At a glance
| Tool | What it does | It's enough when | Where AppLock Master differs |
|---|---|---|---|
| Private Space (Android 15+) | A separate, hidden space with its own lock. Apps inside it are stopped while it's locked, so they show no notifications. | You want a few apps completely out of sight and can do without their notifications while the space is locked. | Locks the apps you already use, where they are, with their data and notifications. Works on Android 7 and later. |
| Samsung Secure Folder | A Knox-encrypted space on Galaxy phones, with its own lock and separate copies of the apps you add. | You have a Galaxy phone and want a walled-off second copy of an app, or somewhere private for files. | Locks the regular copy of any app, on any brand of Android phone. Nothing to clone or sign in to again. |
| WhatsApp Chat Lock and App lock | Locks chosen chats into a Locked chats folder, or the whole app with your fingerprint, and hides message content in notifications. | WhatsApp is the only app you need to protect. | One lock for every app, plus a history that keeps a message after its sender deletes it. |
| Android notification history | Once you turn it on, keeps the notifications you dismissed in the last 24 hours. Not every phone has it. | You only need to look back a day, and don't mind anyone holding your phone seeing it. | Keeps notifications for 7 days, 30 days or longer, with the photo when the notification carries one, behind your passcode. |
| Chrome Incognito | Keeps no history or site data after you close it, blocks third-party cookies, and can lock Incognito tabs. | You want Chrome without a history for one session. | Blocks ads and trackers as well, and clears cookies and cache every time a session ends. |
| Your phone's own app lock (Xiaomi, OnePlus, Oppo, Realme, Vivo) | Locks the apps you pick with a pattern, password or fingerprint, from Settings. | Your phone has one, and locking apps is all you need. | The same lock on every brand, plus notification history, a private browser, intruder selfies and a disguised icon. |
| AppLock Master | Locks any app with a PIN, pattern or fingerprint, keeps notification history, and adds a private browser, intruder selfies and icon camouflage. | You want all of that in one app, on any Android 7+ phone. | Free, with ads. It needs Usage Access, overlay permission and, for the history, notification access. The built-in tools need none of these. |
Private Space
Private Space arrived in Android 15. It is a separate, hidden profile with its own lock: you install apps into it, and while it's locked they are completely stopped, hidden from the launcher and recent apps, and can't show notifications. You can even hide the Private Space entry itself.
It doesn't lock anything outside the space. An app you put in it is a new copy, and its data doesn't move across from the one you already use. There is one Private Space per phone, it isn't included in device backups, and a forgotten lock can only be reset, not recovered.
- Choose Private Space to hide a handful of apps completely, when you don't need their notifications while they're locked.
- Choose AppLock Master to keep using your apps as they are, with their data and notifications, and simply ask for a PIN or fingerprint when they open.
Samsung Secure Folder
Secure Folder is Samsung's encrypted space on Galaxy phones, protected by Samsung Knox. It has its own PIN, password, pattern or fingerprint. An app added to it becomes a second copy, which can even use a different account, and a setting decides whether its notifications show while the folder is locked.
Like Private Space, it doesn't lock the regular copy of an app. A forgotten passcode can only be reset if you turned on reset with your Samsung account, and some older phones no longer support it.
- Choose Secure Folder on a Galaxy phone when you want a separate copy of an app, or a private place for files.
- Choose AppLock Master to lock the apps you already use, on any brand, without setting them up a second time.
WhatsApp Chat Lock and App lock
WhatsApp has two locks of its own. Chat Lock moves chosen chats, groups included, into a Locked chats folder that opens with your fingerprint, face or a secret code, and their notifications show only "1 new message". App lock, under Settings > Privacy > App lock, locks the whole app with your fingerprint.
Both only protect WhatsApp, and calls can still come through. Forget Chat Lock's secret code and the locked chats are cleared.
- Use WhatsApp's own locks if WhatsApp is the only app you want to protect. They're free and built in.
- Choose AppLock Master for one lock across every app, and for a notification history that keeps a message after its sender deletes it for everyone. How that works.
Android's notification history
Android's own notification history lives in Settings > Notifications > Notification history. Once you turn it on, it keeps a list of the notifications you've dismissed in the last 24 hours. Turning it off deletes the list, and some phones don't have it at all.
AppLock Master's notification history keeps notifications for 7 days, 30 days or with no limit, as you choose. It keeps the photo when a notification carries one, and it sits inside the app behind your passcode instead of in Settings where anyone holding the phone can open it.
- Use Android's history if looking back a day is enough.
- Choose AppLock Master to keep messages longer, from the apps you choose, where only you can read them.
Chrome Incognito
Chrome's Incognito mode doesn't keep a record of the sites you visited or their data once the session ends, and it blocks third-party cookies by default. It can also lock Incognito tabs when you leave Chrome. Google is clear that it doesn't make you invisible: websites and your network can still see what you do.
The Incognito help page doesn't say it blocks ads or trackers. AppLock Master's private browser does, keeps no history unless you turn it on, and clears cookies and cache every time a session ends. More about the private browser.
The app lock built into your phone
Several brands build an app lock into Settings. Xiaomi has App lock (Settings > Apps > App lock), OnePlus has App Locker, and Oppo, Realme and Vivo have their own. Each locks the apps you choose with a pattern, password, fingerprint or face. Samsung's official route is Secure Folder. Pixel phones have no app lock in stable Android yet, though press reports say Google is testing one in Android 17 beta builds.
If your phone's lock covers the apps you care about, use it. It's built in and needs no extra permissions.
- Choose AppLock Master for the same lock on any brand, plus what a built-in lock doesn't have: notification history, a private browser, intruder selfies, a disguised icon and uninstall protection.
What AppLock Master asks for in return
To lock other apps, AppLock Master needs Usage Access, so it can see which app opened, and permission to draw over other apps, so it can show the lock screen. The notification history also needs notification access, and the intruder selfie needs the camera. Built-in tools need none of this, because they are part of the system.
It's free because it shows ads. What it keeps stays on your phone: there is no account, and the privacy policy lists every service the app uses and what each one receives.
Sources
- Android Help: Private space
- Android Open Source Project: Private space
- Samsung: Secure Folder
- WhatsApp Help: Chat Lock
- WhatsApp Help: App lock on Android
- Android Help: Notification history
- Chrome Help: Incognito on Android
- Xiaomi: App lock
- OnePlus: App Locker
- Realme: App lock
- vivo: App encryption
- 9to5Google: Android 17 beta app lock (press report)