If you carry an Android based mobile phone or tablet, then it can be assumed that you have set it up to access your various accounts like email services, web hosting, blogs, cloud storage and many other different accounts. If you do not want just about anyone to access these accounts on your Android device, then you better password protect it. This way when you lock your Android device and leave it on your desk, nobody else can use it without knowing how to unlock it through the password. Actually Android allows you to lock and protect your device not only through a password, but also through PIN numbers, sliders and patterns as well.
In order to password protect your device, you can follow these steps:
- First of all you have to open Android settings. The option to access settings is present in the Apps section as well as through your device’s menu button.
- In the settings, tap on the Security to open a list of security related options. Then tap on Screen Lock which would the first in the list of security items.
- It will show you four options for setting up screen lock – slide, pattern, PIN and password. There is also an option None that disables the screen lock.
- The slide option sets up the standard slide-the-lock-to-side to type screen lock. Android comes with a standard slide lock, but you can also get other slide locks from Google Play store. In the Pattern lock you have to connect the dots on your touchscreen device in a special pattern that you set yourself. In the PIN lock you have to enter a number of four digits to unlock your device. The best and strongest option is the password which lets you set your own alphanumeric password of any length you want.
Once you have set up the screen lock, you can press the Power button on your Android device for only a split second to lock your device. On the lock screen you can see and test your new screen lock.