If you want to let your friend or family member use your Galaxy S7 or S7 Edge, but don’t want them snooping, then you can simply pin the app to the screen.
As cellular phones transitioned from feature phones to smartphones, we’ve started to store more and more personal information on them. From full HD photos of our personal lives to passwords, bookmarks and more. There can be a ton of information on the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge that you do not want anyone else to know about. This normally isn’t a problem because most people do not keep our devices more than an arm’s reach away from us at all times.
However, there are times when we want to share something with a close friend, family member or even a co-worker. No matter how close we are to them, there can be some things that we don’t want them to see.
Hopefully, you can trust anyone that you hand your phone to, but sometimes there are some people who just like to snoop around. There are even times when this snooping can be accidental. No matter the case, if you’re wanting to let someone use your Galaxy S7 or S7 Edge, but do not want them to see any other content on your phone, then thankfully you have the option to pin the application to the Galaxy S7 screen. Sadly, this feature isn’t enabled by default so let me walk you through how to enable the feature and how to use it.
Galaxy S7 Pin Apps
- Launch the Settings App
- Scroll Down and Tap on the ‘Lock Screen and Security’ Option
- Scroll Down and Tap on the ‘Other Security Settings’ Option
- Scroll Down and Tap on the ‘Pin Windows’ Option
- Then Toggle the Feature on
- When on, go to the App You Want Pinned
- Tap the Recents Button
- Then Tap on the Pin Icon in the Bottom Right of the App Card
- To Unpin an App, Press and Hold Both the Back and Recents Buttons at the Same Time
Explanation
I really don’t understand why this feature isn’t enabled by default. The only thing I can think of, is maybe Samsung doesn’t want someone to pin an application to the screen by accident. I imagine that it can be pretty alarming to accidentally press that pin icon on an app card and then not understand why they can’t minimize the app like normal. It’s still a pretty straight forward feature though so it is surprising that they would have this feature disabled by default.
Either way, that’s the great part(in my opinion) about me doing these device tips. This way, at least you know more about the phone you have and then you’ll have the choice about whether or not you want to use the feature. As with most of these features, the Galaxy S7 pin apps feature is buried within the settings so we need to dive into that app and then go into the Lock Screen and Security section. From here, scroll down and tap on the Other Security Settings option and then scroll down one last time so you can tap on the Pin Windows option. Here, you’ll see a toggle like you see at the top of the article here.
By default, this feature is turned off and you’ll see this with the toggle being in the off position. So, if you want to use this feature then you will need to toggle it on with a simple tap. Once on, you can go to any application and then tap on the Recents button. You should then see a pin icon in the bottom right of the app card on the Recents page. Tapping on this pin icon will bring up a dialog box that shows you what you’re doing, shows you how notifications will work when an app is pinned, and it will show you how to unpin an application.
All you have to do is press and hold the Recents and the Back buttons at the same time and then the app you pinned will no longer be pinned. I should note that if you want additional security for this feature(in case the person you hand the phone to knows about pinned apps), then you’ll want to toggle the additional feature on. This additional toggle appears under the on/off toggle, but only have you enable the Galaxy S7 pin apps feature. When this feature is turned off, you won’t see this secondary toggle. This secondary toggle requires that the pin/password/pattern be verified before letting the app become unpinned.
The whole point is to keep your stuff secure. So, in my opinion, it only makes sense to go ahead and turn this secondary toggle on as well. This is totally up to you though. Just be aware of how this feature works when it is turned on and off. This way, there aren’t any surprises when you hand the Galaxy S7 or S7 Edge off to someone and you think it’s secure when it actually isn’t. I demonstrated this feature with that secondary toggle both on and off in the video above. So if you want to see how it works then be sure to watch the video.
