If you want to keep certain apps out of the reach of other people, you can lock or hide those apps on your Android phone. I’ll show you how to use your phone’s built-in features as well as third-party apps to do that.
The exact steps to follow vary by your phone model. The following guide gives you a general idea of where to find various options.
How to Lock and Unlock Apps Using a Built-In Android Feature
Many Android smartphones offer a built-in feature to lock applications. This lets you put your apps behind a password (or another authentication form) and only allows the people who know the correct authentication to use those apps.
To start locking an app on your phone, head into Settings > Privacy > App Lock and define the password you’ll use to access locked apps. Then, turn on the “App Lock” toggle at the top.
Next to the apps you want to lock, turn on the toggle.
To access an app you’ve locked, launch your phone’s app drawer and tap the locked app (you can also launch the app from the home screen.) Your phone will ask you to authenticate yourself using your preferred method (password or fingerprint). After successfully authenticating yourself, the app will launch.
To unlock an app in the future, head into Settings > Privacy > App Lock and turn off the toggle next to the app you want to unlock. To disable the lock feature completely, toggle off the “App Lock” option at the top.
How to Hide and Unhide Apps Using a Built-In Android Feature
You can hide specific apps so they don’t appear in your phone’s app drawer. This is different from locking an app, as locking an app still keeps the app visible in the app drawer.
To hide an app, go to Settings > Privacy > Hide Apps. Select “Set Up,” tap the gear icon in the top-right corner, and choose “Set Access Code.” You’ll create an access code that you’ll type on your phone’s dial pad to access hidden apps.
On the “Set Access Code” page, type the access code you’d like to use. Then, in the top-right corner, tap the checkmark icon and choose “Done.” Make sure you don’t forget your access code, or you won’t be able to view your hidden apps.
Back on the Settings page, you can turn off alerts from the hidden apps by enabling the “Hide Notifications for Hidden Apps” option.
Get to the app page by tapping the left-arrow icon in the top-left corner. Next to the apps you want to hide, turn on the toggle.
If you access your app drawer, you’ll find that your hidden apps are no longer there. To access those apps, open your phone’s dial pad (as if you’re dialing a phone number) and type the access code you set up above.
As soon as you finish typing the access code, you’ll see the Hidden Apps menu, listing all your hidden apps. You can launch these apps by tapping them.
If you’d like to unhide an app, head into Settings > Privacy > Hide Apps and turn off the toggle next to the app you want to put back in the app drawer.
How to Lock and Unlock Apps Using a Free Third-Party App
If your Android phone doesn’t offer a built-in option to lock apps, don’t worry. There are many apps on the Google Play Store that you can use to lock apps on your phone. One of these ad-supported apps is App Lock – Lock Apps, Password.
To use it, download and install the app on your phone. Launch the app, select “Start Now,” and draw the pattern you’ll use to unlock apps. To use a PIN instead, tap “Switch to PIN” and type the PIN.
The app will then ask you to choose the apps you want to lock. Select the apps you want on the list and choose the “Lock” button.
When the app asks you to grant it various permissions, make sure to select yes for everything.
Your chosen apps are now locked.
To access those apps, launch your phone’s app drawer and tap a locked app, then draw your pattern or enter your PIN.
If you’d like to unlock an app, launch the App Lock app, select “App Lock,” draw your pattern or type your PIN, access the “Locked” tab, and choose the app to unlock. Then, tap “Unlock” in the prompt.
How to Hide and Unhide Apps Using a Free Third-Party Android Launcher
If your Android phone doesn’t offer the option to hide apps, you can use a custom launcher to get that functionality. One such option is Niagara Launcher. (If you like a specific launcher, check out that launcher’s settings menu to see if it offers the option to hide apps.)
First, download and install Niagara Launcher. Open the launcher and go through the welcome screens. Then, to hide an app, tap and hold an app and choose Advanced > Hide App From List.
In the prompt that opens, choose “Hide From App List” to finish hiding the app.
The launcher hides your app in the app drawer, but the app will still be visible in Settings and search.
To unhide a hidden app, find the app using search. Tap and hold on the app and select “Show Again.” The app is now unhidden.
And that’s how you can lock or hide private apps on your Android device, giving you more privacy.
