App Protector Pro [App Lock]

Summary

Having your Android phone fall into the wrong hands is a really scary thought. Personal text messages, photos and videos aren’t always meant for prying eyes. You can nip the problem at the bud with the help of a reliable protector, a big brother of sorts that protects your privacy from nosy people around you.

App Protector Pro provides a solid line of defense against possible privacy infractions. Find out how it does it in our test!

It’s impossible to leave your phone unattended for second without some curious friend looking through your personal stuff. Pictures, videos, texts, calls – all of these things are private and should be kept that way. This is where App Protector Pro comes in.

App Protector Pro keeps your apps safe by making you enter in a PIN or use an unlock pattern. You can change the preset 8888 PIN to any combination you like. You can adjust the unlock pattern in the app’s settings. The functions of the app are similar to your Android phone’s regular screen locker. Here you can also protect your messages and calendar from unauthorized access.

The drawback of these kinds of apps is clear: many of them can just get uninstalled, which makes all the protection totally worthless. App Protector Pro solves this problem pretty well. Upon installation, the app automatically blocks the market, package installer and system settings. Apps can only be installed/uninstalled with your personal PIN or unlock pattern.

It’s easy to add individual apps to your protection list. Things get a bit more complicated when you need to add a large amount of different apps. Search feature? Simply not there! When you are editing your protection list, you can filter your apps to include all apps or just the executable ones. Another problem: some of the apps are displayed in double! The camera and HTC Setup are displayed twice in a row. Confusing? Heck yeah!

App Protector Pro apparently doesn’t work 100% with the Android photo gallery application, although I didn’t experience any problems myself. If you feel like your pictures are completely protected, the developers recommend that you block the camera and your media memory.

It’s annoying to have to unblock an app every time you need to use it. App Protector Pro has a clever solution in the form of a widget for your homescreen. With one tap, you unblock all apps that are on your block list. After you’re done working with them, you can secure them again with another tap. Useful and effective!

Even more practical is the No-Always-Lock mode. Here you don’t have to unlock apps each time you use them. Just enter in the PIN or unlock pattern to secure your apps when the screen is inactive, the lock timer runs out or you try to access the icon in your status bar. This is more effective and saves you a lot of time.

Pros

• Protected your apps from unauthorized access
• A Widget for quick lock activation/deactivation
• Customized PIN or unlock pattern

Cons

• Cumbersome selection of apps for the block list
• No search feature
• Gallery app not supported on some models

Bottom Line:

A bit complicated is my summary for this app. The app would benefit tremendously if you could secure your text messages and have the app figure out on its own which apps have access to my messages. The same should go for photos, videos and everything else. Therefore App Protector Pro doesn’t really stand, but has a lot of potential.

Where’s the design? Well, there really isn’t any design to speak of here. Everything is done in simple boring black. The only good part is the pop up window that comes up when you tap the widget.

Using this app would be easy if the apps didn’t appear in double on the list. Having to block the same app twice just doesn’t make any sense. App Protector Pro really didn’t do their homework on this one. All in all, the controls are all right. The unlock pattern works well and the configuration is easy to figure out.

App Protector Pro was fast and reliable during the test. At one point, I tried opening an app only to have it close on itself immediately. This was a one-time occurrence, however.

App Protector Pro can be downloaded for $1.99 from the Android Market. The demo version can be used for a 7 day trial period with all features and is also on the market.