What Locking an App with Face ID Does
Before iOS 18, there was no built-in way to lock a single app on an iPhone. Hiding an app in a folder or setting a Screen Time limit did not actually lock anything. With iOS 18, you can lock any supported app behind Face ID, so nobody can open it without your face or your passcode.
When an app is locked, tapping its icon does not open it straight away. Your iPhone asks for Face ID first, and the app opens only if Face ID recognises you. If Face ID fails, your iPhone offers your device passcode as a backup, so you are never locked out as long as you remember your passcode.
Locking an app also hides its content from the rest of your phone. Notifications no longer show a preview of the message or photo, the app’s content does not appear in Spotlight search, Siri will not suggest it, and its widgets stop showing live information.
This guide covers how to lock apps with Face ID, which apps can and cannot be locked, how to hide an app as well, how to unlock an app again, what changes once an app is locked, and what to do on an older version of iOS. You need iOS 18 or later and an iPhone with Face ID, which covers the iPhone X and every newer Face ID model.
How to Lock an App with Face ID
Locking an app takes about ten seconds, right from the Home Screen. There is nothing to install and no setting to hunt for first.
Step 1: Find the app on your Home Screen. Locate the app you want to lock, on any Home Screen page or in the App Library.
Step 2: Long-press the app icon. Press and hold the icon until a small menu pops up. The lock option sits at the bottom of it.
Step 3: Tap “Require Face ID”. Tap “Require Face ID”. If you do not see the option, the app cannot be locked, as covered in the next section.
Step 4: Confirm with Face ID. A confirmation screen explains what locking the app does. Tap “Require Face ID” again, then look at your phone to confirm. The lock is applied immediately.
Step 5: Test it. Tap the app icon again. Your iPhone should ask for Face ID before the app opens. If it opens straight away, long-press the icon again: the menu should now show “Don’t Require Face ID”.
Repeat the same steps for every app you want to lock. There is no central list of locked apps in Settings, so you manage each app from its own icon.
Which Apps Can Be Locked (and Which Cannot)
Most apps on your iPhone can be locked, including nearly every app from the App Store: messaging, banking, photo, social media, email, notes, and health apps. Many of Apple’s own apps can be locked too, including Photos, Messages, Mail, Notes, Safari, and Files.
A small set of built-in apps cannot be locked, and they simply do not show the option in the long-press menu. These are apps Apple considers essential, or apps that need to be reachable in an emergency: Camera, Clock, Contacts, Find My, Maps, and Settings. You also cannot lock the Phone app, since your iPhone should always be able to make and receive calls.
Two other cases are worth knowing. Some third-party apps already lock themselves, for example banking apps that ask for a face scan inside the app, but you can still add the iOS lock on top for a second layer. And if your iPhone is managed by an employer or a school, your administrator may have turned this feature off. As a rule of thumb, if the option appears in the long-press menu, the app can be locked. If it does not, it cannot.
How to Hide an App as Well as Lock It
Locking an app keeps people out of it, but the icon is still visible on your Home Screen. iOS 18 offers a stronger option in the same menu: hide the app as well as lock it, so it disappears from the Home Screen entirely.
Step 1: Long-press the app icon. Press and hold the app on your Home Screen until the menu appears.
Step 2: Tap “Require Face ID”. The hide option lives inside this same menu item.
Step 3: Choose “Hide and Require Face ID”. You will see two choices: “Require Face ID” and “Hide and Require Face ID”. Tap the second one. Your iPhone explains that the app will move to a Hidden folder and will not appear on your Home Screen, in search, or in notifications.
Step 4: Confirm with Face ID. Look at your phone to confirm, and the app icon vanishes from your Home Screen.
A hidden app is not deleted. It lives in a folder called Hidden at the very bottom of the App Library, and that folder itself is locked behind Face ID. To find it, swipe left past your last Home Screen page, scroll to the bottom of the App Library, tap Hidden, and authenticate with Face ID. Inside, the app works exactly like a locked app.
Hiding suits apps you want nobody to know you have at all, such as a dating app, a private journal, or a second banking app. The trade-off is that you must go to the App Library every time you want to open it, and you will not see its badge counts on your Home Screen. For most people, locking an app is enough; hiding is best for the one or two apps you really want out of sight.
