Much of our digital lives is stored on our mobile phone devices, and we hope that you always use a PIN, a fingerprint, or a Face ID to help protect your important information and privacy.
However, it may be even more important to add a second barrier to entry for anyone who gets past your lock screen, especially since there’s no doubt that you’ve probably found yourself in a situation where you’ve let someone else use your phone to play a game or access specific apps, but you don’t want them snooping through the rest of your device to see your private files and videos. Here is where app locking comes in handy.
App locks are mobile security solutions that function to protect—or otherwise secure—individual applications, files, and videos on phone devices, enabling users to lock them with a specific pass-code or fingerprint to prevent unauthorized use.
For Android and Apple gadgets alike, app lockers are instrumental in work and personal settings, all requiring non-users to pass authentication using a password, PIN, or pattern before gaining access to specific applications, as well as hide sensitive information and protect private contents in a device against potential vulnerabilities.
With that said, here are the five best app lockers you can download and use for your Android or iPhone in 2025:
- Folder Lock – for Android
Available for download on Google Play, once you’ve installed Folder Lock, it couldn’t be easier to use: simply start the Android app locker, add a password, and select the apps you want to keep private.
This app offers a reliable and unique all-in-one privacy solution for efficient document, video, and file management with seamless browsing and feature-packed decoy mode for hiding apps.
NewSoftwares LLC, its developer, guarantees that the improved version of Folder Lock satisfies the needs of security-conscious users.
- AppLocker – for iPhone
AppLocker for iPhones is a highly popular personal security application that secures your privacy by letting you enable fingerprint, Touch ID, Bluetooth ID, and Network ID on apps, photos, videos, files, folders and other private content.
Download this lightweight and highly secure application from the App Store, and stop worrying about your privacy when you lend your phone to a guest, friend, or family member.
- App Lock – for iPad
App Lock is the easiest and safest way to create a secure location on your iPad to store and protect personal and important files, photos, videos, documents, contacts, wallet cards, and notes.
Available on the App Store, this app is designed with full compatibility with iOS 18, offering a full-suite security solution that allows you to keep your personal files and apps locked while ensuring automatic and real-time backup of encrypted data.
- Applock Pro – for Android
Applock Pro is your key to privacy. Password-protect any of your applications or files with this simple yet effective free app for Android devices.
It can lock contacts, SMS, emails, galleries, settings, calls, or any apps using a password, fingerprint, or pattern lock, safeguarding important information on your phone.
Rated 4.6/5 by users on Google Play, where it is available for download, Applock Pro has garnered over 100 million downloads as of December 2024.
- Vault – for Android
Sensitive videos, photos, and other files from your Android gallery can be securely locked away in a private ‘vault’, accessible only via a secret PIN code or passcode after downloading the Vault app for Android.
Vault is perhaps even simpler to use and provides a password-protected place to lock away photos and videos you don’t want anyone else to see. The mobile app is specifically designed to hide private photos and videos on your phone, but you can also lock individual apps on your smartphone for free.
This app, rated 4.4/5 by users on the Play Store, closes our list of the top five best app lockers for phones in 2025.
