You use Secure Folder on your Samsung Galaxy phone to secure sensitive data, but are you able to use it to its fullest potential? It’s important to get familiar with some of the features or settings, such as managing notifications and backing up, to improve your Secure Folder experience.
Use Fingerprint To Access Secure Folder
Protecting your Secure Folder data with a strong, complex PIN or password is always advisable. If you want to use the Secure Folder more frequently, continuously typing the PIN or password can be a hassle.
You can enable fingerprint unlock to make the Secure Folder easier to use. To do so, go to Secure Folder settings, select Lock type, and switch on the Fingerprints option.
Once configured, you can open the Secure Folder with your stored fingerprint in seconds.
Hide or Customize the App Icon of Secure Folder
One UI allows you to customize app icons if you want your Secure Folder to blend in with the rest of your apps or be less noticeable. To do this, open the Secure Folder, press the three-dot icon, and choose Customize.
From here, you can select icon options and rename the app. For instance, you could rename it “Weather” and choose a cloud icon for additional discretion.
To enhance your privacy even further, you can hide the Secure Folder app icon from your app drawer. Navigate to Secure Folder Settings, disable the Add Secure Folder to Apps screen toggle, and hit Hide to confirm.
Duplicate apps with Secure Folder
Depending on the application memory, Dual Messenger allows you to create two copies of other applications, only messaging apps, not WhatsApp, Facebook, Messenger, etc… If you need to duplicate other apps—like Chrome, Instagram, Reddit, or even games—Secure Folder is a great alternative.
Adding an app to the Secure Folder creates a TOTALLY SEPARATE instance of the app, complete with data, settings, and login credentials. Good for managing multiple accounts or hiding sensitive apps from prying eyes.
Simply tap the plus icon inside the Secure Folder, choose the app you intend to duplicate, and tap Add. After you add it, you will have two apps that you can use independently.
Hide Sensitive Content in Secure Folder Notifications
Although Samsung’s Secure Folder does a great job keeping your private apps and files hidden, they can still appear as notifications on your lock screen or notification panel. This could reveal sensitive and privacy-threatening information.
You can choose to keep sensitive content private by hiding it from those notifications. Launch the Secure Folder Settings menu, press Notifications, and turn on the Hide content toggle.
With this feature on, message previews or other sensitive content will no longer appear in notifications for apps within Secure Folder. Next, you can customize notification settings separately from the App notifications menu for every app.
Stop execrable Secure Folder Notifications after reboot
When you turn off or restart a Samsung phone, the Secure Folder automatically decrypts all the files in it by default. That’s why you see the persistent Secure Folder Locked notification whenever you turn on your device again.
To make matters worse, you can’t override this alert or get notifications from apps stored in the Secure Folder until you manually unlock it with your password.
The good news is that you can prevent this annoyance with a very simple tweak. Open Secure Folder, go to Settings > Other security settings and turn on Automatic data decryption. In that case, after a restart, Secure Folder will only automatically unlock without alerts.
How to Back Up Secure Folder Data to External Storage
Secure Folder is great for privacy, but there’s always a chance that you’ll lose access to it if your Samsung phone is misplaced, stolen, or experiences some other fault. To prevent this, it’s crucial to back up your Secure Folder data.
Samsung previously granted users the ability to back up their Secure Folder content to the Samsung Cloud, but that option has since disappeared. But, you can use Samsung’s Smart Switch app to back up your Secure Folder data manually.
Make the “Forgot PIN/Password” Feature Available to Secure Folder
Do you frequently forget critical PINs and passwords? Access to your Secure Folder can become a huge headache for Samsung Galaxy devices.
There is no native recovery option by default. In case you are unable to recall the PIN or password of the Secure Folder, the best bet to recover the information is to reset/reinstall the Secure Folder as per the instructions in the Correct instructions below—but in this process, you lose all content saved in that folder.
To ensure you always see a Forgot PIN/Password option when you enter an incorrect PIN or password, you can enable the Reset with Samsung account option by going to Secure Folder Settings > Lock type.
All you need to do is confirm who you are with your Samsung account password to get back into your Secure Folder without losing important files or apps. Having this feature enabled can save you many headaches later on!
Transfer All Files to the Secure Folder at Once
However, if you ever want to disable Secure Folder or return all of your files back to normal storage, transferring each file one by one can be a pain. Luckily, there’s a faster option for getting everything out at once.
You can migrate all media files in one day instead of selecting files one by one using the built-in uninstall option. Navigate to Secure Folder Settings > More settings > Uninstall. Next, check the Move media files out of the Secure Folder box and tap Uninstall to confirm.
One of the best features of your Samsung Galaxy phone is the Secure Folder. Disabling the Secure Folder would result in losing all of the above-mentioned advantages. However, by implementing these tips, you can make the most of it to increase both security and convenience.
