Need a simple way to lock apps on my iPhone

General
1

I’m looking for an easy way to lock specific apps on my iPhone so other people can’t open them when they borrow my phone. I’ve checked Settings but I’m confused by all the Screen Time and password options. What’s the best method (built-in or trusted apps) to lock individual apps with a passcode or Face ID, and are there any limitations I should know about?

2

Easiest built‑in way is Screen Time with app limits and a passcode. It looks confusing at first, but it works once you set it up.

Here is a simple setup:

  1. Turn on Screen Time
    • Settings → Screen Time
    • Tap Turn On Screen Time
    • Choose This is My iPhone

  2. Set a Screen Time passcode
    • In Screen Time, tap Use Screen Time Passcode
    • Use a different code than your device passcode
    • Don’t share this with people who borrow your phone

  3. Lock specific apps with a 1‑minute limit
    • Screen Time → App Limits → Add Limit
    • Pick the category or tap the arrow to open it and choose specific apps
    • Tap Next
    • Set Time to 1 min
    • Turn on Block at End of Limit
    • Tap Add

Now when someone borrows your phone, those apps work for 1 minute, then need the Screen Time passcode to open again. If you want them locked right away, you can also hit the limit manually:

• Screen Time → App Limits → toggle the limit off then on. After a minute of use, they need the passcode.

Extra tricks that help:

  1. Lock apps by schedule with Downtime
    • Screen Time → Downtime
    • Turn it on
    • Set a start and end time when you want things blocked
    • Then go to Always Allowed and remove the apps you want protected
    During Downtime, only Always Allowed apps open without the Screen Time passcode.

  2. Hide whole apps from the Home Screen
    This does not protect with a passcode, but it reduces snooping.
    • Long‑press the app icon
    • Remove App → Remove from Home Screen
    People need to search for it or look in App Library.

  3. For Photos only
    • Move sensitive photos to Hidden album
    • Settings → Photos → turn on Use Passcode
    Now the Hidden album needs Face ID or passcode.

Stuff that does not work the way people expect:

• There is no simple per‑app Face ID lock for all apps. Only some apps like banking have their own lock in their settings.
• There is no Apple approved third‑party app locker that sits on top of the system.

Quick setup path if you want speed:

  1. Turn on Screen Time
  2. Add Screen Time passcode
  3. App Limits → add 1‑minute Block at End of Limit for the target apps

After that, test it once. Open the app, let the minute finish, check that it asks for the Screen Time code. Then hand your phone to the snoopy cousin, partner, kid, whatever, and you are set.

Expect that they might still see app icons and notifications. If you worry about that, hide notifications for those apps too:

• Settings → Notifications → choose app → turn off Show Previews or turn off notifications entirely.

Takes like 3 to 5 minutes to set up once you know where stuff is.

3

If Screen Time made your eyes glaze over, you’re not alone. @hoshikuzu covered the “official” route pretty well, so I’ll skip re-explaining app limits and Downtime step by step.

Here are a few different angles you can use, depending on what you actually care about hiding:

1. Use Shortcuts to fake a “lock” on specific apps

It’s a bit hacky, but works if you don’t want people casually opening, say, Messages or Instagram.

Idea: Replace the real app icon with a Shortcut that asks for Face ID / passcode before opening.

  1. Open Shortcuts → + → Add Action.
  2. Search Ask for Input (optional: to show a fake “Enter password” prompt).
  3. Then add Open App → pick the app you want.
  4. Tap the shortcut name → Add to Home Screen.
  5. Now hide the real app icon from Home Screen (long press icon → Remove App → Remove from Home Screen).

Extra step that actually matters:
In Shortcuts → your shortcut → three dots → Details → enable Require Face ID (or passcode).
Now tapping that icon will trigger Face ID before it runs the shortcut to open the app.

Caveat:
If someone knows to swipe down and search the app name, they can still open the original from App Library. So this is more “keep casual snoops out” than hardcore security.

2. Stronger protection for Photos and Notes

Most people really only care about these anyway.

Notes:

  • Open Notes → pick a note → three dots → Lock.
  • Set a separate Notes password (and turn on Face ID for Notes in Settings).
    Now even if they’re using your phone, those notes stay locked.

Photos:
@hoshikuzu touched this, but I’d lean on it heavily if photos are your main worry.

  • Move sensitive pics to Hidden or Recently Deleted.
  • In Settings → Photos → Use Passcode for Hidden and Recently Deleted.
    It uses Face ID / passcode every time. This is one of the few places iOS actually lets you do a proper “folder lock.”

3. Lock everything except a few apps with “Guided Access”

If you only lend your phone for one app (like a game or YouTube), this is way simpler than messing with lots of limits.

  1. Settings → Accessibility → Guided Access → On.
  2. Set a Guided Access passcode (different from your main one, ideally).

When you hand them the phone:

  • Open the app they’re allowed to use.
  • Triple-click the side button.
  • Tap Start.

