At the 2024 Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), Apple introduced several exciting new features for iOS 18.
These include a new Passwords app, enhanced home screen customization, a revamped Control Center, transcriptions for voice notes, message scheduling, ChatGPT integration, and more.
One standout announcement among all these new features is the introduction of a long-awaited app lock feature.
This new functionality allows you to lock individual apps, including built-in Apple and third-party apps.
It’ll be handy for those times when you hand your phone to someone else but still want to keep certain apps secure.
Even if your phone is unlocked, these apps will remain protected until you unlock them.
To access these locked apps, you’ll need to authenticate with Face ID, Touch ID, or a passcode. You can also hide apps you want to keep private, making them invisible in the app drawer and only accessible through authentication.
An added benefit of this feature is that information from locked apps won’t appear in search results or notifications, ensuring your private data stays private.
Until now, iPhone users had to rely on workarounds like Screen Time restrictions to lock apps, but iOS 18 is finally providing an easy and simple solution.
To lock an app, long-press the app icon and select “Require Face ID” (or Touch ID on the iPhone SE). When someone tries to open a locked app, a popup will appear saying it can’t be accessed without secondary authentication.
Not all apps can be locked, though. Apple has excluded innocuous ones like Maps, Clock, Calculator, and Stocks, but almost every other app, including third-party ones, can be locked.
We could argue that we should be able to lock apps like Maps, which could be a security concern as it could reveal sensitive information.
For example, Maps stores recent searches and saved locations, potentially revealing your personal preferences or frequented destinations. Hopefully, Apple can let us lock any built-in app in future updates.
You can also hide locked apps, moving them to a hidden folder that requires authentication to access. This means you won’t receive notifications or calls from these hidden apps unless you open them from the “Hidden” folder in the App Library.
If you ever want to disable the lock, you can do so by long-pressing the app icon and choosing “Don’t Require Face ID.” Turning the lock on or off requires a Face ID scan, so it can’t be done without your knowledge.
Apple’s app lock feature will also be available on iPads, providing the same level of security across devices.
Let me know if this feature is something you’ll see yourself using once it becomes available this fall.
