What can someone see or do on my locked phone?

A phone on a table, locked, still talks. A preview shows who wrote and what they said, a widget shows your calendar, and the wallpaper may be a photo you chose months ago. This guide goes through what a locked iPhone and a locked Android phone show, and how to limit each part. We checked Apple’s iPhone User Guide for iOS 27 and Google’s Pixel and Android help pages on 2026-10-09.

On a locked iPhone

Apple lists what the Lock Screen can do “even while iPhone is locked”:

Feature	What it can show	Where to limit it
Notifications	Message text, Mail lines, Calendar details	Settings, Notifications, Show Previews
Widgets	Information from your apps, such as an upcoming event	Lock Screen customization, and Allow Access When Locked
Control Center	Controls for your phone and home	Allow Access When Locked
Live Activities and media	What you are playing, ordering or navigating	Settings, Apps, the app, Live Activities
Camera	Opens with a swipe left	Not covered by the settings Apple lists here
Wallpaper	A photo you picked	Lock Screen customization

Hide previews

Open Settings, tap Notifications, tap Show Previews, and choose When Unlocked or Never. Apple says that with When Unlocked, “previews appear only after iPhone is unlocked”. Our notification previews guide covers per-app settings and Android.

Turn off what you do not need when locked

1. Open Settings and tap Face ID & Passcode (or Touch ID & Passcode).
2. Turn off the options below Allow Access When Locked that you do not need.

Apple’s reason, in its own words: if you turn off Lock Screen access to a feature, “you prevent someone who has your iPhone from viewing any personal information that it might contain (such as an upcoming event in the Calendar widget)”. The trade-off is that you lose quick access too.

Check the wallpaper and widgets

Touch and hold the Lock Screen, swipe to the one you want to change, and tap Customize to change the wallpaper or widgets. Apple says you may need to enter your passcode first. A photo shuffle or a featured photo can bring a private picture to the front. See when a photo widget shows a private photo.

Stop Face ID for now

Press and hold the side button and either volume button for 2 seconds. Apple says the passcode is then required before Face ID works again. More in can someone unlock Face ID while you sleep.

On a locked Android phone

Lock screen notifications

Google’s Android Help says to open Settings, tap Notifications, then Notifications on lock screen, and turn off Show sensitive content, or choose not to show notifications. Settings vary by phone maker.

Lockdown

On Pixel phones, Google describes Lockdown:

1. Press the Power and Volume up buttons at the same time.
2. Tap Lockdown.

Google says this “turns off notifications, fingerprint or face recognition unlocking, and Extend Unlock while on your lock screen”. It lasts until you next unlock, so you turn it on each time you want it.

Extend Unlock

Extend Unlock can keep a Pixel unlocked. With on-body detection, Google says the phone stays unlocked while it senses it is on your body. It can take up to a minute to lock after you put it down, and 5 to 10 minutes in a car, bus or train. To turn it off, open Settings, tap Security & privacy, More security & privacy, then Extend Unlock. Turn off on-body detection, and remove trusted places and devices you do not want.

What a lock screen cannot protect

Everything above guards the moment before someone unlocks your phone. It does nothing once they know the passcode, or once you hand the phone over unlocked. For those moments, read how to let someone use your phone.

York Vault protects the step after that. It opens with its own code and covers its screen when you switch apps. It can also lock and switch to another app the moment you turn the phone face down. See quick exit. York Vault is on iPhone, iPad and Android. Download York Vault.