Perfect Applock Free for Android

CNET Editors' review

by: Dan Russell on April 24, 2013

Something as portable and easy to lose as your smartphone deserves more than the good intentions of strangers to protect your apps and data when (not if) it goes AWOL. With so many free security apps, why would you let that happen? Perfect App Protector Free is a great example. It's also called the Lite version of a Pro app. Some users may even know it as Perfect Applock Free. Whatever you call it, this easy-to-use but effective security app from Morrison Smart Software can protect your stuff. We tried it in a Samsung Galaxy S3 with Android 4.1.1.

When you install and open Perfect App Protector, you must first enter the default password (it's provided) and then restart your device and install a few more features to keep Perfect App Protector from falling into the clutches of dreaded Android app killers. It's not complicated, and we shortly arrived at the app's simple main page. Four buttons along the top access the app's features: Protected, All, Settings, and Information. We tapped Information and received something we rarely get from an Android app: a Help file, complete with screenshots. But Perfect App Protector is easy to use. The easiest way to add apps to your protected list is probably to tap All and then tap the padlock icon next to any of your apps you want to protect. Perfect App Protector offers separate controls for configuring Rotation Lock, Screen Filter, Fake Popups (a kind of decoy screen), and even a fake fingerprint scanner that pops up to fool users trying to access locked apps. You simply hold a certain button to open the password entry screen. Under Settings, we could enable Stealth Mode, hide the notification icon, decorate our lock screen, and configure what, how, and when Perfect App Protector locks apps.

Perfect App Protector Pro probably offers more than the Free (or Lite) version; but frankly, we didn't check since the free app is such a fine tool. This app is recommended for any user who needs to lock important apps and personal files.