Ways to remember your PIN code
We use PIN codes to unlock our smartphones and use bank ATMs every day. But sometimes when we don’t use a phone for a while or have many different cards, it can be easy to forget those crucial digits. So, what can you do about it? Well the obvious answer is to use something impossible to forget like a birthday or anniversary. But this isn’t wise as it’s easily guessable. Be sure to avoid using numbers that will be easy for a criminal to obtain, like your birthday or the last four digits of your phone number.
Instead, if you’re one of those that struggle to come up with a PIN you can remember here’s a few ideas for you to try.
Spell a word with the numbers
If you look at a phone keypad, you’ll see letters under the numbers. 2 is ABC, 3 is DEF, 4 if GHI and so on. So why not spell a memorable word into keys? For example, if Paris is your hometown, your PIN would be:
7(PQRS), 2(ABC), 7(PQRS), 4(GHI), 7(PQRS). Simple!
Subtracting or Adding digits to memorable PINs
Let’s imagine you want your birthday to be your PIN, say April 14 or 0414. A hacker will likely know your birthday from your social media profiles. So, you can choose to add or subtract numbers to your pin. For example, if you +2 every digit your new PIN would be 2636 which would be random enough. Or you could -3 to each, leading to 7181, again safe. Now all you need to remember is the number you added or subtracted to your PIN.
Connect numbers to people you know
Similar to the above, you can combine numbers to create a new PIN that will appear random. Let’s use your birthday (0414 again) and your mom’s birthday (1219).
Either you can straight add them together to get 1633 or add each digit together (e.g. 0+1, 4+2 etc.) to get 1623. In this example the final pair 4 and 9 = 13, and we took the 3.
“Numberfy” your favorite song or movie
Using the keypad letter trick from before, you can create an easy to remember PIN. So if your favorite song is Seal’s Kiss from a Rose, your PIN would be 5 (JKL), 3 (DEF), 2 (ABC), 7 (PQRS).
If you like Lord of the Rings your PIN would be 5 (JKL), 6(MNO), 8 (TUV) 7 (PQRS).
Number splits
Why not take the year you are born and the year a loved one is born? So 1996 and 2001 could be 1920, or 9601 for instance. Or you could use the numbers of your favorite sports players. Messi is 10, Ronaldo is 7, so your PIN would be 1007.
Hopefully these examples will give you some ideas for creating a memorable PIN code you cannot forget. Let us know if you have any tips of your own!
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