The app lock

The app lock asks for your fingerprint or the phone's PIN before the journal shows anything. It is separate from a locked journal, which has its own passphrase — see Close, lock & open a journal.

#Turn it on

1. Open settings › "the journal" › "the lock".
2. Switch on "ask for your fingerprint or the phone's pin when the journal opens, and after a minute away".

It starts off. If the phone has no screen lock of its own, the switch is replaced by a line: "this phone has no screen lock of its own, so there is nothing for the journal to ask for. set one in the phone's settings, and this can be switched on."

#When it asks

When the journal comes back on screen — the first time after the app starts, and after more than a minute out of sight. A quick photo, a file picked or a share sent stays inside that minute and doesn't ask again.

#What you see

A plain page covers the whole journal, every sheet included: a star, "the journal is locked" and "open it". Back and taps outside do nothing.

1. The phone's own prompt opens at once: "the journal is locked" — "your fingerprint, or your phone's pin".
2. Once it says yes, the page goes and the journal is as you left it.

If the prompt is cancelled or fails, what it said shows under the title, in lower case. Tap "open it" to ask again.

The journal never sees your fingerprint or PIN, and keeps neither: the phone asks, and only says yes or no. On phones older than Android 9, the phone's own lock screen asks for its pin, pattern or password instead. If the phone's screen lock is removed later, the lock lets you straight in rather than trapping you.

#Turn it off

Switch it off on the same page.

#Ask the sky

Never. The lock is yours alone.

#See also.

Close, lock & open a journal · Settings, page by page · Widgets, the tile & shortcuts