Best App Lockers for Android in 2022
1. Norton App Lock
Chances are, you have heard of Norton, the popular anti-virus maker. Well, the company offers a pretty good app locker for Android. The Norton App Lock is a very simple app locker which should be a good choice, if you are looking for a free & ad-free app locker that just works. With Norton App Lock, you can lock apps by fingerprint, PIN or pattern. There aren’t a lot of options here but you can protect it from uninstallation by giving it admin privileges. There are also options to set a recovery email, along with a sneak peak feature that captures photos of intruders who enter the wrong PIN or pattern 3 times.
Install : (Free)
2. AppLock – Fingerprint & Password
App Lock by SailingLab is one of those app lockers that has a multitude of features apart from protecting apps from unauthorized users. While you have all the standard app locker features like PIN, Fingerprint and Pattern protection, it also brings photo vault, intruder selfie to catch people who are trying to break in and message security for hiding chat notifications from sensitive apps. And that is not all, it also has a privacy browser but I would not really recommend using it.
Install: (Free, Offers in-app purchases)
3. AppLock – Fingerprint
AppLock – Fingerprint (yes, that’s the app’s name on the Play Store) is another very popular app locker on Android and deservedly so, because it packs in a ton of great features. There’s support for fingerprint scanner, PIN, and you can set different passwords for different apps. You can also set up profiles and make sure that the app locks activate at a certain time or based on the WiFi and Bluetooth connection. Along with apps, the app locker also lets you lock system settings, the home screen, rotation, and more.
Moreover, there are cool features like the ability to hide the app, remotely unlock a phone via SMS, “Observer” which as the name suggests captures photos on failed unlock attempts. AppLock – Fingerprint includes ads but you can remove them through an in-app purchase. Overall, it is the app to get if you love playing with a ton of options.
Install: (Free, with in-app purchases)
4. IVY AppLock
IVY AppLock is quite a popular app locker for Android that comes with a bunch of features. Unlike some other app lockers which go overboard with features, AppLock keeps it relatively simple, offering some of the most useful features. You can use the app to lock pretty much any app you want to secure. The app supports locking apps using pattern/PIN and password. For added security, you can use the app’s invisible pattern lock, and randomised keyboard as well.
Apart from apps, you can lock your sensitive photos and videos as well. What’s more, the app will automatically take pictures of anyone who tries to open a locked app unsuccessfully. The app also supports disguising, which means you can make the app icon look like the Clock icon, weather app, calculator and other system apps.
Install: (Free)
5. LOCKit
LOCKit is an app that can lock and protect pretty much anything on your Android phone. The app brings support for app lock, gallery lock, video vault, and more. You can lock your personal apps, photos, and videos using pattern or PIN. The app even supports fingerprint unlocking, so if your Android phone has an underscreen fingerprint scanner, you can use that to easily open apps and view your personal photos and videos.
LOCKit comes with an intruder selfie feature as well, which is great if you want to know who tries to open your personal vault when you’re not around. What’s more, if you don’t even want anyone to know you’ve locked some apps, LOCKit comes with a disguise feature. With this, when someone tries to open a locked app, it will show a crash screen, or ask for fingerprint instead. If you’re thinking of using an app lock to control your kids’ screen time, LOCKit can lock the Play Store as well, so your kids won’t be able to install games/apps without your knowledge. Overall, this is definitely an app locker that you should check out.
Install: (Free)
6. AppLock Pro
AppLock Pro is another Android app locker that you can check out. The app has been highly rated by over 200 thousand of its users, and it comes with plenty of features to fulfill your requirements. You can easily lock apps and the app supports authentication using pattern, PIN, fingerprint, and even a knock code. Like many of the other app lockers for Android, AppLock Pro can take pictures of people who try to unlock your private apps.
With AppLock Pro, you can even hide your notifications, and set a fake error message to dissuade people from trying to open your locked apps. The app also comes with a phone cleaner, support for themes and customisable unlock animations, as well as invisible lines for pattern lock and more. It’s a feature rich app locker for Android that you can try out to safeguard your personal information.
Install: (Free)
7. App Lock by Smart Mobile
App Lock by Smart Mobile is a fairly new app locker in the Play Store but it has gained a lot of traction due to its clean interface and straightforward approach. Similar to other app lockers in the list, it lets you lock apps through fingerprint, PIN or pattern as you prefer. There is a unique feature as well called profiles which categorize the apps in general, sensitive, social and payments labels. You can, in fact, create your own profile and include apps of your choice. The benefit of profile is that you can enforce a set of rules in just one tap.
For example, you can unlock all the social apps in one tap once you are at home — no more fiddling with lock permissions of each and every app. Other than that, you can set the apps as an Administrator too so that no one can uninstall it. However, I would not really recommend that as it’s a system-level privilege. All in all, I can say that App Lock by Smart Mobile is a neat app locker and has good features to boot. You can certainly give it a try.
Install: (Free, Offers in-app purchases)
8. AppLock
AppLock is one of the many app lockers for Android with the “app locker” moniker. The app isn’t very popular and it’s not hard to understand why. It has a pretty outdated UI but if you look past that, it has some really unique features. Apart from the usual app locking features, App Locker lets you set custom lock settings on a per app basis. So, you can set the primary lock method for an app to fingerprint, while pattern as the primary method for another app. Other than that, the app lets you choose a crash cover, set app re-lock delay and more. It includes ads but you can remove the ads by purchasing the full version of the app.
Install: (Free, In-app purchases)
9. FingerSecurity
FingerSecurity is one of the best app lockers for Android, thanks to its sheer number of features. The feature-rich app lets you lock apps via fingerprint and you can enable the improved protection features to make sure that parts of the app and the app’s data isn’t visible in the recents screen. There’s also the advanced security option to prevent uninstalls. The app also lets you set a time out, which is the delay in re-locking apps, along with options to theme the fingerprint indicator, and more.
The app is available in a free version but it’s fairly limited. However, you can get the Premium version, which brings more theming options, like the ability to change background of the lock page. It also brings options to set safe locations, detect intruders, set up a fake crash, and more. Overall, the app definitely packs in a ton of features but in my usage, I did face a few hiccups in performance, so that’s something you should keep in mind. What’s more FingerSecurity claims that it will hide the preview of your locked apps from the recent apps screen, but that feature doesn’t seem to be working anymore. So if that’s something you need, skip this app and check out the others on this list.
Install: (Free, In-app purchase)
10. Apex Launcher
While this is not affiliated with Apex Legends mobile in any way, and it’s not exactly an app locker, this Android launcher comes with app locking capabilities built in. So, you can get a fresh new look for your phone, and lock any personal apps that you want to protect from others. The launcher itself supports custom app icons, icon packs, transition effects, customization, and more.
As far as the built-in app locker is concerned, you can easily lock Facebook, Snapchat, your gallery, and any other apps with a PIN/pattern protection. The app will soon get fingerprint lock support as well, if your phone has the hardware for it. Apex launcher can also hide your personal photos and videos, making it a pretty decent option.
Install: (Free, In-app purchases)