Avira AppLock+ for Android review
Avira AppLock+ is a new application for Android by security company Avira which provides you with options to lock apps on the device.
The basic version of AppLock+ is free but if you want to make use of all of the applications' functionality you have to make a one-time in-app payment of €2.49 to unlock those features as well or €1.49 to unlock them individually instead.
First thing you are asked to do after installation is set up a pin and verify it, and set up a recovery password on top of that.
Last but not least, you need to create an account using an email address or a social media account before you can start using the app.
Avira AppLock+
Once you are past the initial configuration you can start using the application
Avira Applock+ supports three locking methods of which two are only available as paid upgrades.
- Pin Lock: this is the free option which locks any application you select so that it can only be accessed if you enter the pin you set up in the AppLock+ interface.
- Schedule Lock: This paid upgrade enables you to lock any application by time. Select days of the week and hours of the day in which the application should be locked.
- Geo Lock: The second paid upgrade locks applications when the device is in locations you specify.
Pin Lock is the most straightforward method of protecting applications. AppLock+ protects some installed applications such as Google Play automatically with the pin but you are free to lock as many apps as you like that are installed on the device.
When you launch the app, you are asked to enter the pin to unlock it and gain access to it.
Schedule Lock on the other hand locks applications only for specific days of the week and a start and end date.
Geo Lock finally locks applications only when the device is used at locations that you have not set up in the application.
Avira AppLock+ uses
Avira AppLock+ has several uses. First of all, you may use it to add some level of extra protection to applications. This can be useful if you hand over your phone to others at times (let me just call my mum using your phone), or if someone else may gain unauthorized access to it (snooping).
It can also be useful to lock certain applications such as Google Play on the phones of children permanently, or using schedule lock at certain times. If you want to keep your kids off of Facebook or YouTube while they are at school, this is one of the applications that you can use for that.
Geo Lock falls in the same category, as you can force apps to be locked if the device is within a 100m to 10km radius around the selected location.
An option to reverse the feature is missing surprisingly. I think it could be useful to make sure apps work without lock while you are at home or another safe place, and won't work without being unlocked first when the device is used elsewhere.
Closing Words
The locked application flashes for a moment when you open it before the pin screen appears. This means that someone opening it may still get a glimpse of whatever screen opens when the application is loaded on the device.
Avira AppLock+ is a situational application that has its uses depending on how and by whom the Android device is being used.
If you are the only user and don't hand it over to others regularly, then there is little use for the app. If others may access it, or if your kid has an Android phone, then it can be useful to lock certain applications so that they cannot be accessed by others/your kid.
Thanks for the tip Martin.
It is for these kinds of posts that I follow GHacks.
What’s up with the generic comment, are you a bot?
2G?
Where on the planet is that still in use? I was forced to give up using my RAZRV3 years ago because 2G was phased out by AT&T.
Everywhere 3G has been turned off and you don’t have LTE coverage, and believe me there are many developed countries where this is the case and if it weren’t for 2G you wouldn’t even be able to make a phone call.
Maybe I missed it, but I don’t believe tha term “2G” is in the article. Perhaps you are referring to “AGM G2”??
@Martin
Your website has gone insane.
When I the post button I then saw my comment posted on a different article page. When I opened this article again, it is here.
@Tachy @Martin Brinkmann
” Your website has gone insane. ”
Same here. Has happened several times.
@Tachy,
@Martin P.,
For over two weeks now,
I’ve been seeing “Comments” posted by subscribers appearing in different, unrelated articles.
https://www.ghacks.net/windows-11-update-stuck-fixed-for-good/#comment-4572991
https://www.ghacks.net/windows-11-update-stuck-fixed-for-good/#comment-4572951
For the time being,
it would be better to specify the “article name and URL” at the beginning of the post.
@tachy a lot of non-phone devices with a sim in them rely on 2G, at least here in europe.
Usually things reporting usage or errors/alarms on something remote that does not get day to day inspection in person. They are out there in vast numbers doing important work. Reliable, good range. The low datarate is no problem at all in those cases.
3G is gone or on its last legs everywhere, but this stuff still has too much use to cancel.
Anyhow, interesting that they would put that in. I can see the point if you suspect a hostile 2G environment (amateur eavesdroppers with laptop, ranging up to professional grade MITM fake towers while “strangely” not getting the stronger crypto voip 4G because it is being jammed, and back down to something as old ‘stingray’ devices fallen into the wrong hands).
But does this also mean that they have handled and rolled out a fix for that nasty 4G ‘pwn by broadcast’ problem you reported earlier this year? I had 4G disabled due to that, on the off chance that some of the local criminals would buy some cheap chinese gear, download a working exploit and probe every phone in range all over town in the hope of getting into phones of the police.
>”While most may never be attacked in stingrays, it is still recommended to disable 2G cellular connections, especially since it does not have any downsides.”
The downside would be losing connectivity. I spend a lot of time way out in the countryside where there’s often no service or almost none. My network allows 2G, and I need it sometimes. I have an option on the phone to disable 2G, I may do that when I’m in the city and I have good 5G connectivity, but not out in the country.
I would imagine that the stingray exploits, like most of the bad things in this world, are probably things you will run into in the crowded big cities.
I stopped using it in a mobile (Wi-Fi line) environment, so I’m almost ignorant of the actual situation,
But the recent reality in Japan makes me realize that “the infrastructure of the web is nothing more than a papier-mâché fiction”.
https://www.ghacks.net/2023/08/17/google-chrome-to-enable-https-first-by-default-for-all-users/#comment-4572402
It is already beyond the scope of what an individual can do.
What we should be aware of is the reality that “governments and those in power want to control the world through the Web”, and efforts to counter (resist and prevent) such ambitions are necessary.
Why do you want people to disable the privacy features? Hmmmmm?
Now You: do you plan to keep the Ads privacy features enabled?
I’d like to tell you, but apparently if you make a post critical of Google, you get censored. * [Editor: removed, just try to bring your opinion across without attacking anyone]
@Martin
You website is still psychotic. Comments attach to random stories.
@Martin please do fix the comments, it’s completely insane commenting here! :[
@Martin
The comments are seriously messed up on gHacks now. These comments are mixed with the article at the below URL.
https://www.ghacks.net/2023/08/18/android-how-to-disable-2g-cellular-connections-to-improve-security/
And comments on other articles are from as far back as 2010.
What does this article has anything to do with all the comments on this article? LOL I think this Websuite is ran by ChatGPT. every article is messed up. Some older comments from 2015 shown up in recant articles, LOL
The picture captioned “Clearing the Android Auto’s cache might resolve the issue” is from Apple Carplay ;)
How about other things that matter:
Drop survival?
Screen toughness?
Degree of water and dust protection?