You’ve probably already had to lend your iPhone to someone and be afraid that they will open an application that they shouldn’t open. It’s okay, we’re not hiding anything bad, but maybe we just don’t want anyone snooping into private things. It doesn’t matter how much trust we have in this person. Well there are ways to a password protects these applications to prevent them from being opened accidentally.
There are apps like WhatsApp that already add this option in their settings, but there are many others that don’t add it. In iOS there is no setting that allows you to add this extra protection, although it is possible to configure it in two ways with the native application “Shortcuts” and even with a setting “Duration of use “.
An iOS automation for setting passwords for apps
Maybe you haven’t given it much thought, but the “Shortcuts” app is extremely powerful for problems like this. There is the possibility of configuring an automation which causes When you open an app, iPhone automatically locks and therefore asks you to enter the password or recognize you using Face ID/Touch ID. The steps to follow are very simple:
- Open the “Shortcuts” app and navigate to the “Automations” tab.
- Click ‘New Automation’.
- Select the “Application” option.
- Click “Application” and choose which application you want to configure it in (you can select several).
- Now click “Ok” at the top right.
- Only keep the “Opens” and “Run immediately” options checked.
- Click “Next,” then choose “New Empty Automation.”
- Now click on “Add action” and in the search engine write “lock screen”, then select an option called that.
- Click “OK”.
Once done, you will see that when you try to open the selected application, your iPhone locks, so this can be a good obstacle for other people’s eyes to see what they shouldn’t. Of course, from my personal experience, I must say that this action works best when done with a single applicationbecause when there are several in the same automation, the execution usually takes a few seconds and they are enough for at least the application to open for a few seconds.
This hidden iPhone setting adds passwords to your apps
In the settings of the iPhone itself, there is a feature actually designed to set limits for you when using a certain app. And while it’s not as convenient as above, at some point it also serves the purpose of asking for a password when opening an app.
- Open “Settings” and navigate to the “Duration” section.
- Go to the “Screen Time Blocking Settings” section.
- Create a four-digit passcode (it doesn’t have to be the same as the one on the iPhone) and add an email to send instructions if you forget it at any time.
- Without leaving the “Usage Duration” panel, now go to “Application Usage Limits”.
- Click “Add Limit” and select the app(s) you want to restrict.
- For time, choose the minimum, which is one minute, and make sure the “Block when limit is reached” box is enabled.
- Click ‘Add’.
So once a minute has passed since you used this app, every time you enter you will be asked for a code. It is advisable that if you leave your iPhone with someone, you have already been in the app for that minute, ensuring that it will be blocked if that person wants to enter.
Now there is also the option to request more time from this screen and this will allow that person to access the content. It is therefore not the best option, ultimately leaving automation as the best option of all.
Bonus Track: Hide iPhone Photos and Videos
And what happens if we only want to hide a few photos and videos, but we want the rest to be seen? Their eyes There is a setting for the “Photos” app that allows this. This is by no means anything new and you may already know it, but otherwise it’s very interesting.
The first thing to do is to access Settings > Pictures and verify that the “Use Face ID/Touch ID” option is enabled. Then simply open the ‘Photos’ application, select the content we want to hide and tap and hold the selection to open a menu of options. There we must click on “Hide” and, like the name of this option, you will see that they disappear from the album.
These photos and videos do not disappear completely, but are found in ‘Hidden’, within the ‘Album’ tab. You will see that when entering, facial or fingerprint recognition is necessary to be able to see what is hidden there. If you want to go further in confidentiality, you can also prevent this album from appearing among those mentioned Settings > Picturesin this case deactivating the ‘Show hidden album’ option.
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