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Use Private Mode on Samsung Galaxy S5

Edited by Grimm, Rushell, Eng

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Steps

Video: Use Private Mode on Samsung Galaxy S5

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You are watching VisiHow, and today we are going to show you how to use Private mode on your Samsung Galaxy S5 or S5 mini.

Use private mode on the Samsung Galaxy S5.mp4-canvas112 500307.jpg

Steps

1
To start with, we need to press the lock screen button on the right-hand side of the phone
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2
At the lock screen, you will enter a pattern or swipe across the screen, depending on what you have set up to unlock and open your phone
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3
You should now be on the Home screen
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There are two ways to access the Private mode option on your phone, and both involve using Settings. First, swipe down from the top of the screen to open the notifications panel.
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4
Then tap the gear icon on the top right of the screen to enter Settings
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5
Once you are in Settings, scroll down to the Personalization section
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6
Now, you want to tap on the icon for Private mode
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The icon itself looks a bit like an open folder or book.

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7
Alternatively, you can tap the Apps icon, which is a series of small white squares, at the bottom right corner of the screen
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8
This will open up the applications folder, where all of your device applications are stored
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Simply tap the Settings icon to open up Settings.

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9
Then, as we discussed before, scroll down to the Personalization section, and tap on Private mode
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10
Now, we will enter Private mode with a single press on that icon
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11
We are now in Private mode
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A welcome message lets us know that Private mode secures your personal content and keeps it hidden on your device. This means you can hide things that are relevant or personal to you in the event that a friend or someone else asks to use your phone, and you don't want to show them your personal videos, images or information.
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12
Tap Next at the bottom right corner of the screen
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It will now walk us through some of the details about using Private mode.
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13
Private mode is not available for every application on the device, but it is available on the following applications, which are listed on the screen
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Gallery, Videos, Music, Voice Recorder, and My Files.
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14
Tap Next at the bottom of the screen to continue
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15
The next screen explains how to mark content as private
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When you want to move content into Private mode, which I will demonstrate as well, this lets you know that there are three dots you can tap on to do this. There you will be able to hide your files or information. When Private mode is on, you will be able to see them, but when Private mode is off, you will not be able to see the information.
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16
Now, tap Start at the bottom of the screen to continue
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17
First, you need to choose an unlock method
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In my case, I will use a pattern because that is easiest for me. Tap on pattern to open up a screen where you will draw a pattern.
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18
On this screen, draw a pattern that you will use to unlock Private mode
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I will simply make an L shape.
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19
Now, tap continue at the bottom right of the screen
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20
Now, draw that same pattern again to confirm it
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21
Tap confirm at the bottom right of the screen to move on to the next section
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22
You will also need to set a backup PIN number
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I recommend that you choose a series of letters or numbers that mean something to you, rather than just a random set of numbers. For example, VISI. That consists of V, which is under the number 8, I, which is 4, S, which is 7, and back to I, which again is 4.
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23
Now, I will tap Done at the bottom right corner
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24
We will be prompted to enter the PIN number again to confirm
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Tap Done when finished.
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25
In order to use Private Mode, I now need to change my screen unlock method to a more secure method
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Tap OK at the bottom right of this message to confirm.
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26
This will immediately take us to the screen lock area
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I have swipe set up currently, but it wants me to use something more secure. We have a choice of using a pattern, PIN number, password, or fingerprint. We have several tutorials on this website that explain each of these methods, but for the purpose of this video, we will simply use a pattern, so tap on that.
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27
Now, I will draw the same pattern we used before, the L shape
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28
Tap Continue at the bottom right of the screen
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29
You will be prompted to enter the pattern again to confirm, so do that and tap Confirm at the bottom right to move on
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30
We will need to set a backup PIN here as well
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We'll just use the same number we did before, VISI, 8474. Tap Done when finished. Then repeat to confirm.
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31
Let me give you a bit of wisdom
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If you set up Private mode, and you are trying to hide content or data from someone, rather than simply trying to stop your child or your coworker from surfing through your pictures, and you are basically just trying to hide something, do not use the same lock pattern and PIN code that you would normally use to access your phone. Otherwise, you will have defeated the purpose of Private mode, as a clever person will be able to determine that you have hidden content, and then look for it using the same credentials you had previously set up for them to not be able to see it. I just used the same pattern and PIN number for this demonstration. For now, we can press the Home button one time to go to the Home screen.
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32
We can press the recent applications button at the bottom left to open recent applications
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33
Then we can swipe across to close any open applications
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34
Now, I am going to tap on my Gallery
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35
Tap an actual image to open it
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36
If I want to hide this photo, I first need to tap on the three dots in a vertical line at the top right corner of the screen to bring up a menu of options
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37
On that menu, we will scroll down until we see the option to Move to Private and tap on that
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38
Now, that image can no longer be seen when I am not in private mode
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Let's restart the phone to see what that looks like. Press and hold the power button on the right side of the phone.
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39
At the menu that appears, I'll choose restart, and then tap OK to confirm
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40
When the phone is back on, you can enter your unlock pattern, which for this demonstration is the L shape
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41
Now, I will go into the Gallery again
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42
You should see that the photo we just hid is no longer visible
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43
I can tap the vertical line of three dots, and there is nothing there
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44
Tapping on an actual image and then tapping on the three dots reveals nothing as well
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There is no reference to Private mode. If someone were using my phone, that person would have no idea that I have a hidden image.
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45
However, when I want to access my hidden information, I simply press the Apps icon at the bottom right corner and open Settings
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46
I can also swipe down from the top of the screen to open the notifications panel, and then tap on the little gear at the top right corner to open Settings
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47
Now, I scroll down to my Personalization section and tap on the Private mode icon
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48
The next screen will show some general information about Private mode
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Tapping on the switch at the top right corner with a circle icon on it will prompt me to enter my pattern, which I will do.
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49
Now, my device is unlocked
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The easiest way to close Private mode is to swipe down from the top of the screen. Under notifications, tap on Private mode, and we can close it from there.
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50
Now that we have Private mode on, we can enter the Gallery again
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51
The photo that was previously hidden appears at the top with the word New on it
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52
I can open and view the image by tapping on it as before
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53
Should I choose to move this image back out of private mode, I tap the three dots at the top right corner
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54
Then on the menu that appears, I scroll down and tap Remove from Private
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55
I can now choose a new location for this image
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I'll just put it in Screenshots, so we'll tap on that.
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56
If I go back to my Albums, you will now see that the image is in Screenshots
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57
We'll press the Home button to go back to the Home screen
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58
Now, I can tap the recent applications button
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59
Then I can slide across Gallery to close it
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60
The icon at the top left corner of my screen tells me I am still in Private mode
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61
To exit Private mode, first we will swipe down from the top of the screen to open the notifications panel
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62
Now, we'll tap on Private mode under Notifications
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63
The switch at the top right corner is currently green
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Tap the switch once to turn Private mode off.
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64
A message will appear that states, Any open content will be closed
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Any changes that you have not saved will be discarded. This is fine, so we will tap OK.
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65
Now, you know how to use Private mode
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This concludes our tutorial on using Private mode on the Samsung Galaxy S5. Thank you for choosing VisiHow, and we hope that you have a great day. If you have any questions or comments, please leave the in the section below, and we will get back to you.
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