If there’s one thing I don’t like about the iPad is that I can’t share my iPad with anybody. The main reason I can’t share it is because the Mail app is not password protected, neither are my pictures or any other app for that matter. I can add a passcode lock on the entire device but not for any particular app.
I can understand not wanting to share your iPhone but the iPad is completely different. I can share my MacBook with others by creating another user account or having them use a guest account. Each user then has access to his or her personal files as long as they are logged into that user account. It’s too bad the iPad doesn’t even have a guest account so it can be shared with others.
The reason Apple does not have that functionality is because Apple does not want you to share your iPad with anybody. They want everybody to own an iPad. You figure right now Apple is in the mindset of putting an iPad in the hands of as many people as possible. Once their sales start leveling off I think we’ll see user accounts on the iPad.
One way to password protect your email is to search for a mail app that can do that in the App store. But then you will have to use that app for your email and not the native iPad app. To password protect your pictures you will also have to find another app and store all your pictures in that app. If you want to password protect your browser you’ll also have to download a browser that has that capability and use that as your primary browser. As you can see it can get pretty expensive having to get all these different apps.
But there is another less costly way of going about it. Imagine you can have just one app that can run in the background and password protect any app you want. This is possible, but only if you jailbreak your iPad first. If only Apple listened to their customers more then their customers wouldn’t have to turn to jailbreaking their devices to release them from Apple’s firm grip.
Here’s how to password protect your iPad apps. After jailbreaking your iPad, search for “Applocker” in Cydia. This tweak costs $0.99 and will allow you to lock any app you want, including the Mail app, your pictures app and even the camera. After you have installed it, set up AppLocker by going to the Settings app. Then tap on AppLocker which is found in the Extensions section. From there you can set up your password and lock up to 5 apps.
Android users need only turn to the android market to find an app to password protect any app they want, such as mapmyrun, the Google Chrome app or gmail for example.
