Help Groupons & having to hand off your phone - how to lock the screen?

[PattiCakeUS]

I don't know if the G3 has a way to do this or if I need a 3rd party app. I'd like to be able to protect my contacts/address book so if someone gets my phone when it's awake, they can't get into my contacts list.

My phone has a pattern lock to keep people out of my phone & that generally works great, but a few days ago I was using a Groupon at a restaurant, & I had to hand my phone to the server while they wandered out of my sight, to scan the barcode. It made me a little uneasy because within my Contacts, I have my bank account #'s saved under the bank names... as well as of course, my friends & relatives info. I didn't like the ideas of someone having the ability to poke around in my stuff & potentially get into my data really easily.

Any ideas for how I can either use my same pattern lock to lock out my Contacts from people in this type of situation, or if there's another way to keep my Contact info. private if I have to hand off my phone?

Edit: See this post for more info & clarification on the original question - http://androidforums.com/threads/how-can-i-protect-my-contact-info.955041/#post-7113146

 

[Unforgiven]

@PattiCakeUS, I moved this to the Android News and Talk forum as I think it will a) get far more exposure and attract more eyes and b) probably would be a good discussion for owners of more then the LG G3. We had a similar experience with having to hand over our phone at Water Country in NH so they could scan a groupon code, so I'm interested in a solution that doesn't involve either blind trust or pin locking every other app on the phone.

 

[PattiCakeUS]

Thanks! I wasn't sure where to post it, so I appreciate you moving it to a better location

 

[AZgl1500]

your first mistake was letting the phone out of your hands.

that is a huge No No, and I just simply will not allow it.

once the device is open, you can't stop them from looking into your contacts.

 

[Unforgiven]

your first mistake was letting the phone out of your hands.

that is a huge No No, and I just simply will not allow it.

once the device is open, you can't stop them from looking into your contacts.

Yeah, I get that, but it a weakeness right now and lets hope there is a solution. In my case, it stayed in my sight, but I can see many instances where that isn't practical because of technical limitations for the retailers offering the groupons.

 

[El Presidente]

Settings -> Security -> Screen Pin.

Open the App you want pinned, hit the recent apps button and the app you have open should have a "Pin" icon in the lower right corner. Hit that and they won't be able to exit that app/screen without your PIN.

Need to be running Lollipop though.

 

[Lordvincent 90]

Hmmm. I'm not seeing that on my s4... Perhaps that a device specific feature?

 

[Thom]

On the Droid Turbo it is in Settings | Security, Advanced, Screen Pinning (near the bottom of the list)

... Thom

 

[El Presidente]

Hmmm. I'm not seeing that on my s4... Perhaps that a device specific feature?

A quick google tells me it's not available on the S4 for whatever reason? Seems odd but there you go.

It's definitely a standard lollipop feature though.

 

[mikedt]

You had to hand your phone to a server and they take it away? I say, NO WAY!! Tell them if they want to scan a code from your phone, they can scan it at your table or the payment counter.

...that's probably worse than the old days of when a server or waiter would take your credit card away to pay the bill. That should just never happen now, and doesn't AFAIK. They have a wireless EPOS terminal, and they bring it to your table usually these days.

 

[PattiCakeUS]

Settings -> Security -> Screen Pin.

Open the App you want pinned, hit the recent apps button and the app you have open should have a "Pin" icon in the lower right corner. Hit that and they won't be able to exit that app/screen without your PIN.

Need to be running Lollipop though.

OK, found it, this is pretty cool. Will the screen stay on, or will it still time out & go dark?

 

[El Presidente]

No idea, it's not a feature I've ever used (I just knew it existed), sorry.

 

[PattiCakeUS]

I was super tired & heading to sleep when I asked. I just tested it, it seems like the screen will stay on pretty much forever when an app is pinned, which is great!

Although... since it pins the app & not the screen, theoretically it means the person has the power to buy more groupons & change my account email, etc. But that's really assuming the worst in people. It's a step in the right direction.

 

[edgie70]

Can you not get an app lock from the play store and in the app lock settings select contacts to lock ??

 

[AZgl1500]

you might be able to use MacroDroid to cause the phone to turn off if they left the Groupon app.
then with them not knowing how to unlock it, you are safe.

I use MacroDroid for a lot of things.... Like turning OFF all sounds while it is charging... my wife hates noises in the night.

 

[PattiCakeUS]

The built in lollipop function described above already locks the app.

I also already use Llama to control sounds. But thanks for the idea, I always like learning about cool apps!

 

[Hook]

In addition, I wouldn't have your banking numbers (or any other sensitive information) in your contacts (not that names and addresses and phone numbers aren't sensitive). I would use a password locker to keep that information encrypted. I use SafeinCloud, but there are many others.

 

[PattiCakeUS]

I suppose I could save it in Dashlane, but if my phone has a pattern lock with a short screen timeout & I don't have to hand off my phone, what's the difference? (not being a smart aleck , just wondering)

 

[FishenFool]

Perfect App Protector lets you protect any apps you want so you could hand over an unlocked phone and have all the apps you are concerned about protected.

 

[Hook]

I suppose I could save it in Dashlane, but if my phone has a pattern lock with a short screen timeout & I don't have to hand off my phone, what's the difference? (not being a smart aleck , just wondering)

Fair enough. The difference is simply that many programs ask for permission for access to your contacts and the data is unencrypted. What calculation you make for convenience versus security is up to you (I do tend to lean towards convenience myself). Just a suggestion.

 

[PattiCakeUS]

Thanks, I was wondering if there was some aspect I was missing. I don't usually worry too much about it when apps ask for access since I try to use reputable apps.

I'll also look into Perfect App Protector to see if that would give me a warm, fuzzy feeling. I feel like the built in Lollipop app lock is close, just not quite what I'm looking for.

Thanks everyone, for the great ideas!!

 

[IRULUTechnology]

And another nice tip : better not set the phone number with an alternative appellation, use their real name.
Then the probable bad guy can't use your information

 

[PattiCakeUS]

Ok, now that I've tried a few things out, I'm changing the original question to more accurately describe what I'm looking for. I don't only want to lock a certain app. I'd like to be able to lock the Groupon/ whatever screen so that if I have to hand my phone to someone, they won't even have access to go off of that screen without putting in a passcode/pattern/etc. So far, the Lolliop "app pin" functionality is the closest, but it still allows the person with the phone to go poking around within that app.

Does such an app exist, that would let me lock the screen (and still allow scrolling up/down on that screen) - but wouldn't let the other person go to other screens within the app?

 

[Lordvincent 90]

If the groupon is just a qr/barcode you could screenshot it and use it as a temp lockscreen photo. Might be annoying to set up every time but it definitely would do what you are asking

Edit - Just caught the 'needs to scroll' part.

 

[PattiCakeUS]

Yeah, unfortunately sometimes they need to be able to scroll around to see the whole thing - otherwise I had thought about doing exactly what you said. Thankfully having a stranger walk off with my phone isn't something that happens often (I think it's happened just once so far, which is what prompted this thread!) - but there should be an app that does this!