How do I let someone use my phone without them seeing everything?

Someone at the bus stop asks to make a quick call. A friend wants to look up a place in your maps. Your aunt wants to see the wedding photos and keeps the phone for half an hour. You want to help, but your phone holds your messages, your photos and your bank. This page shows how to lend a phone so the other person reaches the one thing they need. We checked each step against Apple’s and Google’s own pages on 2026-10-08.

If a stranger needs to call for help

You do not have to unlock the phone. On iPhone, Apple says: “On the Passcode screen, tap Emergency.” The person can then dial the emergency number from the locked phone. Hand it over that way and stay next to them.

For any other call, dial the number yourself and hand over the phone on speaker. Then use the steps below if they need the phone for longer.

Before you hand it over: hide notification previews

A message preview can show more than any photo. On iPhone:

1. Open Settings and tap Notifications.
2. Tap Show Previews.
3. Choose When Unlocked or Never.

Apple says previews “can include things like text (from Messages and Mail) and invitation details (from Calendar)”. You can set this for one app or for all of them. With Never, the preview text stays off the screen.

On Android, the menu names differ by phone maker. Search your settings for “notifications on lock screen”.

On iPhone: Guided Access

Apple’s tool for lending an iPhone is Guided Access, which can “temporarily restrict iPhone to a single app”.

1. Turn it on once: open Settings, tap Accessibility, tap Guided Access, and turn it on. Tap Passcode Settings to set a Guided Access passcode.
2. Open the app the person needs: Phone, Maps or Safari.
3. Start Guided Access with the Accessibility Shortcut, Control Center or Siri.
4. Tap Session Settings to switch off buttons or set a Time Limit. Tap Done, then Start.
5. To end it, triple-click the side button or Home button and enter your Guided Access passcode, or use Face ID.

One limit: Apple says “Crash Detection and Emergency Services aren’t available while using Guided Access.” For an emergency call, use the locked phone as described above.

If you only want to show photos, our page on showing a photo without swiping covers Guided Access with Touch off.

On Android: app pinning or a second user

Android has two tools.

App pinning keeps the person in one app. Google says “you can pin an app and hand your phone to a friend. With the screen pinned, your friend can use only that app.”

1. Open Settings, tap Security (or Security & location), Advanced, App pinning, and turn it on.
2. Open the app. Swipe up to the middle of the screen and hold to open Overview.
3. Tap the app’s icon at the top of its image, then tap Pin.
4. To unpin, swipe up and hold. You then need your PIN, pattern or password.

A guest profile or second user gives the person a phone of their own, inside yours. Google says a guest profile “is for someone using your device for a short time,” and that files and messages, “like texts, email, photos, music, and more”, are not shared with it.

1. Open Settings and tap System, Multiple users.
2. Tap Add user. Google says that if you do not find it, “your device can’t add users.”
3. To switch, swipe down from the top of the screen twice and tap the user icon.

If your phone has no Multiple users menu, use app pinning.

What lending does not protect

Every tool above trusts one thing: that the other person does not know your phone passcode or Guided Access passcode. If they do, they can end the session. Our page on a partner who knows your passcode covers that case.

Lending also does not hide which apps you have. A person in your Maps app cannot open your photos, but if they ever hold the phone unlocked, the home screen shows your apps. Our guides on hiding apps on iPhone and hiding apps on Android cover that.

Keep private photos behind a code of their own

The safest phone to lend is one where the camera roll has nothing private in it. York Vault keeps those photos in a separate, encrypted library.

• Its own code. York Vault opens with a PIN, a passcode or a pattern that you choose, never the phone passcode. See lock options.
• Locked when you leave it. By default York Vault locks the moment it goes to the background, and the app switcher shows a plain cover.
• Quiet notifications. York Vault notifications use neutral text, never a photo or a count. On Android, while a neutral icon is on, it sends none unless you turn them on.
• A neutral icon. On iPhone the name under the icon is “YV”. On Android each neutral icon has its own name.
• Nothing in Photos. After York Vault checks each copy, it offers to remove the originals from Photos. The import and cleanup page shows how.

If someone makes you open York Vault while they watch, a cover code opens a second, ordinary library.

Children are the most common borrowers. Our page on a kid who found photos on your phone covers games, app pinning and what to say if a child saw something.