I brought this killer iPhone feature to my Pixel and it didn’t cost a penny

Even though I’m a die-hearted Android user, I’m always willing to admit when the iPhone does something spectacularly right. Such is the case with Apple’s app locking feature, which lets you secure any app on your iPhone behind a secondary PIN or biometric (separate from the one used to unlock the phone itself).

While some Android hardware makers have built their own app locking functions into their devices, Google’s own Pixel line (and the broader Android Open Source Project (AOSP)) lacks such capabilities out of the box. This is a shame, as app locking adds some great peace of mind when it comes to securing banking apps, messengers, photo galleries, and other mobile software of a sensitive nature.

Of course, third-party app lockers have existed on Android for quite some time, but many of them are shoddily filled with advertisements, are dubious in their privacy policies, and are haphazardly implemented using Device Administrator privileges and Accessibility APIs.

That’s when I stumbled across AppLock — a truly excellent third-party app locker for Android that is not only free and open-source, but also built with gorgeous Material 3 Expressive user interface principles. AppLock runs entirely offline, hardly takes up any space when installed, supports biometrics, and doesn’t require root access to configure.

What makes AppLock stand out from the crowd is that it perfectly blends together aesthetic touches and useful configuration options. The Material You theming support means that the app’s lock interface matches your wallpaper colors right away, and advanced features like an unlock timer, haptic feedback control, and an anti-uninstall function are all present and accounted for.

Most importantly, the app works as advertised. Sure, it does require several permissions to be granted in order to function optimally (Display Over Other Apps, Disable Battery Optimization, Notification Permission, and Accessibility Service), but once this initial setup is complete, it locks apps quickly and effectively, and it does so each and every single time.

AppLock beat Google to the punch

Leaks indicate that Android 17 will launch with a native app locker of its own

Based on APK teardowns courtesy of the folks over at Android Authority, we know that Google is working to bring a native app lock function to Android proper. References to a new App Lock API have been sighted as early as in the 2512 Android Canary release from late last year, and screenshots of the feature in action have also been showcased by RKBDI on Telegram.

It’s unclear whether this native app locker will make its way to Google’s flagship mobile operating system alongside the release of Android 17 later this year, or if it’ll arrive in a separate Pixel Feature Drop or in a Quarterly Platform Release (QPR) at a later date.

In any case, having app lock functionality built right into the core of Android will be a huge boon for all users, adding some much-needed extra security without the friction of having to download a third-party application from the internet. Many third-party Android skins already support app locking at a native level, and so it’ll be great to see the Pixel line (as well as AOSP) embrace the feature wholeheartedly going forward.

In the meantime, AppLock remains my go-to solution for locking my sensitive apps behind a PIN or biometric authentication on my Pixel. It’s free, it’s open-source, it’s beautifully designed, and I trust it far more than the multitude of less performant and often closed-source alternatives available out there for the platform.