How To Use Screen Pinning On Android Lollipop 5.0 To Limit Phone Access For Guest Users

Android 5.0 Lolipop comes with a great feature that would be especially useful for those with technology-loving kids in the house.

The feature is Screen Pinning and it allows you to “pin” any app, so that the guest user can not use anything by the pinned application. Let’s say your child is intently asking you to play Plants Vs. Zombies, but you are well aware that he or she may accidentally change settings, delete files or send gibberish text messages to your boss. So what you can do on Lolipop 5.0 is open up Zombies Vs. Plants and “pin it” – this way your child or any other guest won’t be able to exit the app or do anything else besides fighting digital zombies on your phone.

Sounds tempting? Here’s how you pin an app on your Android Lolipop 5.0.

First, you need to turn the Screen Pinning option on. As usual, you should head over to Settings. Then open Security and keep scrolling down until you see Screen Pinning and make sure it’s turned on.

Now, how do you go about actually pinning an app?

In order to pin an app, first it should be in your Recent Apps. More than that, it has to be the one you used last. So you will have to open the app first and then go to the Recent folder. Once you scroll to the app you should be seeing a pin icon at the bottom right. Tap on it – and you will see a pop-up screen, asking you to confirm the action. Now here comes the important part. If you are using a lock screen on your phone, then you will be able n to choose a security option for “unpinning”.

If you don’t enable the lock screen option, in order to unpin the app, the guest can simply press and hold the Back and Recents buttons.

If the lock screen option is enabled, then the guest in question will need to enter your security PIN or swipe your unlock pattern.

When using the phone in “pinned” mode, the user will only be able to access the Back key and the Share menu (which will not function). If the phone sleeps, the user can tap the power button (as usual) to awaken he device and will be brought right back to the pinned app.

If you happen to have a security lock screen enabled, it will be bypassed since the user can’t do anything else anyway.

Happy pinning!

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How To Extend Your Android Wear Battery Life

Just like phones, our watches these days are so much more than watches. They receive calls, track our workouts, play music, give us web access and more. It’s quite reasonable to expect all this functionality to affect your watch’s battery life. So is there anything we can do to have it all: all the exciting features plus a battery life to match?

Well, here a are a few tricks that could prolong battery life of your Android Wear.

First, let’s look at things that can actually affect your watch’s battery life. For instance, screen brightness level is one of the deciding factors, while the “always on” mode would not make that much difference (contrary to popular belief).

So here we go, and we are starting off with brightness.

How Bright Is Too Bright?

First, we have to come to terms with the fact that if you are out and about in the sun, you will have to use the maximum brightness on your watch, otherwise you will not really see anything (unless you are using E-paper display, but that’s a different story). However by turning down the brightness you can do some major battery saving – the key is finding the right balance between convenience and practicality. And when you are indoors and running low on battery, turning your brightness level to one can create some magic.

Save On The Buzz

When you get any notification on your smart watch, your wrist will buzz – that’s the beauty of the device, as it instantly and yet subtly lets you know that you have some news coming in. But if you feel like you could benefit from some quiet time, just turn off the buzz option: your screen will not light up or vibrate when there is a notification and some battery life will be saved.

The Devil Is In The Notifications

That’s where the true problem lies. Well, it’s not exactly a problem. I mean that’s why we get Android Wear in the first place – notifications conveniently keep you on track with what’s going on and disabling them would not really make that much sense, would it?

But do you really need that many? Take a long hard look at what notifications you receive daily. Someone liked your picture on Facebook, a new Twitter post or an email with the newsletter your signed up for?

All of these are eating away at your battery. So take another long hard look at your notifications and think about what you really need. After all, your phone is never really that far and your watch face can be reserved for really urgent stuff.

In the end, it’s all about balance. Go over your Android Wear settings, make a few adjustments and you’ll be able to benefit a prolonged battery life while still enjoying all the wonderful Android Wear features.

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