How To Lock Apps On IPhone And IPad (iOS 11 Included)

Many iPhone users want to lock apps to protect their privacy information and so do I. So I spent two days in doing some research about this topic. Locking apps on iPhone is one of the most secure ways to keep our privacy stuff from spying eyes. Although some third-party apps like Dropbox can provide lock facilities, but it is not easy to manage. In this article, I will talk about how to lock individual or multiple apps on iPhone or iPad and it falls into below three parts. Launch the Settings app on your iOS devices like iPhone and iPad. Then tap on General, scroll down and choose Restrictions. Tap on Enable Restrictions and enter a restrictions passcode which you must remember for changing your settings and disabling restrictions whenever. If you forget restrictions passcode, you have to erase your device, and then set it up as a new one to remove the passcode.

Then you can scroll down through the list and customize the types of apps, content, and settings you want others to have access to. Under the Allow section, turn off any apps that you don’t want others accessing without your permission. And you can disable Restrictions anytime you want. If you want to change your current restrictions passcode, you have to enter it to disable Restrictions, and then enter a new one to enable Restrictions. And this way is only available for built-in apps and not for third-party apps. Guided Access helps you temporarily restrict your iOS device or make sure that all attention remains on a single app. It also prevents you or someone else from accidentally exiting to the Home screen or another app when you don't mean to. It is super useful when you want yourself or others focus on only an app or don’t want others to have access to other apps. Tap Settings on your iOS device, then tap General and choose Accessibility.

Scroll down to Guided Access. Turn on Guided Access and tap on Passcode Settings to set a 4 digit password which you can remember. The password helps you control the use of Guided Access and prevent someone else from leaving an active Guided Access session. And then switch Accessibility Shortcut to On. After you set up Guided Access, here you can start a Guided Access session. Just go to the app you want open and triple click the Home button, then circle any areas of the screen that you would like to make inaccessible. You can also tap on Options to adjust settings for the session, and tap Start at the top of the screen to begin Guided Access. If you have jailbroken your iPhone or iPad, you can lock apps with ease via some jailbreak tweaks like BioPretect. Cydia’s BigBoss repo allows you to protect your apps with Touch ID or passcode and keep your most valuable and private stuff from prying eyes.

In order to use BioProtect, you must have your iPhone Touch ID enabled and follow below steps to see how this app works for you. Tip: If you haven’t jailbroken your device and want to, please follow the guide Why You Should and Shouldn’t Jailbreak iPhone or iPad to understand the pros and cons of jailbreaking your device. After you jailbreak your iPhone or iPad, launch Cydia on your iOS device. Sources and tap on BigBoss repo source, and then search BioProtect. Purchase and tap on install button. After installing, you will have the function of fingerprint protection for your iOS apps. Before you can use BioProtect, Touch ID must be configured with at least one fingerprint and every time access to this application it will require a Touch ID. BioProtect, verify your fingerprint and you will see your BioProtect settings. By default BioProtect is enabled. Turn on Protect AppSwitcher and Vibrate on error. Under “Protected Applications”, you can switch on the toggle which is next to the app you want to lock. Then every time you want to open the protected app, it will require your Touch ID. No right Touch ID, no access. You can also toggle one multiple apps as you like. Though BioProtect can unlock and lock applications within a second using your fingerprints, but it is for users who are only interested in Touch ID-based app security. If you are interested in password-based app security, you can also try AppLocker for iOS. By the way, any iOS apps can create many temporary files like cache, cookies and eat up your space, so it is indispensible to clean up your iPhone or iPad regularly by using third-party iPhone cleaning tool.

When an old iOS 5 device requests a new app from your library (rather than from the iTunes Store), it’ll search for an old, compatible version and-if one exists-grab it. We’ll demonstrate the trick with the popular comic book reading app Comic Zeal. If you attempt to download Comic Zeal an an old device (which is presently listed in the App Store as requiring iOS 8.2 or above), you’ll get an installation error like the one we highlighted above. To get Comic Zeal on our iPad, we need to make a quick stop at either our computer or another, newer, iOS device. Does it matter which you use, Only if you’re downloading an application that is iPad only-if you search for an iPad only app on your iPhone you won’t see it in the search results. For our example, we’ll use iTunes. Fire up the app and search in the search box for the name of your application. Select the app in the search results. Click the “Buy” or “Get” button, depending on whether the app is paid or free. Once you click the Get or Buy button, you don’t have to wait for the app to actually download to your computer (and we recommend you don’t, actually, as it will be a new version you can’t use anyway). Having purchased the app, head over to your older iOS device and search for the exact app in the App Store or click on the “Purchased” icon in the lower navigation bar. When you locate the app, click the “Install” button. After you click “Install”, you’ll see a popup like the one below indicating that there is an older version of the app available for download. Click “Download” the last compatible version.