Hexlock is an Android app that helps users keep their apps secure and locked away from prying eyes without having to completely lock down their whole device. It does this by locking chosen apps behind either a pattern or a pin, allowing the owner of the phone to keep certain apps locked, without locking the whole phone away. You can organize apps to lock behind six different profiles, like work, home, party, parental and more. Hexlock is an app that’s built from the group up with Material Design in mind and it’s completely free to use, and doesn’t make you jump through hoops or change the way you use your device, aside from having to remember the pattern or pin, of course.
To get set up, you’ll need to download Hexlock from the Play Store, and you can start to create profiles and add apps to them.
You’ll be asked to either set a pin or a pattern, I opted for a pattern to quickly unlock apps, it’s nice and easy to set either up.
When you have your code chosen, you’ll be asked to add apps to a profile, it default to work, but there are more on offer.
See, here in the Work section I have locked away my Google Authenticator app, pretty smart thing to do I’d say! You can quickly change between the profiles and while it doesn’t show here in the image, the transitions are very fluid and good-looking.
Everything in Hexlock is nice and straightforward and setting apps in each profile is super-easy, as is the ability to add more from the pre-defined selection of profiles.
I went to test Hexlock to see if it genuinely worked, and it absolutely did when I went to open up Google Authenticator, I was asked for my pattern lock.
The only minor annoyance with Hexlock is the persistent notification, but you can always turn the lock on or off when you’re out of the house and so on.
Apps that lock away other apps aren’t new on Android, in fact there’s a whole host of them out there. However, very few of them exhibit the sort of fit and finish of Hexlock. We’re talking about a free app as well, one that doesn’t feature any ads or anything like that, too. Hexlock’s use of Material Design is good-looking and the overall UI is super-easy to navigate, understand and ultimately work with. It doesn’t slow your phone down in any way, and for the most part, you wouldn’t notice that something else is running. The only giveaway is the persistent notification, which can be something of an annoyance. Still, that’s not a big deal, and it doesn’t ruin the overall experience by any means.
Ratings
- Speed (4/5) – Hexlock is quick to setup and works really quite nicely.
- Features (5/5) – To say this is a free app, there’s so much on offer here and it all comes together really quite nicely.
- Theme (4/5) – The Material Design used in Hexlock looks really nice and it’s easy to navigate and get to grips with.
- Overall (4/5) – A solid app that serves a very real purpose, Hexlock is free and it gets the job done in an attractive and hassle-free manner.
Pros
- No ads or in-app purchases, it’s just a free app for people to use and keep their apps locked away.
- Material Design throughout gives the app a modern and fresh feel.
- Different profiles allows users to swap and change the apps and games they have locked away.
- Even the screen that locks the app away is good-looking and it’s simple and to the point.
Cons
- Persistent notification can be annoying.
- Doesn’t seem to be a way of resetting your pattern or pin if you’ve forgotten it.
Hexlock is a free Android app that’s well worth taking a look at. It’s completely free, looks great and is easy to use. For parents looking to block certain streaming apps or games away, or securing work or password apps, this is a neat, hassle-free way to do just that. I’m surprised at just how much you do get here for free, and it serves a very genuine purpose, too.