6 Ways to Lock Apps on iPhone and iPad in 2022
- WBOYforward
- 2023-04-13 10:04:095800browse
Locking apps has long been a part of daily life for Android users. The ability to lock individual apps gives your device an extra layer of security, especially when sharing it with your friends or family.
While Apple doesn’t give you an easy way to lock apps, there are some workarounds you can use to your advantage. Let’s see how to lock apps on iOS devices.
Can you lock apps on iPhone?
Yes and no. Apple doesn't offer third-party app developers the option to lock apps on iPhone using built-in passwords or biometric security, with a few exceptions. Therefore, there is no built-in way to lock apps on your iPhone, and there are no third-party apps on the App Store that let you do so.
However, like all technology, there are workarounds that allow you to lock any app on your iPhone, regardless of the restrictions imposed by Apple. If you value privacy and want to lock down individual apps, here are 6 workarounds you can deploy.
- Create Automations
- Lock apps with built-in functionality by replacing them with password-protected shortcuts
- Lock official Apple apps by restricting content
- Lock any app by limiting its daily screen time
- Use Guided Access feature
How to Lock Apps on iPhone in 5 Ways
If you're running iOS or iPadOS 15, here's how to lock apps on your iOS or iPadOS device.
Method 01: Lock Any App by Creating an Automation
Open the Shortcuts app from your iPhone’s home screen.
Click "Automation".
Click "Create Personal Automation".
Scroll down and click "Apps".
Click on the "Select" option to select the app you want to lock.
#Select the application you want to lock and click "Done" after completing the selection.
Note: You can select multiple applications in this step.
Click "Next".
Click "Add Action".
Search for "timer" in the search bar at the top and click "Start timer" from the search results.
After adding the action to the automation, change the minutes to "1".
Similarly, change "Minutes" to "Seconds" by clicking on it.
Click "Second".
When completed, click "Next".
Click and disable the "Ask before running" toggle.
When prompted, click "Don't Ask".
Make sure to disable the "Ask before running" and "Notify at runtime" options. Then, click "Done."
The automation has now been created.
Now open the Clock app on your device.
Click "Timer".
Click "When timer ends".
Scroll down and click on the "Stop Playing" option.
That’s all. The automation required to lock down the Facebook app has now been created. Let's test it out.
Open locked apps on your device.
After one second, your device will automatically lock. To access an app or device, you must unlock your device.
Open the Shortcuts app on your device.
Click "My Shortcuts".
Click the " " icon to create a new shortcut.
Click on the "Add Action" option.
Use the search bar to search for the word "requirements". Once it appears in your search results, click "Request input."
Click "Text" to choose a password format for your locked apps. You can also use a numeric password.
Click the password format you want to use. For this tutorial, we will choose the "Text" format.
Note: Text format allows you to enter any number of numbers, while number format only allows you to enter a single number.
Click "Prompt" and enter the prompt you want to see when you open a locked app that asks for your password.
Enter the tip that best suits your needs.
NOTE: This message will appear in the notification asking you to enter the settings input (password) required to access the application.
In the "Next steps" section, click "If."
After adding the "if" operation, click "Condition".
In the criteria list, click Yes.
Now, click on “Text” and enter the password for your application.
For this tutorial we will choose the following password: 1234.
# Click the search bar near the bottom of the Shortcuts app.
Search for "Open App" and click on it once it appears in the results.
Replace "Open App" Once an action is added to your shortcut, tap and hold the action to change its position in the order of execution.
Reposition the "Open App" action to location as shown in the image below, and then click on it.
From the list of applications, select the application on which you want to use this shortcut. For this tutorial, we The Facebook application will be selected.
Note: One instance of this shortcut may only be used on one application.
That’s it. The shortcut is now created. We will complete the process by adding a home screen icon to access this shortcut. To do this, follow the steps below.
Now, click on the Preferences icon.
Under the details section, click on the "Add to Home Screen" option.
To change the name of this shortcut, click Default Name and enter the name of the application this shortcut works for. For example, in our case we will change the name to "Facebook".
Click "Add".
After adding this new password-protected shortcut, you can remove the official Facebook app icon to avoid confusion.
To do this, tap and hold on the official Facebook app icon on your iPhone’s home screen and tap on the “Delete App” option.
