharply following major breach incidents this year. If you do only one security upgrade this week, this is it.

The switch takes under two minutes per account, and the experience is seamless — your phone or computer simply asks you to confirm with biometrics. You can also store passkeys in a password manager like 1Password or Apple Keychain so they sync across your devices. Start with email and banking accounts, where the consequences of a breach are highest.

48%

Top sites now support passkeys

<2 min

Setup time per account

Passwords to remember

“If you only do one security upgrade this year, enable passkeys on your most important accounts. They’re faster, safer, and nearly impossible to phish.” — Cloudwards Online Privacy Guide, 2026

🤖 Tip #2: Stop Using AI as a Chatbot — Use It as a Workflow Agent

AI Productivity AI neural network and technology

What to do:

Pick one repetitive multi-step task you do every week — summarizing emails and drafting replies, compiling a report from multiple sources, researching a topic and formatting the output — and set it up as an automated workflow using a tool like Zapier AI, Claude, or Reclaim.ai. Most workflows take 15–30 minutes to configure and then run automatically on their own.

The gap between people using AI as a glorified search box and those using it as an autonomous agent has widened dramatically in 2026. The practical difference: a chatbot answers one question; an agent completes an entire workflow — researching, compiling, drafting, and organizing — without you touching it. Tools like Zapier MCP can now chain together thousands of app integrations, so when a new lead fills out a form, AI can automatically research them, draft a personalized reply, and schedule a follow-up, all without a single click from you.

Start small and specific. The most effective automations target tasks with clearly defined inputs and outputs. Think: “every Monday morning, pull the top 5 items from my task manager, check my calendar for conflicts, and draft a priority plan in my notes app.” Tools like Reclaim.ai can auto-schedule focus time around your meetings, and Motion uses AI to rebuild your entire schedule dynamically if something runs over. Most people are paying for five separate tools when a single well-configured AI agent could do the combined job more reliably.

📱 Tip #3: Enable Advanced Protection Mode on Your Phone

Device Security Smartphone screen with security interface

What to do:

On Android 16: go to Settings → Security & Privacy → Advanced Protection Mode and toggle it on. On iPhone: go to Settings → Privacy & Security → Lockdown Mode and enable it. Both modes apply comprehensive protections in a single switch — no technical knowledge required. Restart your phone afterward to confirm all changes take effect.

Android 16 shipped a significant security overhaul this year, and its most powerful feature is Advanced Protection Mode — a single toggle that activates a suite of hardened defenses simultaneously. It blocks unverified sideloaded apps, disables 2G network connections (which are routinely exploited by IMSI catchers), enforces Safe Browsing, activates memory tagging to catch exploit attempts, and logs potential intrusion events. Google has also embedded Gemini AI directly into the phone dialer, which monitors calls in real time and triggers a visual warning if a caller’s language patterns match known scam scripts — including demands for wire transfers or one-time passwords.

Beyond that single toggle, two additional moves take under five minutes and provide significant protection: review your app permissions and set location, microphone, and camera access to “Allow only while using” for every app that doesn’t genuinely need constant access; and make sure your phone’s OS is fully updated. Both Android and iOS pushed critical patches this month, and an unpatched phone running outdated software remains the most common entry point for device-level attacks. Most people have update notifications sitting pending for weeks — today is a good day to check.

1 toggle

Activates full protection suite

2G off

Blocks IMSI catcher attacks

Real-time scam call detection

“Advanced Protection Mode blocks unverified sideloads, disables 2G, enforces Safe Browsing, activates memory tagging, and logs intrusion attempts — all in one toggle.” — Google Security Blog, 2026

Search This Blog

GADGETGLOW BYTES