Don’t have time to catch ‘em all?
Your kids want to play Pokémon Go? Lock up your apps and give them the phone.
AppLock+ lets you hand over the phone without having to worry that anyone will do more than hatch eggs and fling Poké Balls.
Ina Fried for Recode
Well, that’s okay. Software maker Avira has come up with a way to safely give your phone to your kids or friends to play Pokémon Go for you.
The company is pitching its existing AppLock+ program as the ideal solution for those who want to hand their device to someone else, but want to make sure he or she isn’t flipping through the address book instead of flinging Poké Balls at nearby Pikachu.
“It’s almost like a bot — but way more secure and without the risk of an account ban,” Avira said in a blog post detailing the Pokémon Go mode.
Screenshot by Recode
Unfortunately for iPhone owners, AppLock+ is only for Android. And AppLock+ doesn’t totally remove the risks. Your kids can still end up going through your complete supply of Balls.
I gave it a whirl. After setup, opening any app other than Pokémon Go required a password, while others were free to play Pokémon for me. That said, they also could trade in my best creatures, so I think I will be hanging on to the phone for now.
Update: An astute reader on Twitter reminded me of a way to achieve a similar effect on the iPhone — without the need for any additional software. Called “guided access,” the mode, often used in classrooms and museums, keeps iOS devices running a single program.
This article originally appeared on Recode.net.
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