Now they are stuck in that app. Home button / swipe-out won’t work.
To get your phone back to normal: triple-click again, enter passcode, End.

This is honestly better than app-by-app “locking” if you just want: “Here, use Safari, but nothing else.”

4. Kill curiosity by hiding content, not just apps

Even if they see app icons, they do not need to see your stuff inside them.

  • Messages previews off:
    Settings → Notifications → Messages → Show Previews → Never.
  • Same for mail, WhatsApp, social apps.
    They can see you have the app, but not what’s in it.

You can combine that with a basic Screen Time setup if you want, but I actually disagree a bit with relying only on Screen Time: it’s clunky to toggle, easy to forget, and feels more like a “kid restriction” feature than a quick “friend borrowed my phone” feature.

5. How I’d set it up if I were you

Minimal fuss, max effect:

  1. Turn on Guided Access for when you hand your phone to someone for a single app.
  2. Lock Notes and enable Face ID for locked notes.
  3. Move private photos to Hidden and lock that with passcode/Face ID.
  4. Hide previews for sensitive messaging apps.

That combo usually covers 90% of “I don’t want people snooping when they borrow my phone” without living inside Screen Time menus every day.

It’s not perfect “per‑app password for everything,” because iOS just doesn’t fully support that, but it works well in real life unless the borrower is actively trying to hack around your settings.

4

You’re running into an Apple limitation here: iOS simply doesn’t support a true, system-level “lock this one app with a password” for everything. Screen Time and the Face ID options are about as close as it gets, which is why @hoshikuzu and others leaned on those.

Instead of redoing their Screen Time walk‑through, here are some different angles and a bit of realistic expectation‑setting.

1. Decide what you actually need: casual privacy vs real security

Before piling on tricks, figure out which bucket you’re in:

  • Casual privacy:
    You hand your phone to friends, partner, coworkers, and just don’t want them casually opening Messages, Photos, Instagram, banking, etc.

  • Real security:
    You are worried about someone who is actively trying to snoop, search, and outsmart your settings.

For casual privacy, tricks like Guided Access, hiding content, and Shortcuts are fine.
For real security, nothing beats: do not hand over an unlocked iPhone. No workaround truly fixes that.

I actually disagree slightly with relying heavily on cosmetic “locks” that pretend to secure an app. They can make you feel safer than you really are.

2. Use a different “profile” instead of per‑app locks

One underused tactic is to create a sort of “guest mode” feeling, even though iOS does not have real user profiles:

A. Focus Mode as a pseudo guest mode

Focus is not only for notifications. You can control what Home Screens and apps are visible.

  • You set up a Guest Focus that only shows a clean Home Screen page with safe apps (Safari, YouTube, a game).
  • Hide the main Home Screen pages that contain your sensitive apps.

Result: if you turn on Guest Focus before handing over the phone, the sensitive stuff is still installed but visually gone and less discoverable. They can still dig via App Library, but it raises the barrier.

This works nicely with what @hoshikuzu suggested but avoids messing with Screen Time timers every time.

3. Bank & finance apps: lean on their own app locks

A lot of the anxiety is about banking, PayPal, crypto, shopping, etc.
Many of these now support an in‑app lock:

  • A separate passcode or Face ID prompt every time you open the app.
  • Sometimes a “require biometric again before transfers” setting.

Check inside each app’s own Settings. This is much more reliable than Shortcuts tricks, and it still works even if someone opens the app from App Library or Spotlight.

If a financial app does not offer that, assume that anyone with your unlocked phone can access it, and treat lending the phone accordingly.

4. Automations that put “walls” up when you’re done

If you often forget to re‑lock stuff after letting someone use your phone, use Automations to rebuild your defenses:

Examples:

  • When you leave home, automatically:
    • Turn on Guest Focus
    • Reduce notification previews
  • When you connect to your car’s Bluetooth, auto‑enable stricter settings (for example, hide message previews) so if someone uses your phone while you’re driving, they see less.

This does not directly lock apps, but it keeps your phone in a “safer” state during the times you are likely to hand it to others.

5. What actually works in practice

If I had to boil it down without repeating all of @hoshikuzu’s detailed instructions:

  1. Never give an unlocked phone to someone you do not trust.
    No iOS trick fully fixes that.

  2. For trusted people who just might peek:

    • Use Guided Access when you lend your phone for one app.
    • Use Focus + simplified Home Screen as a “guest profile” when you lend your phone more generally.
    • Lock inside critical apps using their own Face ID / passcode features.

  3. For sensitive media and notes:

    • Rely on Notes locks and Hidden / Recently Deleted in Photos with passcode as outlined earlier, instead of trying to lock the whole Photos app.

That combination beats juggling Screen Time limits on each app every time someone wants to “just check something,” and it is less fragile than only using Shortcuts to fake locks.

It is not a perfect solution because iOS just does not have full per‑app locking, but it is about as close as you can get without driving yourself crazy in Settings.