Fingerprint Lock screen for Android

Quick summary

Fingerprint Lock Screen is a free personalization app that uses your device’s biometric reader to lock the screen. It offers a few menu themes and claims to restrict access so only registered fingerprints can unlock the device. In practice, however, most devices already include a native fingerprint lock, and this third-party app has a number of usability and privacy concerns.

How to get it working

Before this app can use fingerprint access, you must enroll your fingerprint through your phone or tablet’s system settings. After you save a fingerprint at the OS level, the app can be enabled to accept that biometric for its lock screen feature. The setup flow inside the app is minimal — there’s a checkbox to turn the lock screen functionality on and an instructions screen for configuring scan cycles — but the app does not replace the device’s built-in lock method, so other unlock options may still grant access.

Permissions and information the app requests

• It repeatedly prompts you to enable GPS location tracking.
• It asks for access to your contacts.

The app also collects or requests basic device information:

• Whether your device has a fingerprint scanner
• Device color (this is repeatedly requested each time you open the app)
• Device brand
• Type of internet connection

Many of these requests don’t appear necessary for the app’s core purpose and some prompts (GPS and connectivity warnings) can be dismissed without breaking the app.

Menu layout and available options

The main screen is very plain: a theme selector and a handful of navigation buttons that use dated icons. The buttons include (in this order):

• Quit
• Top Apps
• More Themes
• Themes
• Lock Screen
• How To Use

Most of these options are of limited value. Themes provides about eight abstract menu skins; More Themes and Top Apps open empty Play Store pages or nonfunctional screens. The How To Use page shows the app’s settings and brief setup notes; the Lock Screen control is simply a single toggle.

Reliability and user experience

• The app shows frequent full-screen ads and repeatedly asks for a Play Store rating or for you to exit.
• Fingerprint recognition is inconsistent — it can require many attempts, especially with rear-mounted sensors or bulky protective cases.
• Changing themes sometimes unexpectedly requests your fingerprint.
• The app does not override the device’s native lock screen, so other unlock methods can still be used to access the device.

Taken together, these issues make the app frustrating and unreliable compared with built-in biometric locks.

Verdict and alternative suggestion

Fingerprint Lock Screen is straightforward in concept but feels unfinished and intrusive in execution. It uses biometric data through the system API, but many features are either broken or unnecessary. For most users it’s better to rely on the operating system’s biometric lock or a trusted app locker (for example, AppLock) rather than a third-party lock-screen shell that displays frequent ads and asks for unrelated permissions.