I want to restrict access to certain apps on my iPhone so others cannot open them without permission, but I would prefer not to rely on Screen Time since I have heard it can be bypassed or collects too much usage data. Are there any built-in features or third-party apps that allow you to lock individual apps using a password or Face ID?
iOS 18 finally gave us what everyone has been asking for years. There is now a proper, built-in way to lock individual apps using Face ID, Touch ID, or your device passcode without touching Screen Time at all. Here is a full breakdown of every method available.
Method 1: Native App Lock in iOS 18 (The Best Option)
Apple added this directly into iOS 18. If your iPhone is running iOS 18 or later, this is your go-to method.
How to set it up:
Go to your Home Screen and find the app you want to lock. Long press the app icon until the quick actions menu appears. Tap “Require Face ID” (or “Require Touch ID” or “Require Passcode” depending on your device). Authenticate once to confirm. Done.
After that, every time someone tries to open that app, it will ask for Face ID. If Face ID fails three times, it falls back to your device passcode. The app relocks automatically the moment you close it.
A few important things to know about this method:
Content from locked apps will not appear in notification previews, Spotlight search results, Siri suggestions, or CarPlay. That is actually better privacy than what Screen Time offers.
Some system apps like Calculator, Camera, Clock, Contacts, Find My, Maps, and Settings cannot be locked using this method.
Most App Store apps can be locked, including Messages, Photos, Mail, and third-party apps.
Method 2: Hide and Lock (iOS 18)
Same process as above but one step further. After tapping “Require Face ID” you get a second option: “Hide and Require Face ID.” This removes the app from your Home Screen entirely and places it inside a locked Hidden folder in your App Library. The app name still shows in Screen Time usage and App Store purchase history, but it disappears from everywhere else.
This is useful when you do not even want the app to be visible to someone who has your unlocked phone.
Method 3: Guided Access
Guided Access is an Accessibility feature that locks your iPhone to a single app. It is not really about locking an app from others on an ongoing basis. It is more about handing your phone to someone and saying “you can only use this one app right now.” Enable it at Settings, Accessibility, Guided Access, then toggle it on. Open the app you want to lock to, triple press the side button, tap Start, and set a passcode. The person using your phone cannot leave that app without your Guided Access passcode.
Method 4: Apps That Have Their Own Built-In Lock
Many popular apps have their own Face ID or passcode lock baked directly into their settings. WhatsApp, Notes (locked notes), banking apps, password managers, and several others support this. Go into the app settings and look for a Privacy or Security section. This works on any iOS version. 
CloudMatrix, the iOS 18 native lock is the answer you are looking for and Fluxorix gave a solid walkthrough of the steps. Let me go one layer deeper on how it works technically and where its limits are, because knowing that helps you choose the right method for your situation.
What iOS 18 App Lock Actually Does
When you enable “Require Face ID” on an app in iOS 18, iOS places a system-level authentication gate in front of that app’s launch process. This is different from Screen Time, which works by imposing a usage limit that expires and then locks the app. The iOS 18 lock is persistent and does not track or report usage to any dashboard.
Key difference from Screen Time
Screen Time records everything. It logs how long you spend in each app, sends that data to iCloud if family sharing is active, and stores usage reports that can be reviewed by family organizers. The iOS 18 native app lock does none of this. It is purely an authentication gate. No usage logs are generated as a result of locking the app. The lock status also does not sync across devices via iCloud, so locking Photos on your iPhone does not lock it on your iPad.What Happens to Notifications on Locked Apps
When an app is locked, notification content from that app is hidden on your Lock Screen and in Notification Center. You will see a notification arrived but the message preview will not show. This is automatic and cannot be overridden by the app. For apps like Messages or Mail this is a meaningful extra layer of privacy.
The Passcode Fallback and Why It Matters
The app lock uses Face ID as the primary authentication method but always falls back to your device passcode if Face ID fails or is unavailable. This means if someone knows your iPhone passcode they can still get into a locked app. There is no way to set a separate passcode specifically for an app using the native method.
If you need a separate passcode that is different from your device passcode for an app, your only options are apps that have their own built-in lock system (WhatsApp, Notes locked notes, banking apps) or apps that accept a custom in-app password.
