Are you constantly worried that someone might accidentally take a peek of your confidential emails, photos and videos? Do you happen to keep a lot of important documents inside your phone or tablet? If yes, then you better not let anyone else get a hold of your device unless you’re confident that they wouldn’t be able to access any of your private or confidential information. After all, who knows what will happen if you just let someone else use or borrow your device without even doing any sort of first-hand precaution? If you value your privacy, you better use a reliable mobile security app like ZDlock for Android.

What Is It and What Does It Do

Main Functionality

ZDlock is a free mobile security app for Android tablets and smartphones. With the help of this app, you can use a four-digit PIN or pattern to easily secure and lock your apps. You can even use a fake crash dialogue to prevent others from knowing that you’ve actually locked your apps. That’s not all. ZDlock can also prevent any unauthorized user from uninstalling your apps.

Pros

• Easy to use, easy to configure, neat and elegant UI
• Can secure and lock any app via pattern lock or number lock
• Anti-uninstall Protection – prevents other people from uninstalling any of your apps, including ZDlock
• Lots of free themes in the Theme Store – there’s Lotus Pink, Tech Black, Spring Green, Milky White, Sapphire, etc.
• Fake App Covers – create a fake crash dialogue to prevent others from knowing that you’re actually using an app locker to secure and conceal your apps
• Password recovery option – you can easily recover your forgotten password by providing the correct answer to the app’s security question
• Customizable user settings
• Multi-language support

Cons

• You can’t view the app in landscape mode
• The number lock option can only generate a four-digit PIN – you cannot create a password that is longer than four digits or characters
• You cannot set a different PIN or pattern lock for each app

Discussion

App lockers are quite handy especially if you’re keeping lots of important information inside your tablet or smartphone. Come to think of it, there are certain situations in which you can’t really avoid other people from getting hold of your device. Like, for example, when you’re letting your friends borrow your phone to send a quick message or make a quick call. There are also those instances wherein you’re bound to leave your devices on your office desk or dining table. So if you don’t want any of your private images and documents to fall into the wrong hands, you better take the necessary precautions. As for ZDlock, it is specifically designed to restrict others from using your apps.

The way ZDlock works is quite simple. All you need to do is to install it on your Android device and then it will prompt you to create a master password. Your password could be a four-digit PIN (aka Number Lock) or a secret pattern. Once you’re done with this step, you simply need to choose the apps that you want to lock. After which, you can go to the app’s Settings to change or update its default preferences. This is also where you can opt to disable or enable the app’s fake crash dialogues aka “fake covers”. Just keep in mind that your master password applies to all of your locked apps. With ZDlock, you cannot set a different password or secret pattern for each app.

To apply a fake cover to a particular app, all you need to do is to view your list of locked apps. Select the app that you want and then swipe it to the right until you see a message that says “Added Cover”. The same procedure applies for removing the app’s fake crash dialogue.

All in all, I can say that ZDlock proves to be a very decent and reliable app locker. I also like the fact that the app itself can be locked. You can also set the app to lock your system uninstaller. This way, you can prevent others from installing ZDlock just so they could gain access to your restricted apps. I also like the fact that this app supports a lot of free themes.

While I don’t really have some major issues with this app, I do think that it could become even better if it also supports landscape view (especially for tablets). It would also be nice if users can set a password that is longer than four digits or characters.

Conclusion and Download Link

Needless to say, ZDlock is a very reliable and elegant-looking app locker. It is very easy to use plus it has all the essential features and options that you need to secure and lock your applications. It helps keep your private information safe so you don’t have to constantly worry that someone might accidentally open and view your confidential photos, videos, documents and even your emails. So go ahead and check it out.

Price: Free

Version reviewed: 1.0.3

Requires: Android 2.0 and up

Download size: 3.3MB

ZDlock on Play Store