Screen pinning and Guest mode: lend your phone without showing your photos

Handing your phone to someone to make a call, watch a video or look at one photo usually means trusting them not to swipe further. Android has two built-in ways to set limits. Screen pinning keeps them in one app, and Guest mode gives them a separate, empty space of their own. Here's how to use both, what each one doesn't cover, and how to keep private photos safe while your phone is in someone else's hands.

How to turn on screen pinning

Google calls it App pinning. Turn it on once, and it's there whenever you need it:

Open Settings and tap Security (or Security & privacy).
Open Advanced or More security settings, then App pinning.
Turn on App pinning.

The path varies by phone, so if you can't find it, search Settings for "pinning". Google says that when app pinning is on, your PIN, pattern or password is needed to unpin. On some phones that's a separate switch, so check it's on, or the person you hand your phone to can simply unpin it.

How to pin an app

Open the app you want to pin.
Open Overview: swipe up to the middle of the screen and hold, or tap the Overview button.
Tap the app's icon at the top of its window, then tap Pin.

The person holding your phone can now use only that app.

How to unpin an app

Gesture navigation: swipe up and hold.
Two-button navigation: touch and hold Back and Home.
Three-button navigation: touch and hold Back and Overview.

Then enter your PIN, pattern or password if your phone asks for it.

Screen pinning on Samsung

Samsung keeps it under Settings → Security and privacy → More security settings: turn on Allow apps to be pinned. To pin, open Recents, tap the app's icon at the top of its window and choose Pin this app. Samsung says you unpin by touching and holding Recents and Back together. Our guide to locking apps on Samsung covers Samsung's other options.

What pinning doesn't protect

Pinning keeps someone in one app, not out of what's inside it. Pin Gallery or Google Photos to show one photo, and they can swipe through all the others. Pin a browser, and they can go anywhere it can. So pin an app that holds nothing private, such as a video, a game or the call screen, and keep your private photos somewhere the app can't reach.

How to use Guest mode

Guest mode gives someone their own space on your phone, with its own apps and home screen. Google says files, messages and photos aren't shared between your profile and the guest's, so your gallery stays yours.

Open Settings, tap System, then Multiple users. If you can't find it, search Settings for "users".
Turn on Allow multiple users.
To switch, swipe down twice from the top of the screen, tap the user icon and choose Guest.

Google describes the guest profile as made for short-term use: it's easy to delete once the guest is done. Remove the guest when you get your phone back, and whatever they did goes with it. Some things are shared, though, such as Wi-Fi and Bluetooth settings.

Phones without Guest mode

Not every phone has it. Samsung's Galaxy phones don't offer Guest mode or multiple users at all, although Galaxy tablets do. On a Galaxy phone, use app pinning, and keep private apps in Secure Folder. On other phones, if Multiple users isn't in Settings, your phone can't add users.

Keeping your photos safe either way

Pinning and Guest mode only help if you remember them before you hand the phone over. If you think someone went further than you meant, our checklist shows how to tell. Private photos need protection that's on all the time, and an app lock alone only locks the gallery app, as our guide to locking your gallery explains.

Hidey is a vault app that takes private photos and videos out of your gallery altogether: it encrypts each one on your phone, checks the encrypted copy, then deletes the original, so whatever app you pin, those photos aren't in it. The vault locks itself as soon as you leave it, or after a delay you choose, and its contents don't show in the recent apps screen. Both are free. If someone tries to get in anyway, Pro's intruder selfie photographs whoever types a wrong PIN into Hidey, as our guide to seeing who tried to unlock your phone explains. For locking other apps, see how to lock apps on Android.