Limits of the Native App Lock
System apps Apple has decided cannot be locked include Calculator, Camera, Clock, Contacts, Find My, Maps, Shortcuts, and Settings. This list is baked into iOS and cannot be changed. You cannot lock the Settings app using this method, which means anyone who knows your device passcode could theoretically go into Settings and change things. If that is a concern, the Guided Access method is more appropriate for device handoff situations.
iOS Version Compatibility
The native per-app lock via long press is exclusively iOS 18 and later. If you are on iOS 17 or earlier, this option simply does not appear in the long press menu. Your alternatives on iOS 17 and below are: Guided Access, apps with built-in locks, the Shortcuts automation trick, or Screen Time.
The iOS 18 method Fluxorix laid out is genuinely the answer here.
I use this on my phone mainly because my kids pick it up sometimes and I do not want them accidentally getting into banking apps or email. Before iOS 18 I had to use Guided Access which was honestly a bit awkward because it locks the whole phone to one app, not just restricts individual ones.
The long press Face ID lock is much cleaner. You set it once and forget it. The app just asks for your face every time someone tries to open it. If they do not have your face, they need the passcode. If you have not shared your passcode with your kids, that is a solid wall.
One thing worth knowing that Silicrypte mentioned and I want to echo: the locked app does not show notification content on the lock screen anymore. So if you lock Messages, the little preview text goes away. You still get the notification badge and the notification but the actual text is hidden. For privacy that is actually great. For daily use it means you need to unlock the app to read messages which some people find a bit inconvenient but it is a fair trade.
The whole setup takes about ten seconds per app. No menus to dig through, no subscriptions, nothing to download.
okay so I spent like 45 minutes last year trying to figure out a workaround for this on iOS 17 and the answer was either “use Screen Time in an annoying way” or “use Guided Access which is overkill” and I was genuinely frustrated 
then iOS 18 dropped and they just… added a lock button. right there in the long press menu. like it was always there.
Apple spent a decade not doing this and then did it in one update. classic Apple energy.
anyway if you are on iOS 18 just long press the app and tap Require Face ID. done. took me longer to write this reply than it takes to set up 
if you are still on iOS 17 or below, Silicrypte broke down your options in detail. the Shortcuts automation trick is the most useful one without Screen Time.
Adding detail on the Shortcuts automation method because it gets skipped in most articles and it works on iOS 16.4 through 17, which is useful if your phone is not on iOS 18 yet.
Here is how it works. The Shortcuts app has an action called Lock Screen. You can create a personal automation that triggers this action whenever a specific app is opened. The result: you open the targeted app, the phone immediately locks itself, and you need Face ID or your passcode to get back in.
Step by step:
Open the Shortcuts app. Go to the Automation tab at the bottom. Tap the plus button in the top right corner. Scroll down and choose App. Tap Choose to pick the app you want to protect. Make sure Is Opened and Run Immediately are both selected, then tap Next. Type Lock Screen in the search field and select it when it appears. Tap Done.
That is it. The next time anyone opens that app, the phone locks immediately before they can see anything inside it.
Two things to know. First, this method is not as clean as the iOS 18 native lock because it locks the entire phone rather than just the app, but the result is nearly the same for the person trying to open it. Second, you should also add the same automation to the Shortcuts app itself, otherwise someone could open Shortcuts and simply delete your automation. Go into Automation, pick Shortcuts as the app, same steps.
This works on iOS 16.4 and later and does not require Screen Time at all. 
Something worth flagging that has not come up yet in this thread: a lot of popular apps already have their own lock built in and most people never turn it on.
WhatsApp has Face ID lock inside Settings, Account, Privacy, App Lock. Toggle it on and WhatsApp will ask for Face ID every time you open it regardless of what iOS version you are on. Works back to iOS 14 at least.
The Notes app on iPhone has locked notes, where you can lock individual notes rather than the whole app with Face ID or a custom password.
Banking apps almost universally have a biometric or PIN lock in their security settings. If you open your bank app and go into settings you will almost certainly find a Face ID toggle somewhere.
Password managers like 1Password, Dashlane, and others have their own lock built in by design.
