Must Know Privacy Settings Before Letting Others Use Your iPhone.

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Your smartphone is essentially a digital vault. It holds everything from your banking details and emails to embarrassing photos and private texts. While we often hand our phones to friends to show a meme or to a stranger for an emergency call, that moment of handover often comes with a spike of anxiety. What if they swipe too far? What if they open a notification?

Fortunately, Apple provides powerful built-in tools to "dummy-proof" your privacy. You don't need to hover over someone's shoulder; you simply need to enable the right settings.

Here is how to lock down your iPhone and keep your private data safe when sharing your device.

1. The Ultimate Shield: Guided Access

Think of Guided Access as a temporary "Guest Mode" for your iPhone. It is the most effective way to restrict a user to a single app. If you hand your phone to a child to watch YouTube or a friend to look at Maps, they cannot leave that specific app to snoop around your phone.

How to Set It Up

Before you can use it, you must enable it in your system settings:

Open Settings and navigate to Accessibility.
Scroll down to the "General" section and tap Guided Access.
Toggle the switch to On.
Tap Passcode Settings. Here, you can set a specific PIN or enable Face ID to end the session easily.

How to Use It

Once enabled, activating it is instant:

Open the app you want the other person to use.
Triple-click the Side button (or the Home button on older models).
Tap Start in the top-right corner.

Pro Tip: Before hitting start, you can circle specific areas of the screen to disable them. For example, if you are showing someone a photo, you can disable the screen entirely so they cannot swipe left or right to see other pictures.

To exit the mode, simply triple-click the side button again and enter your passcode, or double-click and let Face ID verify it is you.

2. Lock Specific Apps with Face ID

With recent iOS updates (iOS 18 and later), Apple introduced the ability to lock individual apps directly from the Home Screen. This is perfect for banking apps, Notes, or WhatsApp. Even if your phone is unlocked and in someone else's hand, they cannot open these specific apps without your biometric scan.

How to Lock an App

Find the app you want to secure on your Home Screen.
Long-press (touch and hold) the app icon until the quick menu pops up.
Select Require Face ID (or Touch ID).
Confirm by tapping Require Face ID again.

Now, whenever that app is tapped, it will immediately ask for your face or fingerprint. If the authentication fails, the app remains closed.

3. Hide Apps Completely

If locking an app isn't enough and you prefer the icon to disappear entirely from your Home Screen, you can use the Hide App feature.

When you hide an app, it is moved to a locked, invisible folder. It will not appear in search results or on your main screen screens.

How to Hide an App

Long-press the app icon you wish to vanish.
Select Require Face ID.
Tap on Hide and Require Face ID.
Confirm by selecting Hide App.

How to Find It Again

Since the app is gone from your screen, you might wonder where it went.

Swipe left on your Home Screen until you reach the App Library.
Scroll to the very bottom.
You will see a folder labeled Hidden.
Tap it and use Face ID to unlock the folder and reveal your apps.

Important Limitations

While these features are robust, keep in mind that certain essential system apps cannot be locked or hidden to prevent you from accidentally locking yourself out of the phone. These generally include Settings, Camera, Maps, and the Calculator.

Summary

You don't need to be rude to protect your privacy. By utilizing Guided Access for temporary sharing and App Locking/Hiding for long-term security, you can hand over your iPhone with complete peace of mind.