How to set up your Blackberry Priv for other users and guest access

It sometimes becomes very difficult when someone asks you to make them use your mobile device. Even at home your kids often play with your mobile or your spouse browse the web from your device when you are away or your friends wants to check an urgent mail from your phone.

What worries you most in such circumstances is not about lending the phone to the guests or relative but your risk about losing some confidential information about your work or accidentally deleting a useful mail or app by your kid when handling your phone.

All such risks and doubts are no longer to be thought of when using your Blackberry Priv. It is because it has the users and the guests feature  which enables you to set up the guest account on your device and allow friends or family to use your device without putting your data at risk.

So here you will learn as how to set up your Blackberry Priv for other users and guest access. Before you begin to set up your phone for your friend or spouse first it is important to understand the difference between Device Owners, Users, Guests, and the importance of setting a screen lock.

Device Owner, User and Guest in Blackberry Priv

The Device Owner– Obviously you are the device owner or the person whose account information was on your PRIV first. You can add up to three users in addition to yourself, along with a Guest. You also have control over whether or not someone can add or access a user from the lock screen, and you can install app updates for all users, uninstall apps from a user profile, or delete users from your device.

The Guest– The guest profile is meant for those who use your device occasionally like a colleague at work or a friend at the bar. They can make or receive phone calls but not text messages. There is only one guest profile per device.

The User–  User is a person or persons who use your device frequently, such as family members. They have all the same privileges as you, except that they cannot manage or delete any user account but their own. They also cannot add apps for all users, or install app updates for all other users.

To improve privacy between users, each user should set up a screen lock as well. A screen lock prevents another user from accessing information in a different user profile.

It is very easy to set up the screen lock. Just go to Settings > Security > Screen lock.

Setting up user account on your Blackberry Priv

Follow the steps below to switch between your current account and the guest account.

• First swipe down from the top of the screen once with two fingers, or twice with one.
• Tap Settings, then find the Users entry under the Device heading.
• By default, your device is configured with two accounts: a device owner and a guest.
• At any time, you can switch users by tapping an account on the Users screen.
• You can also switch to the guest account by swiping down from the top of your screen once with two fingers, or twice with one finger.
• After doing this, tap on your account image that appears in the top right corner, followed by tapping on your account then tapping Guest (or Add Guest if you haven’t used this feature before).

Adding and Setting Up Users

In addition to allowing someone temporary access using a guest account, you can also add a user account for your spouse or relative. This will allow them to install apps, customize settings (specific to their account only), and more.

To add a new user to your device:

• From the Users screen within device Settings, tap Add User, then tap OK.
• In order for the account to be usable, you’ll need to set it up. You can either do this right away, or leave it until later.
• If you want to set up the account later, simply navigate back to the Users screen and tap the gear icon next to the account.
• Follow the onscreen prompts to set up the user account.
• If you want to allow a user to make calls/send text messages, tap the gear icon next to the account and toggle the Turn on phone calls or Turn on phone calls & SMS option.
• Note that the guest account has access only to the first option.

If your device is locked you can set up guest access from the Users screen, tap on three horizontal dots in the top right corner, and then tap Add users when this device is locked.

How to remove users and the guest account

To remove an account from your device go to the Users screen, tap the gear icon next to the account you want to remove.

• Tap Remove user, then Delete. Follow any onscreen prompts.
• Note that if you delete a guest, the profile will remain on your device so you can set it up again in the future, but all that guest account’s apps and data will be permanently deleted.

A guest or user can also delete their data by tapping on three horizontal dot sin the top right corner of the Users screen and tapping either Delete Guest from this device or Delete [username] from this device.