How to Switch to Guest Mode When You Let Someone Borrow Your Phone
BY GreenBot Staff
Published 14 Apr 2016
There are a lot of new phones out there. Your friends will want to check it out whenever you show up with new hotness. Even if you trust them, you never quite know where their fingers will go. You may have some text conversations or images that you’d rather not open up to a set of prying eyes. Android has a native guest feature that solves this problem. When you enable it, all your data is inaccessible to the guest user. It will be as if they’re looking through a brand-new phone. Swipe down from the top with two fingers, and touch the user icon on the upper right.
Add a guest to keep all your private data safe.
Next, touch the Add guest icon then your phone will switch over. Not all the apps on the device are connected to the guest account, so Photos, Gmail, and Chrome are safe.
To end guest mode, tap the user icon and select Remove guest.
Remove the guest to end that user’s session.
You’ll then able to go back to your account, which requires a fingerprint, passcode, or another unlock. This may work differently depending on your specific device. For example, the Galaxy S7 offers a private mode, which you can turn on from the settings.
The newest Galaxy phones have a private mode for keeping most of your data off limits.
Be sure to check out your own device if you have a non-stock user interface. Even if the configuration is different, the native tools for some guest modes will be available.
