If you have personal information that you do not want others to see, you can choose to secure apps on your iPhone. This can of course be for various reasons. For example, if you do not want your children to be able to open all apps or do you want others to be unable to use your phone when they have it in their hands, then locking apps is recommended.
Weekly Apple tips in your mail
Every week these kinds of tips in your mailbox? Sign up now for our free newsletter!
–
Unfortunately your registration did not work. Please try again later.
–
1. Unwanted access from others
Of course, other people’s access to your phone is undesirable. Especially when this concerns people who should never get their hands on your phone. We are talking about hackers here. They have the option of remotely accessing your phone. This does not even concern specific apps, but can already happen because you use an open WiFi network or click on a certain link or advertisement.
To avoid this, a VPN a handy tool. This way you prevent hackers from gaining easy access to your phone. A VPN masks and encrypts the data that you send and receive via your phone. This means that this data cannot be intercepted in any case. In addition, your location is hidden, so that it is impossible for hackers to find out exactly where you are. It is therefore always recommended to use such a tool when connecting to an open WiFi network, for example.
2. Guided access
Guided Access is the first option you can use to lock apps on your iPhone. The disadvantage of this method is that it is not possible to lock multiple apps at the same time. In addition, you can only deny the user access to the rest of the phone. The user therefore only has the option to use the one app that you allow. You can read how to activate this here:
- Go to Settings’.
- Click on ‘Accessibility’.
- Then go to ‘Guided Access’ and turn it on.
- Click on ‘Settings passcode’ and set a code and possibly Face ID or Touch ID.
Then you can open the app you want to use, for example Spotify, and click the side button or home button three times. In this way you can activate guided access. As mentioned, the user now no longer has the option to leave the app. This is because an access code (possibly with Face ID or Touch ID) is required. However, the functions within that one app can still be used.
3. Use Screen Time
In addition, you can Screen time to lock apps on your iPhone. Although the iPhone doesn’t have an app or function for this, you can use Screen Time for this. By setting an app limit, you have to enter your password every time you open the app.
Unfortunately you have to set a value for this, which is possible from one minute. The first minute that the app is open, nothing will happen. If the app limit is then reached, a password is required to use the app longer. You can set this up as follows:
- Go to Settings’.
- Click on ‘Screen Time’.
- Click on the ‘App Limits’ category.
- Then you can add a limit.
When setting the limits, you can do this for all apps or for certain apps. Securing your iPhone’s calculator isn’t very important. However, social media, contacts and photos and videos are of course important. You can tick all these apps individually.
Different ways
So there are different ways to lock your apps. Unfortunately, Apple itself does not yet offer a function that allows you to do this per app. Still, Guided Access and Screen Time are two alternatives you can try. If you want to prevent people from remotely accessing your phone, it is best to purchase a VPN for this.
–