These are not alternatives to the iOS 18 system lock but they are worth using in addition to it, especially for apps where you want a separate password that is different from your device passcode. The iOS 18 lock always falls back to your device passcode. An app’s own internal passcode is independent from that.
Nobody has listed the actual apps that cannot be locked with the iOS 18 native method so let me do that since it matters if any of those are exactly what you were trying to lock 
Apple’s official list of apps that cannot be locked using Require Face ID in iOS 18:
Calculator, Camera, Clock, Contacts, Find My, Maps, Shortcuts, Settings.
Apps that CAN be locked but only using the lock option and not the hide option:
Books, Calendar, Camera, Files, Image Playground, Journal, Music, Notes, Passwords, Photos, Reminders, Wallet.
Basically everything you download from the App Store can be locked and hidden. Native Apple apps can mostly be locked but many cannot be hidden.
The Settings app specifically is worth noting. You cannot lock it using this method. If someone has your device passcode they can go into Settings and make changes. For a personal privacy use case where you just do not want someone casually opening apps, this is fine. For a situation where you are genuinely trying to stop a determined person who knows your passcode, the only real answer is changing your passcode or using Guided Access.
Worth also knowing: locked app content does not show up in CarPlay, Siri suggestions, Spotlight search, or notification previews. So locking Messages for example also hides your message previews on the lock screen automatically. 
this thread has genuinely covered everything okay let me add something practical that got briefly touched on but deserves its own moment.
Guided Access is underrated for a specific use case that is different from what everyone else is talking about.
Fluxorix and Silicrypte covered the iOS 18 lock for stopping someone from getting INTO an app. Guided Access is for a different situation: you want to hand your phone to someone and make sure they stay in ONE specific app and cannot go anywhere else.
Classic example: you hand your phone to a kid to watch something on YouTube. You open YouTube, triple press the side button, tap Start, set a passcode. Now that person is locked inside YouTube. They cannot press the home button to get out, cannot pull down notification center, cannot switch apps. They are stuck in YouTube until you enter the Guided Access passcode.
To enable Guided Access before this works you need to go to Settings, Accessibility, Guided Access, and toggle it on. You can also set a passcode there or use Face ID to end sessions.
It is not an ongoing app lock like the iOS 18 method. It is a one-session lock for when you are physically handing your phone to someone. Two different tools for two different problems. 
Something nobody in this thread has fully explained yet: what exactly changes about notifications when you lock an app in iOS 18, because it is more significant than it sounds.
When you lock an app using the native Face ID method, iOS automatically sets that app to hide notification previews permanently. Not just on the lock screen but in Notification Center as well. You will see a banner or the app icon in notification center but the actual content preview is replaced with a generic label. For Messages it shows as something like “New Message” without the sender or text. For Mail it shows “New Email” without subject or sender.
This happens automatically. You do not have to configure it separately. And this behaviour persists even after you unlock and use the app. The notification preview setting stays hidden unless you go into the notification settings for that specific app and change the Show Previews option back to Always.
For someone using this for genuine privacy, for example keeping work emails away from a partner who sometimes uses your phone, that automatic notification hiding is actually the most valuable part. Most people handoff their phone with the screen already visible and a notification preview showing is often how private information gets seen in the first place. 
Want to be specifically helpful for anyone reading this who is still on iOS 17 or below because a few comments have touched on this but not directly.
On iOS 17 you do not have the long press Face ID option. Your actual options without Screen Time are:
The Shortcuts Lock Screen automation that TechRider walked through. This is probably your best option and it works reasonably well. Main downside is it locks the whole phone not just the app, and if someone is determined and knows about automations they could potentially delete it.
Guided Access for single session locking, which DigiWave explained well above.
Apps with their own built-in lock, like the ones RenderInventive listed. These work independently of iOS version.
Face ID and Passcode settings inside Settings for specific Apple services like App Store purchases, Apple Pay, and Autofill, but this is limited to those services specifically.
