Mobile Privacy Apps - Android Applications That Hide Text from Prying Eyes

Mobile Privacy Apps - Android Applications That Hide Text from Prying Eyes
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Android Applications that hide text – Do you need one? (4 out of 5)

Loky is a privacy app that can be used to specify what you don’t want to go to your regular stream of messages, notifications and

Loky - Android Privacy App

photos. Why would someone need such an app, you may ask? Well, you could password protect your phone, but there are users (not just cheating spouses) who need the option of protecting their phones from the prying eyes of a partner or relative.

In fact, it can provide an additional level of protection, to keep really sensitive information safe just in case the phone is stolen, which is a great feature for business folk.

Once you have downloaded and installed the app, it will ask you to enter an email address (especially useful for password recovery) and a password. From there, you can specify content to be password protected. For example, you can enter an email address and tell the Loky app what name and message to display when a message comes in from that contact.

Therefore, you can have a message from Victoria say, that it is coming from JCPenny, with the message body saying “50% discount on all purchases this weekend.” When you see a message from JCPenny offering a 50% discount you will know to sign in to Loky to check on the real message from Victoria. If you want to have the app send this dummy message you will have to go into the app’s settings and check the “send dummy SMS” option. You can also use the app to hide files you want to keep secret including photos, videos and documents.

What sets this app apart from other data privacy apps is its ability to store a separate contact list or folder for content you want to filter. On the other hand, solutions like “Stealth SMS” (as at the writing of this review) allow the user to enter just one contact, but then again, it is a free app.

Advanced Privacy Features (4 out of 5)

Secret Data Apps - Android applications that hide text

Loky takes privacy to the next level with enhanced privacy features. We already showed you how you can use the app to password protect sensitive information, but what do you do if you are being forced to reveal what is stored in the app, or what do you do if you suspect that the app is being compromised? Loky has some nice features to help you manage those contingencies. Those features include:

A self-destruct feature of sorts – If you think the app is compromised, you can choose to wipe all the Loky data from the phone.

Dummy Password – If your arm is being twisted to reveal what you are hiding in the app, you can enter the dummy account password you had specified, this will open the app but will show that the Loky folders and contact lists are empty, thus leaving your really sensitive data undiscovered.

Auto Lock – You can set Loky to automatically lock the application after you are done using it; the elapse time intervals can be set from anywhere between 5 seconds and 5 minutes.

Security Log – The app keeps a record of all log in attempts, so you can see if someone is trying to access your Loky account.

A Warning to Those Who Use Mobile Privacy Apps

Even if you delete the Loky contact list, that will not stop your contacts from sending a message to you, in which case the name, full message and alerts will be visible in your inbox just as they would if the app had not been installed.

This Android privacy app costs $4.72 and can be downloaded from this link. There is also a free version (called Loky Lite), but that version limits the number of SMS to 20.

Image Credits:

  • “Loky - Android Privacy App.” Loky
  • “Secret Data Apps - Android applications that hide text.” Loky