How TEK: Need to borrow your smartphone for a call? Block Everything Else – How To Tek

You’ve probably come across situations where you need to lend your smartphone to someone for whatever need, but you didn’t feel comfortable doing it and that’s why you never did. taken out of sight. Whether it’s a family member wanting to see the latest vacation photos, someone needing to make an emergency call, or a child wanting to watch YouTube videos: there is a tool that gives more tranquility to the use of others.

It is possible to limit the use of the smartphone to the application that the person has requested in a very simple way. Before passing the smartphone to other hands, it is enough to “lock” it in the desired application. If the user you lent to tries to leave the application, you will simply be “gifted” with the lock screen and, if you do not know the code, you will no longer be able to use the device.

Note that on Android devices the feature is not active by default, so you have to configure it in the settings. Its use is also very easy and you should learn how to do it. to avoid inconvenience when borrowing the smartphone or concerns about misuse.

The feature in question It’s called Pin the Screen, or App Fixation, if you have the Android operating system in Portuguese. Note that depending on the smartphone manufacturer, the way to access the option may change slightly, but it is in Security and Lock screen. On some devices, you’ll need to open advanced security options to access the feature.

For iOS, there is a similar tool called Screen Time, which in this case limits the time users can use the applications. O SAPO TEK had already produced a How to dedicated to the tool.

Learn the steps to enable and use the Android App Pinning feature

Follow these steps:

1 – Go to the settings of the operating system and find the option “Security and lock screen”.

2 – Swipe down the screen and find the “App Fixation” option. This option can be found in the “Advanced Settings” on some brands of smartphones.

3 – Enable the “Pin apps” option. You can also enable the option to ask for the PIN code before releasing the app, further protecting security when borrowing equipment by setting a different code than what you have on the lock screen.

4 – Now that you have enabled the app repair option, there is nothing like testing it before lending the hardware to someone. To do this, simply choose the application you want to configure, such as the Internet browser. To do this, press the switch application button (the square) so that you can interact with the selected application.

5 – Press the circular icon above the corresponding window, in this example the Chrome logo.

6 – The menu presents several options, such as information about the application, its lock, screenshot or sharing. But after enabling it in settings, Pin option will appear. Press it.

7 – If everything went well, a message will appear indicating that the screen is pinned, remaining visible until released. Press OK.

8 – From there, it will not be possible to quit the Internet browser, in this example that we have chosen (it can be a mobile application, a game, etc.). The switch is locked, that is, it cannot switch to another application or close this one. The system warns that to remove the attachment, you must simultaneously press the square and the arrow behind the navigation.

9 – To unpin the application, simultaneously press the square and the arrow behind the navigation.

10 – However, it will end up on the lock screen, leaving the smartphone “unusable” for the borrower, so it will definitely be returned to you right away.

11 – The interesting thing is that when you fix the browser and then remove it, when you unlock the device again, you will receive a report with the list of websites that have been visited during the aforementioned mode.

How To TeK is the SAPO TeK section that aims to help all users with simple (but seemingly complex) tasks when using computers and mobile phones. If you have any suggestions for tricks you’d like to see clarified, email geral@tek.sapo.pt.