Click on the "Remove from Home Screen" option.
Finally, let’s see how this shortcut works.
Tap the newly created Facebook shortcut from your iPhone’s Home screen.
As expected, you will receive a notification asking you to enter your password. Enter this password and click "Done".
You can now use Facebook.
Apple comes with a Screen Time feature that can be used to lock first-party apps.
Note: First-party apps are apps created by Apple.
Screen Time feature can be used to block apps based on 2 factors: time restrictions and content and privacy restrictions. In this section, we'll cover how to block first-party apps using the latter method. So, without further ado, let’s get started.
Open the Settings app from your iPhone’s Home screen.
Click on the "Screen Time" option.
Click "Turn on Screen Time" to set up the Screen Time feature.
Click "Continue".
Click on the "This is my iPhone" option.
#Now, go back to Screen Time settings and tap on the “Use Screen Time Passcode” option.
Assign appropriate passwords to your Screen Time settings.
#In the Screen Time Password Recovery window, enter your Apple ID credentials and click OK.
Return to Screen Time settings and click on the "Content and Privacy Restrictions" option.
Enter your Screen Time passcode.
Make sure the Content and Privacy Restrictions toggle is enabled.
Note: A green toggle button means the option is enabled, while a gray toggle button means the option is disabled.
Click "Allowed Apps".
Find the app you want to lock and tap the toggle button next to it. For this application, we will lock the Safari application.
Note: A green toggle button means the app is allowed, while a gray toggle button means the app is locked.
Make sure the toggle button next to the app you want to lock is gray.
Now that the app is locked, let’s see if you can access it without entering the Screen Time passcode.
It turns out that the Safari app cannot be accessed from the iPhone’s home screen.
To access locked apps, you must access Screen Time settings and ensure locked apps are allowed from the Content & Privacy Restrictions settings.
Method 04: Lock an App by Limiting Screen Time
Another way to lock an app on iPhone is to limit the allowed screen time for this app each day. The App Limits option in Screen Time settings lets you set daily limits for any app you want.
Once this limit is exceeded, you will be required to provide your Screen Time passcode if you want further access to this app outside of your allotted Screen Time.
Let’s see how to lock apps on iPhone using App Restrictions option.
Open the Settings app from your iPhone’s Home screen.
Click on the "Screen Time" option.
Click "Turn on Screen Time" to set up the Screen Time feature.
Click "Continue".
Click on the "This is my iPhone" option.
#Now, go back to Screen Time settings and tap on the “Use Screen Time Passcode” option.
Assign appropriate passwords to your Screen Time settings.
#In the Screen Time Password Recovery window, enter your Apple ID credentials and click OK.
Return to Screen Time settings and tap the “App Limits” option.
Click on the "Add Restriction" option.
Swipe down on the screen to see the search bar.
Search for the app you want to lock and tap on it. For this tutorial, we will add screen time limits to the Facebook app. After selecting all the apps you want to add time limits to, click the Add icon
Click Next.
Make sure the "Block when restriction ends" toggle button is enabled.
Now, reset the time to 0 hours 1 min and click "Add".
As you can see, the app restrictions on the Facebook app have been added.
Now, let’s see how these application restrictions apply.
Open the Facebook app from your iPhone’s Home screen.
After the set time (1 minute) has passed, you will see the following window.
From here, you can click on the "Request More Time" option to use Facebook for 1 more minute without entering your Screen Time passcode.
#However, after this extra minute has passed, you will need to enter your Screen Time passcode to use Facebook.
#To use Facebook, enter your Screen Time passcode.
Click on the option that applies to you.
You can now access Facebook again.
Method 05: How to Use Guided Access on iPhone
The Guided Access feature on iPhone works in a completely different way. This option can be used to lock the current user into the application they are using when guided access is triggered.
Once this function is triggered, the user will be locked in the application. Users cannot exit this mode unless they know the Guided Access passcode, or your iPhone can scan one of the registered Face IDs.
This feature is useful when the primary user of the iPhone doesn’t want the secondary user (the one they loan the iPhone to) to snoop on any other apps on their iPhone other than the ones they have open.
Let’s see how to implement and then use Guided Access on iPhone.
Open the Settings app from your iPhone’s Home screen.