How to Open a Locked App
Tap the icon, and Face ID runs automatically. If it recognises you, the app opens without you doing anything else. The whole thing takes about a second.
If Face ID does not recognise you, for example because you are wearing a mask or sunglasses, your iPhone gives you another try, then offers the option to enter your device passcode instead. This fallback is important: Face ID is a convenience, but your passcode is the real key. Anyone who knows your passcode can open your locked apps, so keep it private.
Once you have unlocked an app, it stays unlocked until you leave it. Switch to another app and come back later, and you may need to authenticate again. Your iPhone does not keep locked apps open in the background in an unlocked state.
What Changes Once an App Is Locked
Locking an app changes how your iPhone treats that app everywhere, not just when you tap its icon. These changes are automatic, and they are the reason the feature beats a simple passcode screen inside one app.
Notification previews are hidden. When a locked app receives a message or email, the notification still arrives, but it shows only the app’s name and a generic line. The message text and any photos stay hidden until you unlock your phone and open the app.
The app disappears from search. Content from a locked app does not show up in Spotlight search. Searching for a person’s name will not surface their messages, and searching for a document will not surface files from a locked notes app. The app’s own name still appears, but nothing inside it does.
Siri stops suggesting it. Siri will not suggest a locked app, include its content in suggestions, or read its information aloud. Ask Siri to send a message through a locked app, and Siri will ask you to unlock the app first.
Widgets stop showing content. A widget for a locked app goes blank or shows a locked placeholder instead of live information, so a calendar, photos, or notes widget cannot show private content to anyone looking at your phone.
All of these protections switch off as soon as you remove the lock, and your notifications, search results, and widgets return to normal.
How to Turn the Lock Off
Removing the lock is just as quick, and it also needs your face or passcode, so nobody else can unlock your apps for you.
Step 1: Long-press the locked app’s icon. Press and hold the app until the menu appears.
Step 2: Tap “Don’t Require Face ID”. The menu now shows this option in place of the lock option. Tap it.
Step 3: Authenticate with Face ID or your passcode. Confirm exactly as you did when you locked the app, and the lock is removed immediately.
If the app was also hidden, removing the lock does not put it back on your Home Screen. To unhide it, open the App Library, scroll down to the Hidden folder, authenticate with Face ID, then long-press the app and choose “Don’t Require Face ID”.
Using Screen Time to Lock Apps on Older iPhones
“Require Face ID” needs iOS 18, so if your iPhone cannot update to iOS 18, you cannot use it. The closest alternative is Screen Time, which has been on iPhones for years. It is not a true lock, but it can make an app effectively unusable without a separate passcode.
Step 1: Turn on Screen Time. Go to Settings, then Screen Time, tap “Turn On Screen Time” if it is not already on, and choose “This is My iPhone”.
Step 2: Set a Screen Time passcode. In Screen Time settings, tap “Lock Screen Time Settings” and choose a four-digit passcode, different from your device passcode. If someone knows this passcode, they can remove the limit, so pick one only you know.
Step 3: Add an app limit. Tap “App Limits”, then “Add Limit”. Pick the app’s category, or expand it to pick the specific app. Tap “Next”, set the time limit to 1 minute, turn on “Block at End of Limit”, and tap “Add”.
Step 4: Use up the minute. Open the app and use it for one minute. Once the minute is used up, the app is blocked for the rest of the day and shows a “Time Limit” screen. Asking for more time requires the Screen Time passcode, so anyone without the code is stuck at the block screen.
This method has real limits. It only blocks the app after you have used your one minute for the day, so the app is open for that first minute, and it does not hide notifications, search results, or widgets. It also blocks in whole days, so using the app yourself later means entering the Screen Time passcode to approve more time. It is a useful stopgap on older iPhones, but if your iPhone supports iOS 18, updating and using “Require Face ID” is the better option.
Many individual apps, especially banking and password apps, also have their own face or fingerprint lock inside their own settings, which is worth turning on anyway.
