How to lock apps on Android without installing anything
Where the built-in app lock is on Xiaomi, vivo, OPPO, realme, OnePlus and Motorola phones, what Samsung and Pixel offer instead, and what an app lock can’t protect.
· 8 min read
Most Android phones can lock apps without installing anything: a locked app asks for a PIN, pattern, password or fingerprint before it opens. The feature has a different name and a different home on every brand, and two big names, Samsung and Google's Pixel, do it differently. Here's how to lock apps on Android with what's already on your phone, brand by brand, and what an app lock does and doesn't protect.
The quickest way to find it on any phone: open Settings, tap the search bar and type app lock.
Built-in app lock, brand by brand
| Phone | What it's called | Where to find it |
|---|---|---|
| Xiaomi, Redmi, POCO | App lock | Settings → Apps → App lock |
| vivo, iQOO | App encryption | Settings → Privacy and app encryption |
| OPPO, realme, OnePlus | App lock | Settings → Security & privacy (or Privacy) → App lock |
| Motorola | Secure folder | The Moto Secure app |
| Samsung | No app lock yet | Secure Folder instead |
| Pixel and other phones with Android 15+ | Private space | Settings → Security & privacy → Private space |
Xiaomi, Redmi and POCO: App lock
Open Settings → Apps → App lock, set a password and turn the lock on for each app. Link your Xiaomi Account when it offers: Xiaomi says that's how you reset a forgotten App lock password, and without it the only way out is a factory reset. The same password can protect hidden apps, as our guide to hiding apps on Redmi and Xiaomi shows, and our Xiaomi App lock guide covers the rest.
vivo and iQOO: App encryption
vivo calls its app lock App encryption. It's under Privacy and app encryption, which sits inside Fingerprint, face and password on many phones, and it uses your privacy password. Our vivo app lock guide has the steps, and the catch: forget both the privacy password and its security answer, and vivo says the only way out is erasing the phone.
OPPO, realme and OnePlus: App lock
ColorOS, realme UI and OxygenOS share one App lock, protected by the same privacy password as Private Safe and Hide apps. Set up a recovery email or security question with that password, because without one, a forgotten privacy password means a factory reset. Our guides to Private Safe on OPPO and realme and OnePlus cover the rest.
Motorola: Secure folder
Motorola locks apps by putting them in Secure folder, part of the Moto Secure app, behind a PIN, password or pattern of its own. It can wear a disguised icon or vanish from your app list, but Motorola can't reset a forgotten Secure folder PIN, as our Moto Secure guide explains.
Samsung: no app lock yet
One UI has no app lock to switch on. Samsung's answer is Secure Folder, which keeps its own copies of apps behind its own lock. Our guide to locking apps on Samsung covers Secure Folder and the other options.
Pixel and Android 15: Private space
Pixel phones have no per-app lock. Since Android 15, they have Private space instead: a separate, locked area for apps, also found on many other phones. Set it up under Settings → Security & privacy → Private space (the path varies by phone), then install the apps you want locked inside it. While it's locked, its apps are hidden from your app list, recent apps and the photo picker, and they can't send notifications.
Two things to know first: Google says a private space isn't restored from a device backup, and if you forget its lock, you can't get back in. Resetting it deletes everything inside. Our list of Secure Folder alternatives compares it with other phones' locked spaces, and our Pixel guide covers setting it up.
Apps that lock themselves
Some apps have a lock of their own, which works on any phone:
- WhatsApp: App lock, in WhatsApp's Settings → Privacy, opens it only with your fingerprint, and Chat lock puts chosen chats in a separate folder.
- Google Photos: its Locked Folder keeps chosen photos behind your screen lock.
- Banking and payment apps usually ask for your PIN or fingerprint every time already.
Lending your phone? Pin the app
If you want to hand someone your phone without them wandering off, Android's app pinning keeps them in one app. Search Settings for "pin" to turn it on. On Samsung it's called Allow apps to be pinned, as our Samsung guide shows, and our guide to screen pinning and Guest mode covers both step by step.
An app lock doesn't lock your photos
Locking your gallery locks the gallery app, not the photos in it. Your file manager, Google Photos and any app with access to your photos can still show them, as our guide to locking your gallery explains.
For photos that need real protection, take them out of the gallery altogether. Hidey is a vault app that encrypts each photo and video you hide, checks the encrypted copy, then deletes the original, so no other app can open it. The vault opens with its own PIN or password, or your fingerprint, separate from your screen lock, on any Android phone. Its backup to a hidden folder in your own Google Drive is free and encrypted before upload. If you forget your PIN, you can reset it through Google after a 24-hour wait, so whoever controls your Google account could too, unless you turn on zero-knowledge mode (Pro).