Scroll down and click Accessibility.
Under the “General” section, click on the “Guided Access” option.
Click the Guided Access toggle button to enable it.
NOTE: The toggle button will turn green when enabled.
Click "Password Settings".
Click on the "Set Boot Access Password" option.
#Enter your password to use Guided Access.
#You can also associate your Face ID with Guided Access. Click the corresponding toggle button to enable it.
Once enabled the toggle button will turn green,
Guided Access is now enabled, let’s see how Use this feature on the Facebook app.
Open the Facebook app from your iPhone’s Home screen.
#With the app open, press the Side button or Home button on your iPhone 3 times to start a boot session.
Boot sessions also allow you to disable specific areas of the screen. To do this, tap and drag your finger over the area you want to disable. This will create a selection area that can be further resized to your liking.
Now, click on the Start icon.
You will see a notification that a Guided Access session has started.
You can now continue browsing Facebook during this quarantine session without worrying about users having access to other apps on your iPhone.
#To exit this Guided Access session, triple-click the Side button or Home button on your iPhone.
Method 06: Lock Specific Apps from Settings [Banking Apps]
While not all apps have this feature, some Programs, especially ones that require every inch of privacy and security they can provide to ensure user trust, have built-in options that require methods like passwords, Touch ID, or Face ID to access them.
Some common examples of these Face ID enabled apps are banking apps like PayPal, BHIM, etc. Other apps like Google Drive and Outlook support Touch ID. You can follow these steps to find out which apps installed on your iPhone have Face ID functionality:
Open the Settings app from your iPhone's Home screen.
Scroll down and tap on the “Face ID & Passcode” option.
If prompted, enter your password.
Click on the "Other Apps" option under the "USE FACE ID FOR" section.
Here you can see a list of apps that use Face ID on your device.
#From this list, you can turn an app's access to Face ID on or off fairly easily. To do this, simply disable or enable the toggle button next to this app to turn off or on this app's access to Face ID.
Someone opened an app on your iPhone while you were away? Find out who they are.
You can modify the shortcut we created in the second method above to allow you to click on a picture when using a wrong password to unlock a locked app on your device. This can help you identify users who try to open locked apps on your device. Please follow the tutorial below to help you through the process.
Note: You will need the shortcut we created in Method 02 to use this tutorial.
Open the shortcut created in Method 02 by clicking on the three-dot icon.
Click the search bar near the bottom of the screen.
Search for the "Photo" action and click on it.
Make sure the camera option is set to "Front". However, if not, click on the “Back” option and change it to “Front”.
In the "Photography" operation, click the "More Options" icon.
Click Show camera preview to disable it.
Note: The gray toggle button indicates that the option is disabled. So make sure the Shoe Camera Preview toggle button is gray.
Drag and reposition the "Photo" action between the "Else" and "End If" actions
Add another action called "Save to Album" to your shortcuts.
Drag and reposition this shortcut between the Take Photo and End If actions.
Finally, let’s see how this new shortcut works.
Tap the created Facebook shortcut from your iPhone’s Home screen.
As expected, you will receive a notification asking you to enter your password.
Now, if you enter the correct password, this shortcut will open the Facebook app. However, if you enter the wrong password, the shortcut will use the front-facing camera to take a photo and save it in the Photos app.
After accessing your device, you can open the Photos app and use the most recent photo taken with the front camera to infer attempts to open locked apps on the device without success people. You can also disable notifications for Shortcuts apps to ensure maximum privacy.
FAQ
What password do you use when you use automation to lock a single application?
If you use the automation method, the password required to unlock the app is the password you assigned to the automation when you created it in the Shortcuts app.
You can view or change this password at any time through the Shortcuts app.
Are there any third-party apps I can use to lock apps on my iPhone?
Yes. There are third-party apps that can be used to lock apps on your iPhone. However, before using these apps, you need to jailbreak your iOS device using Cydia.
Unfortunately, jailbreaking your iPhone can be a tricky task, and we recommend you be cautious about it. Furthermore, these apps are paid and not free to use even after your iOS device is jailbroken.
The above is the detailed content of 6 Ways to Lock Apps on iPhone and iPad in 2022. For more information, please follow other related articles on the PHP Chinese website!