Let’s face it: Your whole life is on your smartphone, isn’t it? With more of us putting more and more of ourselves in apps, it’s well past time we all started looking at using encryption to our advantage. One way you can do this is using a VPN like IPVanish, which has a great app for Android, whenever you connect to public WiFi with your smartphone.
Another useful form of encryption comes from app lock tools like the 10 we’ll look at in this article. They can protect you, with encryption, if someone does manage to get into your smartphone via digital or physical means.
Best app lock tools for Android
1. App Lock
App Lock is one of the most well known app locking Android tools. Their user base is over 100 million, so you know they’ll be around to support you for a long time, they are even available 24 languages.
App Lock lets users lock up their:
- SMS
- Gmail
- Gallery
- Settings
- Calls app
- Other installed apps.
You can also hide your Pictures and Videos. You know …THOSE pictures and videos. Everything then operates through a passcode, with a recovery email address setup as well.
2. Advanced Protection
This app lock tool is more of an extension than a stand alone app. It was developed by the Applock team from above. With Advanced Protection on your Android you’ll be able to:
- Set it so your phone can’t uninstall App Lock without a password.
This may seem small, but hackers love to uninstall app lock tools to gain access to apps you have tried to lock. They’re not nice like that.
3. Smart AppLock
Smart AppLock is an advanced app locker with strong features. Some of which include:
- Locking apps with a PIN, words, or a pattern.
- A photo taking feature which snaps a photo of the person unlocking and sends it to an email address. Hello, thief!
- A fake ‘app crashed’ screen that tricks thieves into thinking the app is crashed rather than locked.
These 3 unique features lead many to choose Smart App Lock for their Android. It may not seem like much, until you can show the police a photo of the person who stole your phone. …maybe it was Steve from accounting and you can finally catch him red handed…
4. Apps Lock & Gallery Hider
For those who lend their phones to others, like your kid brother who wants to play a game, this is what you need. Not only does it lock your system and downloaded apps, as you choose, but it also locks down that pesky Gallery app.
The security features it has are also well thought out:
- Double Door lock: Meaning you can have 2 locks on protected Apps.
- Sleep Timer: Set a short timer to turn passwords off while your phone is in your hands.
- Easy Transfer: Quickly move from one protected app to another without re-entering your passwords over and over.
- Break in Alerts: Catch intruders in the act.
- Random Keypad: This shuffles the keys on the password page so no one can look at your most commonly touched places and know what to press.
You can also password protect Advanced settings apps like Uninstall, Settings, SD Card, Task Manager, and Force Stop to really lock down everything.
5. LEO Privacy Guard
LEO Privacy Guard does many of the things you’ve read above, but adds two important extra layers of privacy:
- A browser history deletion feature, for private browsing you never have to worry about someone seeing.
- A feature which detects, and blocks, phone calls of a harassing nature. It does this via a blacklist which you can add to as you need to.
Adding this with it’s other list of impressive features makes this one of the best app lock tools available on Android.
6. App Locker- Lock Any App
App Locker- Lock Any App is the long-named app with a sleek look. Whoever built it knew that if you want people to use your app it has to look good. This is ignored too often in the world of digital security. The team also worked to make sure that it looks good while securing your:
- SMS
- Evernote
- Emails
- Skype
- Snapchat
- Contacts
You can even set a password to answer incoming calls! Finally, no one can come along, pick up your phone when it’s ringing, and play pranks on the caller …or pretend to be you and steal important information. This may not make it the best app lock tool on the list, but it certainly is a standout feature.
7. AppLock 2
AppLock 2 is a widely used app locker for Android for its small file size, and ability to lock the Marketplace. Who wants their kids borrowing their phone and then downloading all the expensive things?
Not only do you get that, but you still get app locks on:
- Photos and videos in Gallery
- SMS
- Call logs
- Incoming calls
- Your Wifi and Bluetooth toggle switch
- System settings
- Installing and uninstalling of apps
With up to 10 million downloads, you can be sure that this is a very successful app lock tool with great support behind it.
Choose one of the best app lock tools…
…and then choose a VPN which encrypts your connections to public WiFi for a complete protection package! Each of the tools above is a good choice, it just comes down to what you want to lock down and what each one allows. A little encryption goes a long way towards protecting you. Stop ignoring the need for it and start using the apps that will protect you right now.
Feature image via Wichy / Shutterstock