Extra lock security for android phone download

The idea is that if you were ever in a situation where you thought you might be forced to unlock your phone with your fingerprint or face — be it by some sort of law enforcement agent or just by a regular ol' hooligan — you could activate the lockdown mode and know your data couldn't be accessed without your explicit permission. Even notifications won't show up on your lock screen when the mode is activated, and that heightened level of protection will remain in place until you manually unlock your phone even if the device is restarted.

The trick, though, is that on certain phones — particularly those that shipped with earlier Android versions and were upgraded to Android 9 at some point — you have to enable the option ahead of time in order for it to be available. To confirm that it's activated on your device, open up your system settings, search for the word lockdown , and make sure the toggle alongside "Show lockdown option" is set into the on position.

With that enabled, you should see a command labeled either "Lockdown" or "Lockdown mode" anytime you press and hold your phone's power button. With any luck, you'll never need it. But it's a good added layer of protection to have available, just in case — and now you know how to find it. One of Android's most practical security options is also one of its most hidden features.

I'm talking about screen pinning — something introduced way back in 's Lollipop era and rarely mentioned since. Screen pinning makes it possible for you to lock a single app or process to your phone and then require a password or fingerprint authentication before anything else can be accessed. It can be invaluable when you pass your phone off to a friend or colleague and want to be sure they don't accidentally or maybe not so accidentally get into something they shouldn't.

To use screen pinning, you'll first need to activate it by opening that trusty ol' Security section in your main system settings and then finding the line labeled "Screen pinning. Turn the feature on and also make sure the toggle to "Ask for unlock pattern before unpinning" is activated. Now, the next time you're about to place your phone in someone else's hands, first open up your system Overview interface — either by swiping up from the bottom of your screen and holding your finger down, if you're using Android's gesture system , or by pressing the square-shaped button, if you're still hanging onto the old-school three-button nav setup.

On any phone running reasonably recent software, you'll then tap the icon of the app you want to pin, directly above its card in that Overview area. And there, you should see the Pin option. Once you've tapped that, you won't be able to switch apps, go back to your home screen, look at notifications, or do anything else until you exit the pinning and unlock the device.

To do that, with gestures, you'll swipe up from the bottom of your screen and hold your finger down — and with the old three-button nav setup, you'll press the Back and Overview buttons at the same time.

If you want to go a step further and let someone else use all parts of your phone without ever encountering your personal information or being able to mess anything up, Android has an incredible system that'll let you do just that — with next to no ongoing effort involved.

It's called Guest Mode, and it's been around since , despite the fact that most folks have completely forgotten about it. For a detailed walkthrough of what it's all about and how you can put it to use, see my separate Android Guest Mode guide from a few weeks back. Whether you've simply misplaced your phone around the house or office or you've actually lost it out in the wild, always remember that Android has its own built-in mechanism for finding, ringing, locking, and even erasing a device from afar.

You can make sure by heading into the Security section of your system settings and tapping the line labeled "Find My Device.

Using a Samsung phone? Samsung provides its own superfluous, redundant service called Find My Mobile, but the native Google Android version will bring all of your devices together into a single place — not only those made by Samsung — and is also more versatile in how and where it's able to work. Once you've confirmed the setting is enabled, if you ever need to track your phone down, just go to android. As long as you're able to sign into your Google account, you'll be able to pinpoint your phone's last known location on a map and manage it remotely within a matter of seconds.

Find My Device is a fantastic resource to have — but in certain situations, you might get a missing phone back even faster with the help of a fellow human. Give people a chance to do the right thing by adding an emergency contact that can be accessed and dialed with a few quick taps from your lock screen. To start, go to the About Phone section of your system settings, then find and tap the line labeled "Emergency information.

Tap the appropriate line and follow the prompts to add an emergency contact — a close friend, family member, significant other, random raccoon, or whatever makes sense for you. Easy peasy, right? Well, almost: The only challenge is that the emergency contact info isn't exactly obvious or simple to find on the lock screen — go figure — so anyone who picks up your phone might not even notice it. But wait! You can increase the odds considerably with one extra step: Head into the Display section of your settings, tap "Advanced" followed by "Lock screen," then tap the line labeled "Add text on lock screen" and enter something along the lines of: "If you've found this phone, please swipe up and then tap 'Emergency' and 'View emergency information' to notify me.

Most of them. If you're not using an application, get rid of it. The fewer program doors you have into your smartphone, the fewer chances an attacker has to invade it. If you follow up with all these suggestions, your phone will be safer. It won't be perfectly safe -- nothing is in this world. But, you'll be much more secure than you are now, and that's not a small thing. Google's October Android patches have landed: There's a big fix for dnsmasq bug. Android security: Google patches dozens of dangerous bugs, including some in Oreo.

Pixel and Nexus owners will get the September Android patch as part of the Android 8. Android security: Coin miners show up in apps and sites to wear out your CPU. OAIC finds big four banks are handling consumer data with good privacy practices. Data from millions of Brazilians exposed in Wi-Fi management software firm leak.

Over a million WordPress sites breached. Facebook's Meta pushes back Messenger and Instagram encryption plans until Hackers used this software flaw to steal credit card details from thousands of online retailers. Eftpos added security features go-live as digital upgrades continue.

You agree to receive updates, promotions, and alerts from ZDNet. You may unsubscribe at any time. By signing up, you agree to receive the selected newsletter s which you may unsubscribe from at any time. If you have any suggestions of other good applock apps for Android, do let us know in the comments section. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed. How To. Sign in. Forgot your password? Get help. Privacy Policy Disclaimer. Password recovery. By Anchit Sharma. May 15, App Locker App will secure individual Apps with password from unwanted access Smartphones are no longer simple mobile phones to call someone or send text messages. How to lock apps on Android? Download AppLock. Download Norton App Lock.

Download AppLocker. Download Ultra AppLock. Many companies create their own BYOD bring your own device programs that have been proven to keep company devices safe.

To learn more, check out our article outlining best practices for BYODs. Nor should taking over a mobile device become a free pass to the enterprise network and its data.

Achieving this objective involves using identity and access management IAM system and data protection solutions. This is a basic, but essential countermeasure. SecOps teams should treat mobile devices like any other piece of hardware on the corporate network. Tools like mobile threat detection and device and data protection tools can aid security teams in keeping those devices secure.

Monitoring user behavior can reveal anomalies that could point to an attack that is underway. People are accustomed to consumer-type freedoms on mobile devices. Educating your employees can save your company lots of money and reduce mobile security threats dramatically. With 5G on the rise, experts anticipate an even higher number of risks in This makes it more crucial than ever to take the necessary steps to protect your personal device from mobile threats.

VPNs essentially provide you with a secure phone connection to a private server, instead of you having to share it with everyone else on the public network. This means that your data is safer because it is encrypted as it travels from server to server. This ability enables you to remove any data from your phone, even if you no longer have the physical phone itself. The process to set up remote wipe differs by device. This guide from the IT department at Northern Michigan University will outline how to enable remote wipe, whatever device you have.

If you have a device management product like Prey, remote wipe is likely part of the service they offer, along with other capabilities like tracking. Using Prey, you can remotely execute a full format of your mobile device to make sure none of your personal information is accessed, on-demand, and at any moment. Mobile devices are just as vulnerable, if not more vulnerable, than PCs and other types of computer hardware. They are exposed to threats in the form of malware, social engineering, web attacks, network attacks, and physical theft.

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