How to set up a keyboard shortcut for the Locker app before you hide it in Blackberry phone?

September 15, 2019June 18, 2019 Kamal Kaur

Locker app was introduced to BlackBerry Keyone and later smartphones. This app comes by default with the Blackberry mobile which is a type of password-protected folder. Integrated into the hardware, this locker app not only keep files locked away, but hide entire apps. It’s with this level of protection that it can guard your most sensitive data and privacy. If you haven’t yet set up your Locker app in your Blackberry Key one and above mobile then it’s a simple process to do. Just open locker and you will be asked to create a password. This password is used in the encryption of your Locker and should be stored safely. After inputting your password, BlackBerry Locker will ask if you wish to activate fingerprint authentication, which you can accept by placing your registered finger on the scanner. Once completed, your Locker is secured and will be populated with three icons: Photo Gallery, Private Files, and Firefox Focus for private browsing.

How to protect and hide files and apps with the locker?

Note that any app installed on your device can be relocated to BlackBerry Locker. After opening Locker, select the floating action button located in the bottom-right corner and choose “Add Apps.” Select the apps you wish to move to the Locker, then tap the checkmark in the upper-right corner when you’re done. Now, to use the apps you moved, you must first unlock Locker.

Locker can also hide these apps to prevent them from being found in other areas of your phone like your app drawer. By selecting the gear icon in the upper-right corner of the main page and choosing “Hide private apps,” your apps will only be accessible via keyboard shortcuts and the Locker. Therefore, unless someone knows the shortcut, an unauthorized user won’t even know about the app. And if they do know the shortcut, it’s still password-protected.

Files of any type can also be transferred to the Locker in a similar way. Using the same floating action button on the main page, select “Add Files.” A new screen will emerge showing common file types, including “Installers” (APK) and “Archives” (ZIP). If the file you are looking for is one of those file types, you can select the corresponding option to reveal a list of all files of that type. However, you can also select “Others” to access all non-root folders to locate any file.

When you move files into the Locker, they’re automatically hidden from other areas of your phone, so you don’t need to go through the additional step of hiding them like you did with the apps.

You can even Hide Locker if you want

Suppose your Blackberry mobile has many users and you wish to retain your private data. Using the gear icon in the upper-right corner of the main page, choose “Advanced settings.” Select the checkbox next to “Hide Locker in launcher” to hide the Locker app. With this feature enabled, Locker will no longer appear on the BlackBerry launcher or in your app drawer. You will need to either search for the app in the app drawer or use a custom shortcut to launch the app.

But before you hide the app, there’s one crucial step you should take, and that’s setting up a keyboard shortcut to launch Locker. It’s because once you hide the Locker app unless you have a keyboard shortcut set up, there will be no way to launch Locker as said above. The icon disappears, and the app is no longer listed in the apps list, making it nearly impossible to start.

The interesting thing is that when you set to hide your locker it warns you that this will be the case, but it doesn’t tell you that need you to set a shortcut to regain access should you not be able to find the icon, nor be able to launch Locker through traditional means.

So to set up keyboard shortcut on the BlackBerry KEY2

Swipe down and tap the Settings gear
Tap Shortcuts & gestures
Select a letter
Assign a shortcut

In total, you can set up to 52 keyboard shortcuts and out the box, the KEY2 comes with some keyboard shortcuts pre-programmed for your convenience. However, you can change and customize them as you see fit.

According to DanylW at the crackberry forum advises users to take two photos from the camera app using the space bar and then try viewing and editing the second photo from the camera app. That may prompt you that the photo is hidden and give you access to the Locker app.

Finally note that BlackBerry Locker offers top-tier protection for your local files and apps and even hides them when wanted.