2020-07-16 22:15:54 / Posted by Rosa Reyes to Utility Follow @ Rosa
This article mainly takes about how to lock apps on Mac easily in different ways. You probably have dozens if not hundreds of applications installed on your Mac and mobile devices. Sometimes, you may feel the need to put a lock on certain apps such as Messages, Photos and Mail. Locking apps can benefit you in more than one way. And the article will cover the common ways to do the locking.
You can effortlessly lock apps on MacBook Air, MacBook Pro or iMac, etc. with Cisdem AppCrypt, an easy-to-use, versatile Mac app locker and website blocker for macOS.
Download and install AppCrypt. When you open the app for the first time, you will be asked to set a password. Read the Warning before clicking Submit.
The password will be required to unlock locked apps and configure settings. Please DON’T forget the password.
How to lock individual apps on Mac? In the app locker for Mac, click the Add App button from the toolbar, which will bring up a Finder window. From the Applications folder, select one or multiple apps that you want to password lock. Click Add.
Alternatively, place AppCrypt window and the Applications folder window side by side. Drag apps into the left panel of the former.
It’s that easy to lock apps on Mac.
When you or someone else tries to open an app locked by AppCrypt, a message will pop up asking for password. To launch the app, just enter the correct password in the field provided. Click Submit.
If the password entered is incorrect, as shown in the screenshot below, this Mac app locker will generate a record with details like app name, date, time and a photo (photo blurred for privacy in the screenshot) of the one who tries to break in. To delete a specific record, just control-click the record and click the Delete option that appears.
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Note: You can disable or enable the "Capture photo with failed attempt" option in Preferences. Click the Menu dropdown icon in the top right corner of the main interface and select Preferences > General.
To remove password protection from a Mac app, select the app in the left panel and then click the Remove App button in the toolbar.
Get the free trial of the app to password protect your apps in an easy and reliable manner.
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On a side note, you can use the WebBlock feature to block any website on web browsers like Chrome and Safari.
Disk Utility is a utility built-in to macOS, which can be used to perform disk-related tasks. One can use it to password protect folders. It’s actually also possible to use this utility to lock apps on Mac. However, there are some facts to know.
I will take the Firefox app for example and show you how to lock apps on Mac using this method.
Step 1. In Finder, open the Applications folder. This is generally where a Mac app is located. Create a subfolder in the Application folder. Here I will name the subfolder Firefox Locked. Drag the Firefox app into this subfolder.
Step 2. Open Disk Utility on Mac. There are two ways to do this.
Step 3. In Disk Utility, from the menu bar at the top of the screen, choose File > New Image > Image from Folder. In the Finder window that appears, select the newly created subfolder and click Choose.
Step 4. Click the Encryption dropdown list and choose the option 128-bit AES encryption (recommended).
In the new box that pops up, enter a password and then verify it. Click Choose.
Step 5. Click the Image Format dropdown list and select the option read/write.
Step 6. Click Save. It will start creating an encrypted mountable disk image (.dmg) file. Once the process is finished, click Done.
Step 7. Go to Applications. There, you can now find two items: Firefox Locked subfolder (with Firefox.app in it) and Firefox Locked.dmg. The purpose here is to block access to the app. Therefore, delete Firefox subfolder and the app in it.
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Firefox browser is now locked in the encrypted DMG file. How do I open it?
In the Application folder, double-click the encrypted DMG file, which is Firefox.dmg in this case. A box will pop up asking for password. Enter the correct password in the Password field and click OK. In Finder, the locked app will immediately show up in the left panel under Devices. Select it under Devices. Now the app will stay unlocked and easily accessible on your Mac until you eject it. To lock it again, control-click it in the left panel and choose Eject.
Depending on the macOS version your Mac is using, the interface and options may appear slightly different. Despite that, the steps above are still useful.
When encrypting app in Step 4, you can also choose the 256-bit AES encryption, which is more secure. But it will take a longer time to encrypt and decrypt. 128-bit AES encryption is usually safe enough to lock apps on Mac.
This method doesn’t apply to systems prior to macOS 10.15. Previously only available on iOS, now the Screen Time comes to Mac with the release of macOS Catalina in October 2019.
