How to Lock Apps on iPhone with Face ID (iOS 18–27)

On iOS 18 and later, you lock an app by touching and holding its icon on the Home Screen, tapping Require Face ID, and authenticating. The app then asks for Face ID, Touch ID or your passcode every time it opens, and relocks when you quit it. To lock it and take it off your Home Screen, tap Hide and Require Face ID instead.

That covers most people. The rest of this guide covers what the lock actually hides (less than you'd think), which apps Apple won't let you lock, what to do on iOS 16 or 17, and the one thing a Face ID lock can't do.

How do I lock an app with Face ID on iPhone?

These steps work on iOS 18, iOS 26 and iOS 27. On an iPhone with Touch ID, the menu says Require Touch ID. If you have no biometrics set up, it says Require Passcode.

1. Go to the Home Screen and find the app (Snapchat, Instagram, WhatsApp, Photos, whatever you want to protect).
2. Touch and hold the icon until the Quick Actions menu opens.
3. Tap Require Face ID.
4. In the sheet that appears, tap Require Face ID again, then authenticate.

From now on, tapping the app shows a Face ID prompt before anything loads. Opening it doesn't unlock it for good: once you quit the app, it locks again.

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

How do I hide an app on iPhone?

Hiding is locking plus disappearing. The app leaves your Home Screen, App Library and search results and goes into a locked Hidden folder.

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 App Library, scroll to the bottom, tap Hidden, authenticate, then tap the app (it asks for Face ID again).

To see a list of hidden apps: go to Settings → Apps → Hidden Apps.

To unhide it: open the Hidden folder, touch and hold the app, tap Don't Require Face ID, and authenticate. It reappears near the top of App Library, and you can drag it back to your Home Screen.

Which apps can't be locked or hidden?

Two separate rules:

• Can't be locked: some of Apple's own apps, including Calculator, Camera, Clock, Contacts, Find My, Maps, Shortcuts and Settings. The menu option simply isn't there.
• Can't be hidden: any app that came installed with the iPhone. Only apps you downloaded from the App Store can be hidden. In the EU, an app you've set as your default browser or app marketplace can't be hidden either.

So Messages, Photos, Mail and Notes can be locked but not hidden. Snapchat, Instagram, TikTok and every other App Store app can be both.

In a Family Sharing group, children under 13 can't lock or hide apps. Teens aged 13 to 17 can, but a parent can still see that the app was downloaded and how long it's used (the exact ages vary by country).

What can people still see when an app is locked?

Apple says information inside a locked app won't show up in notification previews, search, Siri suggestions, call history or CarPlay. In practice, that means a locked WhatsApp won't put a message preview on your Lock Screen and won't surface a chat when someone types a name into Search.

What a lock does not hide:

• The app itself. A locked app keeps its icon on your Home Screen. Anyone can see you have it, just not open it. Hide it if that matters.
• The app's name in a few system places, even when it's hidden: Settings → Screen Time, Settings → Battery, and your App Store purchase history.

Two more caveats:

• Your iPhone passcode opens it. If Face ID fails, the lock falls back to the device passcode. Anyone who knows your passcode can open every locked and hidden app.
• It's per device. Locking Instagram on your iPhone doesn't lock it on your iPad. The setting doesn't sync through iCloud.

How do I lock apps on iOS 16 or iOS 17?

Require Face ID doesn't exist before iOS 18. If your iPhone can update, that's the cleanest fix (Settings → General → Software Update). If it can't, here are three workarounds, from most to least useful.

Option 1: A 1-minute Screen Time limit with a passcode

This puts a separate passcode, not just Face ID, between other people and the app.

1. Settings → Screen Time → Lock Screen Time Settings (called Use Screen Time Passcode on iOS 16) and set a 4-digit code different from your phone's passcode.
2. Settings → Screen Time → App Limits → Add Limit, pick the app, set 1 minute, then tap Add.
3. Open the limit and make sure Block at End of Limit is on.

After a minute of use each day, the app shows the limit screen, and getting past it needs the Screen Time passcode.

Limits: the first minute of each day is open to anyone, the limit screen offers One More Minute, and you're the one who has to type the code every time you want in. It's clunky for privacy, but unlike a Face ID lock, someone who knows your phone passcode still can't get through.

Option 2: Guided Access, when you hand your phone over

Guided Access does the opposite of locking one app: it keeps someone inside one app. If you're passing your phone to someone to show a photo or let a child play a game, they can't leave it.

1. Settings → Accessibility → Guided Access → turn it on, then under Passcode Settings set a Guided Access passcode.
2. Open the app you want to allow, triple-click the side button (or the Home button on older models), and tap Start.
3. To end the session, triple-click again and enter the code or use Face ID.

Note that Crash Detection and emergency calls aren't available during a Guided Access session.

Option 3: A Shortcuts automation that locks the phone (iOS 16.4+)

It's a well-known trick: an automation that locks your whole iPhone the moment a chosen app opens.

1. Open Shortcuts → Automation → + (on iOS 16, then Create Personal Automation).
2. Choose App, select the apps, and keep Is Opened checked.
3. On iOS 17, set Run Immediately and turn off Notify When Run. Then add the Lock Screen action. On iOS 16, add the action first, then turn off Ask Before Running.

Limits: this doesn't lock the app, it locks the phone. The app flashes open for a moment first, anyone who unlocks the phone lands straight in the app, and anyone with access to Shortcuts can switch the automation off. Treat it as a deterrent, not real security.

What's the difference between locking an app and blocking it?

This is where most people end up on the wrong page.

• Locking is privacy. It keeps other people out of your apps. Face ID checks who is opening the app.
• Blocking is self-control. It keeps you out. A block checks when and for how long the app can be used, regardless of who's holding the phone.

A Face ID lock does nothing for the second problem. Face ID recognises you in a fraction of a second, so for the one person you're trying to stop, a locked Instagram opens just as easily as an unlocked one. If you searched "how to lock Instagram" or "how to lock Snapchat" because you want to use it less, you need a blocker:

• How to block apps on iPhone, covering every built-in method and its weak spots.
• How to block Snapchat on iPhone.
• How to block Instagram on iPhone.

Apple's built-in blocker is Screen Time, and its big weakness is that you can dismiss your own limit with Ignore Limit. Here's how to remove the Ignore Limit button and the other loopholes that make Screen Time easy to bypass.

If you'd rather have a block that holds without handing your passcode to someone else, that's what Detox is built for. You pick the apps. Quick checks stay fine, but once you've been scrolling one continuously past your limit, Detox hard-blocks it for a cooldown. You can also set scheduled blocks or start a focus session, and strict mode stops you editing or deleting a block while it's active. It's iPhone and iPad only, paid, with a free trial.

The bottom line

To lock an app on iPhone, long-press it and tap Require Face ID. To lock it and take it off your Home Screen, use Hide and Require Face ID, and find it later in App Library's Hidden folder. It works on iOS 18 and later for every App Store app and most Apple apps, but not Settings, Camera, Maps and a few others. Your phone passcode still opens it, and its name still shows in Screen Time and Battery. On iOS 16–17, a 1-minute Screen Time limit with a separate passcode is the closest substitute. And if the person you really want to keep out of Instagram is you, skip the lock and set up a block.