title: Encrypting data in iOS
body: <p>I'm new to iOS development and working on a small iOS mobile app that stores sensitive information of users. Initially I thought of using custom AES encryption to encrypt/decrypt all the data. I also want the encrypted data to be synced with iCloud. After reading more I came to know from iPhone 3GS each device has a built-in AES-256 crypto engine. From the XCode, I observed that I can turn on an option called "Data Protection" for the mobile app to secure data. Based on my analysis I've below questions:</p>
  
  <ol>
  <li><p>To use data protection for iPhone 3GS (uses iOS 6.1) do I need to set passcode?</p></li>
  <li><p>Without setting passcode for the device how can I use the built-in crypto engine to encrypt my data?</p></li>
  <li><p>The information are very sensitive and so in this case do I need to implement custom encryption?</p></li>
  </ol>