What is my 4-digit PIN number?
Let‘s be clear upfront – I do not actually know your personal 4-digit PIN number. As an AI writer without access to your private financial information, it would be unethical and illegal for me to speculate or provide advice about cracking or revealing your confidential passwords or access codes.
However, as a fellow gamer and security enthusiast, I thought it could be fun to explore the world of 4-digit PINs in this post! We‘ll look at how PINs work, the most common codes people use, and tips for choosing a more secure personal PIN to protect your precious gaming gear and assets in the virtual world.
A Quick Intro to 4-Digit PINs
A 4-digit personal identification number (PIN) is a numeric password made up of…you guessed it – four digits! PINs are used to authenticate and authorize access to things like:
- Debit and credit cards at ATMs
- Mobile phones and tablets
- Certain accounts and programs on game consoles
There are 10,000 possible combinations of four digits using the numbers 0-9. This offers reasonable security for most everyday uses while still being short enough to easily remember.
Six-digit PINs are also common, with 1 million combinations possible, but four digits strike the best balance for most things. Even then, we‘ll see that people often pick pretty weak codes!
The Top 12 Most Common 4-Digit PINs
According to multiple large-scale studies across thousands of devices and accounts, these predictable codes are the most popular 4-digit PINs people actually use:
| PIN | Percent Selected |
|---|---|
| 1234 | 11% |
| 1111 | 6% |
| 0000 | 1.96% |
| 1212 | 1.2% |
| 7777 | 1.1% |
| 1004 | 0.74% |
| 2000 | 0.65% |
| 4444 | 0.61% |
| 2222 | 0.59% |
| 6969 | 0.56% |
| 9999 | 0.55% |
| 3333 | 0.46% |
As you can see, a staggering 11% of people use "1234" as their super-secure PIN! The repetition and patterns make these very quick to enter…but even more quick for someone else to figure out.
Over 26% of devices studied were cracked using only these 12 common PINs.
We gamers need to do better than that to keep our gear and virtual assets safe!
Choosing a Secure 4-Digit Gaming PIN
So now that you know the most common (and least secure) PINs people use, let‘s talk about choosing a safer 4-digit code for gaming:
Avoid personal info – Don‘t use digits from important dates like birthdays or anniversaries, addresses, or other codes people could guess about you.
Avoid patterns – Repeated digits (1111), sequences (1234), double/mirrors (1212) or keypad patterns (2580) should be off-limits.
Use randomness – A PIN like 6173 may look random, but it just represents my favorite Overwatch hero "Tracer" (616 + 173). For true randomness, use a PIN generating tool.
Change it periodically – Update your gaming PIN every so often before someone can crack it. Just be sure to remember the new code!
Never share it – Your PINs should be top secret. Don‘t disclose them to anyone – in real life or in-game.
Say your friend wanted help getting into a restricted console account and asked for the PIN. Don‘t give it away, no matter how much you trust them!
Gamers‘ Clever Tricks for PIN Management
Memorizing secure random PINs poses a challenge for us gamers juggling so many accounts. Here are some clever tricks I‘ve come across to help:
- Use a password manager app to generate and store gaming PINs
- Come up with a numeric phrase for each PIN. For example, "GoW RULES" = 46958537
- Associate pins with game release dates – Nintendo Switch launched March 3, 2017 > PIN 3308
- Coordinate PINs across devices for patterns, like increasing the last digit sequentially
Just be careful not to make these codes too guessable by those who know you well!
The more unique and complex your gaming PINs, the better for true security. But with a system to track them, randomly generated codes aren‘t so intimidating.
Well folks, I hope this post has shed some light on picking secure yet memorable 4-digit PIN codes for all your gaming needs! Let me know down in the comments if you have any other hot tips or questions about PIN management.
And please feel free to DM me if you ever want advice choosing a new gaming PIN for your own accounts. As long as it‘s not literally asking me to reveal your existing passwords, I‘m happy to provide friendly advice to a fellow gamer!