Common Problems and How to Fix Them
The “Require Face ID” option is missing. First, check your iOS version in Settings, then General, then About. If it says anything below 18, the feature is not available; update in Settings, then General, then Software Update. Second, some built-in apps, like Camera, Clock, and Settings, cannot be locked and never show the option. Third, if your iPhone is managed by an employer or school, the feature may be disabled by their policy.
Face ID fails when opening a locked app. Make sure the TrueDepth camera at the top of your screen is clean and not covered by a case or screen protector, and hold the phone upright, about an arm’s length away. If it keeps failing, tap the passcode option and enter your device passcode. If Face ID fails everywhere, go to Settings, then Face ID and Passcode, and check that Face ID is set up and “iPhone Unlock” is turned on. As a last resort, reset Face ID in the same screen and set it up again.
You locked an app and now cannot find it. If you chose “Hide and Require Face ID”, the app is in the Hidden folder at the bottom of the App Library: swipe left past your last Home Screen page, scroll down, and tap Hidden. If you only locked it, swipe down on the Home Screen and type the app’s name in Spotlight search.
Notifications from a locked app still show content. Go to Settings, then Notifications, tap the app, and make sure “Show Previews” is set to “When Unlocked” rather than “Always”. Set to “Always”, the notification can show its preview on the lock screen, which defeats the point of locking the app. Notifications from a locked app still make a sound and show the app’s name, so someone nearby will know a message arrived, just not what it says.
Someone else knows your passcode. Change it right away in Settings, then Face ID and Passcode, then Change Passcode. A locked app is only as private as the passcode that protects it: anyone who knows your code can open every locked app on the phone. If someone else set up an alternate appearance on your phone, reset Face ID and set it up again with only your face.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need iOS 18 to lock apps with Face ID? Yes. The “Require Face ID” feature was added in iOS 18, released in September 2024, and works on any iPhone with Face ID that can run iOS 18, from the iPhone X onwards. If your iPhone cannot update to iOS 18, use the Screen Time method described above instead.
Can I lock all my apps at once? No. Apple does not offer a “lock all apps” switch; you have to lock each app one at a time by long-pressing its icon. This takes a few minutes if you want to lock a dozen apps, but it also means you choose exactly which apps need protection.
Does locking an app log me out of it? No. Locking an app does not sign you out, delete any data, or change anything inside the app. The lock only controls whether the app can be opened and whether its content appears elsewhere on the phone.
Can I still receive calls or messages from a locked app? Yes. Locking an app does not stop it working in the background: calls, messages, and emails still arrive, and the app can still sync its data. You just cannot see the content of those messages on your lock screen, and you cannot open the app without Face ID or your passcode.
Does the lock work with a passcode instead of Face ID? Face ID is the main way to open a locked app, and your device passcode is always offered as a fallback if Face ID fails. On an iPhone with a Home button and Touch ID running iOS 18, the same feature is called “Require Touch ID” and works the same way with your fingerprint.
Is hiding an app the same as deleting it? No. A hidden app is still installed, still uses storage, still receives notifications, and still appears in your purchase history in the App Store. It is only invisible on your Home Screen and in search. To remove it completely, long-press it in the Hidden folder and choose “Delete App”.
Should I lock every app on my phone? Probably not. Locking everything makes your phone annoying to use, because you will be authenticating constantly. Lock the apps that would cause real problems if someone else opened them: messaging, email, banking, photos, notes, health, and password managers. Leave everyday apps like the weather, calculator, and music player unlocked.
Final Thoughts
Locking apps with Face ID is one of the most practical privacy features Apple has added to the iPhone in years, precisely because it is so simple. There is no new app to learn, no subscription, and no complicated setup: you long-press an icon, tap “Require Face ID”, and that app is private from then on, with its notifications, search results, and widgets hidden too.
Start with the handful of apps that actually hold private information: your messages, your email, your banking app, your photos, and your notes. Lock those first, test them once, and check that your notification previews are set to “When Unlocked”. If there is an app you want nobody to know you have at all, use “Hide and Require Face ID” instead.
One last reminder: the feature is only as strong as your device passcode. Face ID is convenient, but your passcode is the fallback that opens everything, so keep it private and change it if you think someone else has learned it. With that one habit in place, the Face ID app lock gives you real, everyday privacy with almost no effort.
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