As you can tell form its name, the feature is designed primarily for the purpose of controlling screen time. If your are looking for an easy way to protect apps on Mac with a strong password, this method is not effective or practical enough.
Step 1. From the Apple menu, select System Preferences > Screen Time.
Step 2. In the bottom left corner of the main window, click Options. Select the checkbox next to Use Screen Time Passcode. Set a 4-digit passcode.
Step 3. In the left column, click App Limits. Click the Turn On button to enable this feature.
Step 4. Click the add button, which will bring up a new window where you can add an app to create limit. Enable Block at end of limit. When you finish setting up, click the Done button.
Note that the minimum limit is 1 minute. If your purpose is to lock an app on Mac so that others won't have access to it, then you need to use the app for 1 minute every day to trigger the blocking.
When a time limit is reached, the app will be locked, and one will be asked to enter the passcode to access the app again.
There is a built-in feature which named Guided Access, allows you to lock apps on iPhone. You can enable this feature on your iPhone with following the steps below:
Step 1. Launch the Settings app on your iPhone and tap on general.
Step 2. Tap on Accessibility, scroll down and choose Guided Access under the Learning section.
Step 3. Tap to turn on Guided Access.
Step 4. Tap on Passcode Settings and set a passcode for Guided Access.
Step 1. Launch the app which you want to lock. In this case, we used Camera.
Step 2. Triple click the Home button to Start Guided Access and lock Camera App.
Step 3. Tap on Start at the top of the screen.
Step 4. Tap on Start at top right corner of the screen to begin Guided Access.
This is it! Now, you are safe to hand over your Mac and iPhone to your kids, friends or with whom you are not comfortable to share applications.
There are various kinds of screen locks for Android, such as PIN, password, pattern, etc.,which can help you lock Android phone well. But it is too troublesome to unlock the Android every time when you go to use the phone. So if you want to protect your important apps, you can use an app name Smart App Protector to lock apps on Android.
Step 1. Download Smart App Protector from Google Play Store and install it on your Android phone.
Step 2. Launch the program. It will require you to install a Smart App Protector helper that ensures the major app service wouldn’t be killed by third party apps.
Step 3. The original password is 7777, but you are able to change it in app Settings.
Step 4. Next, come to Running tab. Click ADD button and choose applications that you need to lock from the pop out list. Click ADD button again.
Step 5. Finally, check whether the app has been locked on Android or not.
How to lock apps on MacBook Air or other Macs? Above are the common ways on how to lock apps on Mac, iOS and Android. Locking apps is necessary if you want to prevent your private information from leaking, or you don’t want others to access certain apps on your device. Hopefully the ways above can help you solve your problems with success.
iPhone and Android phone users can use the built-in or third-party solutions to do the locking up. For Mac users, there is also more than one solution. If Disk Utility or Screen Time is not enough to meet your need, you can try professional a Mac app locker. With it, you can easily lock an app on Mac and also block distracting websites. Download the free trial now.
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How do I block YouTube on my Mac? How do I temporarily block YouTube channels for free or is there a way to block YouTube app on Mac? Lots of users try to block YouTube videos on Mac, but they don’t know how to.This article will introduce you how to block YouTube website, YouTube app, YouTube channels and YouTube video ads on Mac.
While setting a separate user account for each(or all) of your family members, friends can go a long way towards improving the security of your Mac, it is meaningless for shared family Mac, someone may wants to read through your mail or tamper with your ongoing game. To keep your Apple Mail — even other apps on your Mac — private from the eyes of other users you may want to password protect Mac mail app.
Which one is the best app blocker for Mac users to block their apps? There is no doubt that Cisdem AppCrypt is the best one.
6 Comments Leave a Reply
Awesome! Super helpful and simple to use! It limits my child to play games on Mac frequently and it looks really cool!
Very good looking app that is feature rich and very easy and pleasing to use.
I loooooove AppCrypt absolutely a great program. I can't say anymore it's just awesome.
A very good third-party tool to protect apps you don't want to accidentally launched by others.
The paragon of unierstanddng these issues is right here!
I have three kids in my family, and they always use my Mac to play games and watch movies. aha, now they even can't access to my games app with the help of AppCrypt.