Club Benefits
There's a lot of sensitive information stored in your phone, but there may still be situations where you need to hand your device over to someone for whatever reason. Maybe a friend needs to make a call, and you don't want to risk them snooping through your private messages or photos.
Luckily, most Android phones have a hidden feature that lets you avoid such situations. But not Samsung Galaxy phones, they don't have this basic feature, for reasons that have never been made clear.
Guest Mode offers you the chance to set up a temporary guest profile that lets someone else do what they need to do without running the risk of them seeing something that they shouldn't. Likewise, Android will delete all evidence of their activity once they're done, ensuring total privacy and security for all.
Here's how to set up Guest Mode on Android, and keep all your data nice and safe.
1. Open User profiles in System Settings
The first thing you need to do is open up the Settings menu, then scroll down until you see System. Tap this, then scroll down further until you see the Users option. Tap it.
2. Enable Guest Swapping and Add guest
The next page lets you set up a guest account quickly. The first thing you need to do is ensure the Allow user switch is toggled on. Once it is, you simply need to tap Add guest to proceed. This will open up a Guest Mode profile for you, or someone you know, to use.
This page also lets you configure settings for guest accounts. This includes options for automatically deleting all guest activity, letting them make phone calls, and whether you should be able to add guest accounts from the lock screen
3. Open Guest accounts quickly
While going through the settings menu and tapping Add Guest will let you open up a guest profile, there is a faster way to do it once everything is set up.
Simply pull down the navigation bar with two fingers to extend it to the full length of the screen. Then tap your User icon in the bottom right corner, next to the settings icon. Tap the Guest option to open up a guest account
4. Leaving Guest accounts
Once Guest mode is active, there's only one way to leave. Pull down the navigation bar again and tap Exit guest mode on the notification. You will receive a prompt asking if you really want to leave, and you need to tap Exit to confirm.
This will take you back to your own lockscreen, letting you unlock your phone however you normally would. The idea here is that someone can't sneakily leave Guest Mode and try to snoop around your phone when you're not looking. All they'll find is a locked phone they can do nothing with.
And there you have it, that's how you switch on Guest Mode, giving you the ability to lend your phone to friends and family without the fear that they'll find something that you really don't want them to see. It's a very simple feature, in the grand scheme of things, but we all know that one person who's always losing or breaking their phone.
This way you can be a good friend, helping them make whatever emergency calls they need, without compromising your phone in the process.
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