Apple

How to protect apps on your Mac with a password


Protect access apps mac

If you are looking for a method to put a password on your apps on mac, so that no one but you can open certain applications, you have come to the right article. Unfortunately, Apple does not offer us a method to carry out this action, so we are forced to resort to third-party applications.

However, what Apple does offer us is limit the use of certain applications creating user accounts. Although this option is not as fast and simple as an application can be, it is an ideal option to prevent our children from accessing certain applications or games if we are not with them.

AppLocker


AppLocker

In the Mac App Store we can find the AppLocker application, an application that allows us to establish a password for any application that we have installed on our computer, including those that Apple includes natively, such as Safari.

But, in addition, it allows us to use other methods to unlock access to the applications that we have blocked, such as using Touch ID, through a nearby personal device such as the Apple Watch or when we are connected to a Wi-Fi network. -Fi determined.

Thanks to this application, we can protect access to certain applications in our family nucleus, in the work environment, if we leave our Mac for a moment while you visit us at home… In this way, no one can access personal information that we do not want to share with others.

Which does not allow us to protect access to a directory with a password. To add a password to a directory, it is not necessary to resort to third-party applications, since we can carry out this process natively without having to install any application, through a process that we show you below.

What AppLocker offers us

  • Password protect apps on your Mac
  • Touch ID: Unlock apps with your fingerprint
  • Bluetooth-ID: Automatically unlock applications when your personal device (for example, your phone) is close to your computer (within 5 meters, 15 feet)
  • Network ID: Unlock apps when connected to your preferred Wi-Fi networks (for example, your home network or office network)
  • Access history: check when your protected apps have been accessed
  • Very easy to use and does not require any configuration.
  • Block access to apps you want to keep private between family, friends, or co-workers

How AppLocker works


AppLocker

Once we have downloaded the application through this link, the first time we open the application, it will invite us to write a password, a password that we must remember to be able to access the application and that is the same to be able to unlock access to protected applications .

Next, we click on the + sign to add all the applications that we want to protect with a password. The free version only allows us to protect access to an application.

Once we have added a password to the application, we run it to check how it asks us to enter the application password to access it.

AppLocker is available to download completely free of charge. The application includes a purchase within the application, a purchase that has a price of 9.99 euros and allows us to unlock the established limit of the trial version. The app requires a minimum of macOS 10.11.

AppLocker (Password lock apps) (AppStore Link)

To consider

AppLocker is not a system app. This allows us close the application and disable its function. In other words, if we close the application from the top menu bar, the password protection that we have been able to include in applications will stop working.

It is advisable to know this information, since, depending on if your environment is computer literate or not, these can bypass the protection offered by the AppLocker application without any problem.

AppCrypt


AppCrypt

Another interesting application to protect unauthorized access to applications is AppCrypt. AppCrypt not only allows us to add a password to applications, but also allows us to limit access to applications or web pages, as if it were a parental control.

What AppCrypt offers us

  • Password lock any application on your Mac, such as Photos, Notes, Evernote…
  • Log failed attempts to open blocked apps with date, time and photos of intruders
  • Lock websites and web pages with a password
  • Includes a scheduling feature to block apps and websites at certain times
  • Help prevent unauthorized access to your apps
  • Help protect your privacy
  • Can be used for productivity and parental control
  • Easy to use

How AppCrypt works

The operation of the application is exactly the same as AppLocker. Once we have installed the application, when we run it for the first time it will ask us for the password to protect access to this application and all those that we want to protect access to.

AppCrypt is available for download completely free of charge, however, it is a trial version so that we can check if the application suits what we are looking for.

If we like it, we can buy the app for $29.99. If we buy 2 or 5 licenses, the final price of each one is reduced to 22.49 and 15.98 dollars respectively.

The only negative point is that the application it is only supported from macOS 10.12 Monterey.

To consider


AppCrypt

Like AppLocker, AppCrypt is not a system app, so with the right knowledge, we can bypass its operation by closing the app from the top bar of macOS.

Although, unlike the previous one, we can prevent the icon from being displayed at the top, so it will make it much more difficult to close the application and bypass the application access protection.

Using user accounts

The simplest method to prevent some users from having access to certain applications on our Mac is not only to use a password to protect access to it, but also to create different user accounts.

In this way, we can create accounts so that other people in our environment can use the Mac but only the applications that we have previously established, not the entire set of applications.

In addition, we can also limit the use of them to certain hours or during a certain time. Although this functionality is intended for family use, its operation can be perfectly extrapolated to the workplace.

Of course, if every time you get up from your chair, you don’t suspend the computer, anyone who passes by can access your account and run any application in addition to accessing all the content that we have stored on it.

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