Since mobile phones have become a means to pay bills, it has become essential to secure them. After all, your phone may be the most vital gadget in your daily life. If someone gets to snoop on your mobile, they can find your bank account’s details.
Passcode protect individual Android apps on your phone works best in such cases. But many people only know to lock their phone’s screen. If you are one of those looking for ways to lock all the individual apps, then this article may have the answers. You need to scroll down to find them.
Why does the passcode protect individual Android apps?
Locking your phone is important for so many reasons. Some of the main ones are:
- Securing Your Personal Information
- Securing Your Bank Account Details
- To Prevent Unwanted Situations Like Hacking
- To Protect Other’s Personal Information
1. Securing Your Personal Information
The first and most important reason to lock your phone is to secure your personal information. Having a screen lock may be enough. But, for extra security, locking individual apps on your phone is better.
2. Securing Your Bank Account Details
Along with your personal information, your phone contains other details. Anyone can hack into your bank’s account to rob your money. Thus, locking payment transferring apps can avoid serious troubles.
3. To Prevent Unwanted Situations Like Hacking
Your phone has two most vital pieces of information, including your personal and professional details. With these details, anyone can hack into your systems or bank accounts. So, setting up a password won’t hurt to keep your personal and professional things safe.
4. To Protect Other’s Personal Information
You should know that your phone not only contains your information but of others too. If you do not put a password on your phone, you risk other people’s security.
Use Third-party Apps For Setting Passwords On Individual Apps
This solution is for those users who do not have any in-built feature to lock individual apps. You can use third-party app-locking apps. All you have to do is go to Google Play Store and download the app. The rest is easy to follow. For step by step guide, see below.
- AppLock Or Other Locking App
- AppLock Pro
- Smart AppLock
- Secure Folder Feature For Samsung Users
- Screen Pinning
- Screen Time For iOS Users
1. AppLock Or Other Locking App
AppLock is an app that’s quite popular among users. When you search for AppLock on Google Play Store, download the one made by DoMobile Lab. To lock individual apps on your Android phone with this app is simple; you have to:
- Open Google Play Store and download the app from there.
- Once you have downloaded the app, launch it.
- The app will ask you to input a password. Do not input the lock screen’s password. Could you create a new one and enter it?
- Also, make sure to enable any permission for AppLock. Giving permissions will allow the app to pop on top of the apps whenever you try to access the app.
- Now choose the apps that you want passcode protected.
- Tap on the “Lock” option.
- After the lock is set, the app will notify you about it.
- To confirm that the app’s working, try opening the app on which you have set the passcode. People prefer this app because it has flexible features, including fingerprint locking. It also has a battery-saving feature that extends the battery life and keeps the phone cool.
2. AppLock Pro
If you want to go full-fledged for security, then paid app can offer you that. AppLock Pro will cost you a few cents, but its features are worth it. It also lets you set up a false Crash Screen. With the help of this feature, you can hide the apps you have put on the lock. It has a handful of security features that are worth the money.
3. Smart AppLock
Some apps do not offer quality services and may take forever to kick start if you restart your phone. With Smart AppLock, you can select pattern locks, PINs, or fingerprint locks. It also consumes less memory and works faster as compared to other apps.
The most useful feature it has is the one that sends break-in alerts. Simply put, the app will alert you if someone tries to break into your phone.
Other In-built Security Features For Android
Sometimes using third-party apps can call more trouble than solving it. So, to put an extra layer of security on your phone, you can use some other Android in-built features. These features are effective in securing the data stored in different apps. The step-by-step guide for using the features is below.
4. Secure Folder Feature For Samsung Users
Samsung users can use the Secure folder feature. This feature allows you to insert the apps into a lockable virtual folder. You can set a PIN, passcode, fingerprint, or iris lock with its help. So, to add the apps to the secure folder, follow these steps:
- Open settings and tap on the option Biometrics and security.
- Select Secure Folder.
- Now tap on Lock Type to choose the kind of lock you want to set.
- Select one option: PIN, Password, Pattern, fingerprint, or iris.
- Navigate to the app drawer and tap the Secure Folder button. After that, tap on Add apps.
- A list of installed apps on your phone will appear. Select the ones that you want to insert in the Secure Folder. After that, tap on the Add button, which you may find in the top right corner.
- At last, tap on the Lock option from Secure Folder’s menu.
To check whether this feature works, open the apps you inserted in the Secure Folder. If it works, a prompt asking for the passcode, PIN, fingerprint, or iris will appear on the screen.
5. Screen Pinning
Screen Pinning is a nice way to lock the culprit in. The lock screen will activate if someone tries to exit the added app. If someone tries to snoop into an app, that person won’t be able to open another app as the screen lock will activate.
Screen Pinning feature is effective for Android OS 9.0 Pie. So, if it matches your phone’s description, then follow these steps:
- Navigate to your phone’s Settings and open Security & Location.
- Select Advanced and then tap on the Screen Pinning option.
- Toggle on both the “Screen Pinning” and “Ask for PIN before unpinning” options.
- At the bottom of the screen, you will find the Overview button. Tap on it.
- Now select the app you want to pin for security and confirm the action by tapping on the Pin option.
- At last, select Got It.
These are somewhat the common steps that most Android devices may follow. But they can differ depending upon the phone you use.
Locking Apps On iPhone
All smartphones, including Android or iOS, offer features to lock the screen. But some do not offer to lock individual apps. If you use an iPhone or an iPad, you can lock the phone screen using a passcode, Face ID, or Touch ID. You won’t find any feature in Apple’s smartphones that can lock individual apps. On the bright side, there is a feature called Screen Time. It lets you lock the app for an assigned time frame.
6. Screen Time For iOS Users
This feature is a boon for those who want to reduce their usage of applications. If you wish to use it, then here is a step-by-step guide:
- On your phone, open Settings and select Screen Time.
- Tap on the App Limits option and then again tap on Add Limit. A list containing the apps installed on your iPhone will display.
- Tick the boxes beside the apps you want to lock and select the Next option to proceed.
- Now set the time for how long you want the apps locked.
Know that after the time you have selected runs out, the screen time feature will be disabled.
Conclusion
So, these are some of the easiest ways to lock your Android phone. If you can’t do it with the built-in feature, download any trusted third-party app. When it’s about locking individual apps, third-party apps work the best. For better security, select the paid services.