Sharing your phone with someone else can often feel like an invasion of privacy. So avoid people wandering through apps with your personal data. Instead, you can pin popular apps that are safe for others to use. You can pin some apps to your Android phone’s home screen and you don’t have to worry about sharing your phone.
How to Enable App Pinning on Android:
App pinning is a feature on Android that pins or locks a specific app to the screen, preventing users of the device from accessing other apps or content on that device at the time. This method is not 100% effective because the pinned app opens apps that give you access to your data.
App pinning option is not enabled by default on many Android smartphones. You have to run it manually.
Step 1: Open the Settings app on your Android.
Step 2: Scroll down until you find the Security section. Depending on your smartphone model, this option may be hidden under security and lock screen.
Step 3: Tap on Advanced Settings at the bottom. Or you have to scroll down.
Step 4: You will see App Pinning option.
Step 5: On Pixel devices, the feature is disabled by default. Tap on the option and toggle the ‘Use app pinning’ option.
This will have the effect of enabling the second transition, ‘Ask PIN before sharing’. We recommend keeping the app turned on to prevent the guest from unpinning the app. If you don’t think they are tech savvy enough to do that, you can disable the option.
App pinning is not the same as locking an app to your phone’s screen, but behind a PIN or fingerprint verification. It’s a completely different process, requiring users to enter a PIN, use their fingerprint or face to unlock certain apps.
How to use App Pinning on Android
After enabling the option to pin apps, you can proceed to pin your first app. Here are the steps you need to take.
Step 1: First, you need to open the Recents screen by tapping the Recents button or by swiping up from the bottom of the display and holding it for a second.
Step 2: Browse through our recently opened apps and find the one you want to pin. On Android 12, you should see an icon representing the app at the top of the window. Tap it. Alternatively, tap on the app window to bring up the options menu on Android 11 and below.
Step 3: Select the Back option.
Android will pin the corresponding app. Whenever you turn on the mobile, you will see the app pinned on the display and the user will not be able to browse or search for other apps on your device.