How to Pin an App’s Screen in Android

If you have a friend who wanted to borrow your phone to use one of the apps, chances are you will not want him/her to explore other part of the phone. Android smartphones can guard against this allowing you to pin an app’s screen so your friend can only use the app he/she wanted to use. With this feature turns on. the user will not be able to navigate to a different section of the phone.

Note: This feature might not be available for all Android phones, and might not work well with full-screen gesture.

Also read: How to Enable Kiosk Mode in Android Devices

Turning on the Screen Pinning Feature

Open the settings page on your phone.

Scroll down the list of options until you find either the “Security” or “Security & Location” / “Security & lock screen” section of the list. Tap on this section.

Locate the “Screen Pinning” option and select it.

Turn on Screen Pinning by clicking on the grey area around Off, so that the area turns blue.

Here you will find the option available to “Ask for PIN before unpinning”. Turning on this option means you will have to input your secret PIN number or some other means of identification before an app can be unpinned from the screen. This provides an extra layer of security to protect the data in your phone.

Pinning an App

Go to the home screen of your phone and turn on an app that you wish to pin to the screen.

Press the Overview button, which is the square box near the bottom of the screen. Depending on your phone model, you will swipe up and see a pin icon near the bottom of the screen, which you can press to pin the app to the screen.

Alternatively, when you press the overview button, you may see three dots near the top of the app window. Pressing on the dots will open a list of options, one of which is for pinning the app to the screen.

Unpinning the App

Note: The following will not work well if you are using full-screen gesture.

Once your phone is safely back in your hands, you will want to unpin the program so you can access other parts of the phone. To do so, simply hold down the Overview button represented by the square and the Back button represented by the triangle near the bottom of the screen at the same time for a few moments.

If you had added the PIN option while setting up the feature, you will be asked for your PIN, and inputting it will unlock the screen. If you had not enabled PIN protection the app will unpin on its own.

Conclusion

Whether you are giving your phone to strangers or friends, handing over the unprotected data in your phone is never a good idea. The app screen pinning feature is a useful way for you to protect yourself, and your phone.