Vote now: What type of screen lock do you have on your phone?

Smartphone security. It's a big thing if you're the financial director of a huge corporation, I guess, but even for us normal folks, protecting our private information can be equally important. Losing those Christmas party photos from 10 years ago can be the end of it all! Well, jokes aside, smartphones hold a huge amount of vital information nowadays, even though most of it is backed up in the cloud, and security is important for a number of reasons.

There are various ways to protect your smartphone from prying eyes and touchy-feely hands. Most smartphones require a pin as a basic security measure before you can choose another, more convenient method to lock your screen. Then there's the almighty fingerprint, which has caused frustration since day one of its invention. Here's a thought: if your fingerprint gets stolen or spoofed, you can't change it.

You can always opt for a password, which you can change, and there's the face unlock option that a great many iPhone users—well, use and swear by. If you don't want to deal with active input to unlock your phone, there's a neat option to use smart unlock, where the phone will unlock itself based on the location, say when you're home or when there's another gadget nearby, a smartwatch on your hand, for example.

I forgot to mention the dreadful pattern lock—maybe the easiest one to break, unless you wipe your phone screen clean every time you unlock it. Finally, you can always leave your phone in "swipe to unlock" mode and live a carefree life with one less thing to worry about. So, which one is it then? Vote in our poll and share your preferred lock screen method or the combination that you use.