How to lock apps on iPhone with Face ID or a passcode

For years, the honest answer to "how do I lock apps on iPhone" was "you can't, really". Since iOS 18, you can: almost any app can sit behind Face ID, and apps you've downloaded can be hidden in a locked folder. This guide covers how to do that, the older workarounds for specific situations (Screen Time and Guided Access), and the one thing all of them have in common: they open with your iPhone passcode.

It's for anyone who lends their phone, shares an iPad with family, or just wants Messages, Photos or a banking app to ask "is this really you?" first.

How to lock apps on iPhone with Require Face ID (iOS 18 and later)

1. Go to the Home Screen or App Library and find the app.
2. Touch and hold the app icon until the quick actions menu appears.
3. Tap Require Face ID (on older models, Require Touch ID, or Require Passcode if neither is set up).
4. Tap it again to confirm, then authenticate.

From then on, opening the app asks for Face ID. If it fails, you're offered your passcode instead. Apple also says information from a locked app may not appear in notification previews, search, Siri suggestions or call history.

To remove the lock, touch and hold the icon, tap Don't Require Face ID, and authenticate.

Apps you can't lock: Apple lists Calculator, Camera, Clock, Contacts, Find My, Maps, Shortcuts and Settings. Most other apps, including Photos, Messages, Mail and Notes, can be locked.

How to hide and lock an app

Hiding goes one step further: the app leaves your Home Screen and moves to a locked Hidden folder at the bottom of the App Library.

1. Touch and hold the app icon.
2. Tap Require Face ID.
3. Tap Hide and Require Face ID, authenticate, then tap Hide App.

To open a hidden app, swipe left past your last Home Screen page to reach the App Library, scroll to the bottom, tap Hidden, and authenticate. To unhide it, open the Hidden folder, touch and hold the app and tap Don't Require Face ID.

Two important limits:

• Only apps you downloaded can be hidden. Apps that come with iOS (Photos, Messages, Notes) can be locked but not hidden.
• Hidden doesn't mean invisible. Apple says the names of hidden apps can still appear in Settings → Apps → Hidden Apps, in Screen Time, in Settings → Battery, and in your App Store purchase history. Anyone who opens App Library will also see that a Hidden folder exists.

Lock and hide settings apply only to the device you set them on; they don't sync to your iPad or other iPhones.

Where Apple's app lock stops

Require Face ID is a good, simple lock, and for most people it's enough. But understand what it is:

• It falls back to your passcode. If Face ID fails, your iPhone passcode opens the app. Anyone who knows your passcode, or saw you type it, can open every app you've locked. There's no way to set a different password per app.
• Stolen Device Protection changes this, but only away from home. With Stolen Device Protection turned on (Settings → Face ID & Passcode), locked apps require Face ID or Touch ID with no passcode option when you're away from familiar places like home or work. At home, the passcode works as usual. This is designed for a thief who learned your passcode, not someone who lives with you.
• Face ID can be used on you. Someone who can hold the phone up to your face while you're asleep, or pressure you into looking at it, gets in.
• It locks the app, not the data. Locking Photos doesn't change where photos are stored or who else can read them. They still sync to your other devices, and other apps with photo access can still see them.

So app locking is great against a casual look when you hand your phone to someone unlocked. It isn't a second secret.

Older workaround: Screen Time app limits

Before iOS 18, people used Screen Time to "lock" apps, and it can still be useful on a shared device where you want a passcode that's different from the phone's.

1. Go to Settings → Screen Time and set a Screen Time passcode that's different from your phone passcode.
2. Tap App Limits → Add Limit, choose the app (or category), and set a very short daily limit, such as one minute.
3. Turn on Block at End of Limit.

Once the limit is used up, the app shows a limit screen, and continuing requires the Screen Time passcode. It's clumsy: the app works normally until the limit runs out each day, and it's really a parental control, not a privacy lock. Use it only if you need a separate code on a shared device and can live with the quirks.

Guided Access: lend your phone locked to one app

If the problem is "I hand my phone to someone and they wander off into my photos", Guided Access solves it differently. It locks the iPhone into a single app until you end the session.

1. Go to Settings → Accessibility → Guided Access and turn it on.
2. Tap Passcode Settings to set a Guided Access passcode (you can use a different one from your phone's) and, optionally, Face ID to end sessions.
3. Open the app you want to lend, for example a game or the Camera, and triple-click the side button (or the Home button on older models).
4. Tap Start.

Now the person can only use that app. To end, triple-click again and enter the Guided Access passcode. For more on this situation, see lending your phone without showing your private photos.

When you need a lock that isn't your passcode

Every method above protects the app. If what you really want to protect is specific content (certain photos, videos, scans of your ID, documents) from someone who might know your passcode, you need a lock that's genuinely separate.

That's what an encrypted vault app is for. VaultCave, for example, keeps photos, videos and other files in its own encrypted storage, and each vault opens with its own pattern or passcode, separate from your phone's passcode. It deliberately doesn't offer Face ID, so nobody can open it by pointing the phone at your face. You can combine the two: lock VaultCave with Require Face ID as well, and someone would need both your phone passcode and your vault pattern. How the encryption works is explained on the security page, and how to lock photos on iPhone compares all the photo-specific options.

Comparing the ways to lock apps on iPhone

Method	iOS version	Separate code from phone passcode?	Best for	Main limit
Require Face ID	iOS 18 and later	No	Everyday privacy for any app	Passcode opens it
Hide and Require Face ID	iOS 18 and later	No	Keeping a downloaded app off the Home Screen	Name still visible in Settings and elsewhere
Screen Time app limits	iOS 12 and later	Yes (Screen Time passcode)	Shared devices	Clumsy; app works until the limit runs out
Guided Access	Long-standing	Optional	Lending your phone for one app	Only for the duration of a session
Vault app with its own code	Depends on the app	Yes	Specific photos and files	Only protects what you put inside it

Mistakes to avoid

• Sharing your passcode and assuming locked apps are safe. If someone knows your iPhone passcode, they can open every locked and hidden app.
• Thinking a hidden app is invisible. Its name can show up in Settings, Screen Time, Battery and App Store purchases.
• Locking Photos but leaving photos visible elsewhere. Photos may still appear on a synced iPad or Mac, or inside other apps you've given full photo access.
• Expecting the lock to follow you. Locks don't sync; set them on each device.
• Making sudden changes on a monitored phone. If someone controls or checks your phone, a newly hidden app or Hidden folder can be noticed. If you feel unsafe, contact a local domestic-violence hotline before changing things.

The short version

• On iOS 18 and later, touch and hold an app and tap Require Face ID to lock it.
• Hide and Require Face ID moves downloaded apps to a locked Hidden folder, but their names still appear in a few places.
• Every built-in app lock falls back to your iPhone passcode (Stolen Device Protection only changes that away from familiar places).
• Screen Time limits and Guided Access give you a separate code, with trade-offs.
• For specific photos and files, a vault with its own pattern or passcode is the separate lock.