Nowadays we store a lot of our personal & sensitive data on our smartphones. Our phones bring different kinds of data including our personal photographs, official documents, emails, messages and with certain apps installed, this data extends to passwords, bank details, and even your social security number. It’s important that you secure your smartphone for any illegal access.

Once upon a time, PIN, Pattern, and passwords were the only choices we needed to secure our phones, but with the start of technology, one can now use the fingerprint scanners as a biometric lock to secure a smartphone. While the secure PIN and pattern lock has a lot of security loopholes, even fingerprint security is not as robust as you may think.

To keep the phone secure, you can use the TimePIN but it isn’t extremely secure, with the PINs only connect to time. Furthermore, the app stopped working after the Lollipop update arrived. However, we have found an all new app called DroidLock, which is not only a TimePIN replacement but it also offers dynamic lock to secure your Android smartphone.

Installing and Configuring the App

The DroidLock app is currently in beta stage and we need to enroll ourself as a tester in their Google Plus Community to gain access to the app. It may take some time before we get enrolled to their beta channel but if we don’t need to wait for it, we can download the APK from this  link and install the app. The only limitation of side loading the app is that we will not receive any future updates.

Once the app is installed, it will ask to setup a default PIN, which will be used for the first time we open DroidLock and each time we reboot the device. This default PIN will also come to use if we enter the dynamic PIN wrong on the third try. We will also be requested to set up a security question and your email address, if you forget the default PIN.

Finally, we will have to activate the app as device administrator for uninstall protection. After we done, the DroidLock will be activated for use. Devices which are on Marshmallow and above will be prompted for additional permissions before the app is activated. Make sure we allow all these permissions for the app to work as desired.

Working with Time, Date and Battery Dynamic PIN

If we have activated the app using the toggle button at the top-right edge, the first thing we should explore is the Time, Battery and Date PIN. This is basic and easy to use. The 12 Hours and 24 hours’ time will make your PIN dynamic as the time on the device. For example, if the time is 01:23, your PIN will be 0123 or 1323 for 12 and 24h format respectively. Same thing for the default date and battery PIN.

we can additionally add an offset value to the PIN, if the default one appears very clear. For the simplicity, we will be shown the PIN right on the screen as soon as we enable any option or give an offset value.

Note: The basic features on DroidLock are free, but we will have to make an in-app buying to enable advanced features including such as Offset, Geek PIN, and Add-Ons.

Geek Mode and Add-ons

Using the Geek PIN, we can combine any of the available components and form a combination and set it as the phone password. For instance, we can make a PIN of the minutes combined with the battery percentage. We will have to click on the Set Geek PIN option and load the interface. Here we can tap on the option to make our dynamic PIN and then click on the check option to make it permanent.

The Add-on packages can make our PIN a bit more complex using reverse PIN, Mirror PIN or Double PIN. For instance, if we select “doubles the PIN on time lock” when time is 12:34, our PIN will be 12341234. We will be shown an example PIN on the DroidLock screen, which will ensure that our selections make more logic.

Note:

Ensure to disable the fingerprint lock on our device if we really wish to secure our device using dynamic PIN.
When it comes to the app settings, there is nobody much to configure except changing the theme of the app, along with the master PIN and password recovery fields.

Dynamic PIN Lock:

DroidLock is amazing when it comes to enhancing the security of your smartphone and without any doubt, it’s better than the TimePIN app. However, ensure that you don’t setup a lengthy complicated PIN. Keep your PIN simple and change the offset value of time and date PIN, so as to keep things simple and secure.

Using Geek PIN, enable only a few parameters and keep changing them from time to time. Just make sure you remember your master PIN all the time, as you will want it to open the app after every phone reboot.