How to Use Screen Pinning in Android 9.0 Pie

by Popa Loredana · September 10, 2018

We’ve all been in this situation. You have a good heart and simply hand your phone to someone, and they start snooping around. God, how annoying this can be! Thankfully, Android has a built-in solution for this this issue; “screen pinning” has been around since Android 5.0 Lollipop and you can obviously use in the latest Android 9.0 Pie version too.

This basically allows you to “pin” any app to the screen. When an app is pinned, the user can only use that app. A special button combination is required to leave the app, so you are in complete control over the situation.

So, once you follow the below steps, you can safely hand your phone over to friends, family members and so on, without having to worry about them digging around in your business.

How to Use Screen Pinning in Android 9.0 Pie:

Enter into the main Settings menu;
Now, it is time to select Security & location;
Scroll to the bottom and tap Advanced to reveal more options;
Choose the one that says Screen pinning;
Select the toggle to enable the feature;
You’ll notice a second toggle which wasn’t there before. This option controls where users can go once they attempt to unpin the app in the foreground. If you leave this option disabled, the person holding your phone can easily open other apps once they unpin the screen;
However, if you enable the option, on unpinning sends them to the lock screen;
With screen pinning enabled, enter the multitasking menu using the recent apps button or the new swipe-up gesture. For the latter, swipe up from the home button. Swipe left to see all the apps you’ve previously opened on your device;
Once you locate the app you wish to pin, tap the icon on the top of the app;
At this point, a submenu will appear with the option “Pin.” Select this option, and when done correctly, a pop-up will emerge along the bottom informing you the screen is pinned;
To unpin the app, hold the back and home buttons. This will get you straight back to the lock screen in a blink of an eye.