Its amazing that even after a year and half of iPhone's launch, it still draws attention, I have friends who want to check out my iPhone 3G. I have no problems with that, but the concern I usually have is that I don't want them to access some of the iPhone apps such as iPhone's Mail App or maybe tomorrow an iPhone App which has my bank account details etc.
Thankfully I stumbled upon a jailbreak iPhone app aptly named Lockdown which protects access to iPhone apps to address my paranoia.
Call me paranoid, but I have waiting for
Apple to release a feature which gives me the ability to password protect an
iPhone app or apps just the way you can set a passcode to gain access to
iPhone's home screen.
iPhone app – Lockdown meets that requirement perfectly. It gives you the ability to password protect your iPhone apps.
The user interface of the iPhone app is quite simple. You need to first set the safety word which will come into picture if you have forgotten the master password. You need to then set the master password which can be used to unlock an application.
Once that is done, it provides you with an option to either:
- Lock All Applications
- Unlock All applications (applicable only if you have locked any application)
It also provides you an option to lock System Applications individually such as iPhone's Mail App, Contacts App etc or iPhone apps that you have downloaded for the App Store.
Interestingly jailbreak iPhone apps show up under System Apps. You can tap on any of the applications which prompts you to either Lock or Unlock the application, you can tap on "Lock" to password protect the App or "Unlock" to remove the password protection for an iPhone app.
So the next time you try to launch an iPhone app that you have locked, it will prompt you for the master password that you had set. After you have entered the password you need to tap on the "Launch" button to launch the locked iPhone app (assuming that the password entered is correct). I would have preferred the functionality similar to iPhone's passcode feature so that the iPhone apps launch immediately after entering the passcode rather than the additional step of tapping on the "Launch" button.
As you can see its a simple app that allows you to lockdown access to an
iPhone app or apps. You can install Lockdown for free on your jailbroken iPhone via Cydia.
The developer has provided the following warning that you should remember without fail before upgrading to a new version of Lockdown:
"If you are upgrading, make sure you unlock your locked apps before upgrading or you will not be able to do so ever."
If you are paranoid about security, I would also recommend you to read the security tips to keep your iPhone secure.
Update:
Lockdown v5.3 Fixes Couple of Issues
What do you think about Lockdown? Let us know in the comments.
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