The honest reality on iOS 17 is that without Screen Time or the Shortcuts workaround, you do not have a great system level option. The iOS 18 native lock is the real solution here and if your device supports iOS 18 (iPhone XR and newer) it is worth updating just for this feature if app locking is something you care about.
updated to iOS 18 specifically to get the app lock feature and it is genuinely one of my favorite things Apple has added in years
been using it on Photos, Messages, and my banking app. the Photos one especially. my phone gets passed around at family events a lot and before this there was just no clean way to stop someone from going through your camera roll without Screen Time or some awkward workaround.
now I just lock it and done. they pick up my phone, try to open Photos, Face ID asks for my face, their face does not work, the passcode prompt comes up. end of story.
one thing I noticed that FrontNexus mentioned: the notification previews going hidden automatically. I did not expect that when I first set it up and then noticed my Messages previews had disappeared from my lock screen. slightly confused for a second before I realized that was just iOS doing the right thing automatically.
overall the iOS 18 method is by far the cleanest solution for this and I genuinely do not understand why Apple waited so long to add it
CloudMatrix, going to pull everything together from this thread into one place since a lot of useful information has been spread across multiple replies. Here is the complete picture.
If You Are on iOS 18 or Later
Native App Lock via Long Press
This is the correct answer for iOS 18 users. Long press any app icon, tap Require Face ID, authenticate once to confirm. The app is now locked. It relocks after every close. No Screen Time involved, no usage data collected, no sync across devices.What it protects: The app content itself, plus notification previews, Spotlight results, Siri suggestions, and CarPlay visibility all go hidden automatically.
What it cannot do: Lock certain system apps (Calculator, Camera, Clock, Contacts, Find My, Maps, Shortcuts, Settings). Cannot set a separate password distinct from your device passcode.
Hide and Lock
Same long press process but choose Hide and Require Face ID. The app moves to the Hidden folder in App Library and disappears from your Home Screen. Still accessible by going to App Library, finding the Hidden folder, and authenticating.If You Are on iOS 16.4 Through iOS 17
Shortcuts Lock Screen Automation
As TechRider explained: open Shortcuts, create a new automation triggered by opening a specific app, add the Lock Screen action, set Run Immediately. This locks the entire phone the moment the app opens. Not as clean as iOS 18 but functional. Also apply this to the Shortcuts app itself to prevent someone from deleting your automation.Guided Access
Enable at Settings, Accessibility, Guided Access. Open target app, triple press side button, tap Start, enter passcode. Locks the phone to that single app for that session. Best for handing your phone to someone temporarily rather than ongoing protection.Works on Any iOS Version
Apps With Built-In Locks
WhatsApp: Settings, Account, Privacy, App Lock. Notes: Lock individual notes via Face ID or custom password. Banking apps, password managers, and several other sensitive apps have their own internal lock in their settings. These work independently of iOS version and use their own authentication separate from your device passcode.What About Third Party App Locking Apps from the App Store
This comes up in a lot of searches and the answer is: they do not really exist for non-jailbroken iPhones in any meaningful form. Apple’s App Store guidelines and iOS sandboxing prevent third-party apps from controlling the launch of other apps. Any app claiming to do this either requires jailbreaking (a significant security risk that voids your warranty and blocks future security updates) or is doing something very limited like acting as a browser or container app.
The iOS 18 native lock and the methods above are genuinely the full toolkit available without jailbreaking.
Want to address the third-party app question directly because it comes up every time this topic is discussed and the answer is more nuanced than most articles admit.
On a non-jailbroken iPhone, you cannot install a true standalone app locker from the App Store. Apple’s sandboxing model prevents any app from monitoring or blocking the launch of another app. This is the same architecture reason that makes parental monitoring harder on iPhone than Android. It is baked into how iOS works, not a gap that developers have just not bothered to fill.
What you will find on the App Store are apps that serve as their own self-contained locked environments, like secure browsers, private photo vaults, and encrypted note apps. These are not app lockers. They are locked apps that you manually move content into. Different concept.
If you have jailbroken your iPhone, tools like BioProtect and AppLocker do exist and work, but jailbreaking removes the security protections that make iOS trustworthy in the first place. It disables secure boot, can expose your device to unsigned code, and typically means you stop receiving Apple security updates. For most people this is a worse trade than just using the built-in options.
The bottom line: for locking apps on a regular non-jailbroken iPhone, the iOS 18 native method and the other built-in approaches are genuinely your complete set of options.