It’s quite common to have to hand your iPhone over to someone else. Maybe your little nephew wants to play games. Or maybe your friends want to check out your last vacation photos. Whatever the reason, no matter how much you trust that person, there’s probably something about your phone that you don’t want anyone to see (even by accident).
This is where iOS 18’s new Face ID lock comes into play. iPhone can now require biometric authentication each time certain apps are launched. (Although this article refers to Face ID, if you have an older phone with Touch ID, you can use that instead.) It means that you cannot directly participate in the conversation or the current conversation. Dating app of choice.
If you’re thinking, “Before iOS 18, you could lock apps with Face ID,” you’re right, to an extent. technology It was It was available, but it was up to the app developer to implement it. And for the most part, I haven’t seen many developers adding Face ID login outside of banking and financial apps. (With some exceptions such as Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp.)
Lock apps on iOS 18
A new feature after the rollout of iOS 18 is the ability to lock apps using Face ID, whether or not the developer has built in support for this feature. Now you can protect your games, chat apps, social media, and more with Face ID login.
It comes with another feature: the option to hide apps. This is available for all third-party apps, but not for apps installed with iOS 18. Hidden apps don’t appear on your home screen and have their own hidden folder in your app library. Also, keep in mind that you won’t receive notifications from hidden apps.
You can lock and unlock apps from your home screen or app library.
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- Long press the app icon to display the app menu.
- tap Face recognition required Lock apps with Face ID.
- The next pop-up menu will ask you to confirm by tapping again. Face recognition required.
- Or in the second menu, Hide and request Face ID Lock apps with Face ID and hide them from your home screen.
- If you choose to hide an app, you will be notified that the app will only be available in your app library and you will no longer receive “notifications, calls, or important alerts” from the app.
Every time you launch an app locked in this way, it will require Face ID authorization to actually open. This means that no one but you will be able to access it.
To remove Face ID restrictions, press and hold the app to see the menu. If you choose to hide an app, you’ll need to open the hidden folder in your app library to access the option again. Additionally, you will need to replace the icons on your home screen. The icon will not automatically reappear on the same page as before.
Stay in one app with Guided Access
There’s another trick you can use when lending your phone to someone. Set up Guided Access, an iOS accessibility feature, to ensure that someone can only use one app or game on your device.
This feature can be enabled from iOS settings.
- tap accessibility and guided access.
- turn on guided access toggle switch.
- tap Passcode settings Set a custom passcode or enable Face ID.
Navigate to the app your friend or family member wants to use and press the power button three times to launch Guided Access. guided access after that start.
The navigation bar disappears and you can no longer switch to the home screen or other apps. The only way to get out of Guided Access is to press the power button three times again. At this point, Face ID authentication (or a custom passcode) is required.
With a Face ID lock, Guided Access, or a combination of both, you can lend out your iPhone without worrying about what other people are doing.
