I've noticed that the App Lock feature in Bitdefender Mobile Security works for a period and then suddenly stops. Any advice on troubleshooting or resolving this issue?
May of 2025 and I found this thread, looking for support about this exact issue…
When is this going to be fixed??
Very likely, never.
The App Lock feature in Bitdefender Mobile Security for Android is functioning properly on my Android device, even after a device restart. @Gjoksi, could you verify this on your end as well?
Regards
Hello @ToddP, @btomaz
I'm going to quote agozob here, taken from another thread:
"Short answer is: there isn't any problem with either the App Lock feature or Bitdefender Mobile Security as a whole. There is no way to make an app run persistently on Android without disabling Battery Optimizations for that said app. This is not only applicable to Bitdefender, it's just a OS related feature.
Long answer:
How Battery Optimizations work on Android is that the OS learns patterns of how and when you use apps and based on that (and many other factors) it kills apps that are running in the background. How aggressive this app-killing behavior is varies from vendor to vendor and device to device (you can look up "don't kill my app" to see some details about this).
So, what happens here is that your phone stops Bitdefender from running, whenever it sees fit to do so, and there is nothing we can do about it. It is the users' (i.e. your) choice to disable these Battery Optimizations for whichever apps they consider is necessary. Turning off Battery Optimizations for Bitdefender Mobile Security will only allow this one app to run indefinitely and protect your device properly."
So, there is no chance to set Batt optimisation for AppLock exclusively. In this case, AppLock will never run properly on Android systems- Right? Then, consider enabling this for AppLock independently from BD as a whole. It is not right to sell a protective app when some parts are not working well.
PS: My third-party AppLock works fine as Batt optimisation can be set exclusively.
I'm on a Pixel 6 with Android 15 and updates to May 5 2025, and App Lock has been working since the issue was fixed in September 2024.
Google Pixel 8 Pro, Android 15, Build BP1A.250505.005.B1
Adaptive battery is off.
Even though the Amazon app is locked, my son grabbed my phone yesterday, before the screen locked and made several purchases from Amazon, without my knowledge. 🤨
Fortunately, I could cancel them all…
When I got the phone back, I could start ANY app, without being prompted.
App Lock only started working again after a full restart.
THAT is what brought me to this forum.
Tested again after Alexandru's comment. It worked for a few attempts, then sunddenly no app was protected anymore. Neighter Wallet nor any other critical apps that I want to be protected. After each restart protection was established again but just for one or two attempts.
I am back to my third-party app which never let me unprotected. Even system settings are protected.
Samsung S23 Ultra, Android 15, UI7.0
I've been having this issue for about three months now. Restart only makes it work for a few hours. Then, back to non-working. The only reason why I decided to go with Bitdefender in the first place, was the app lock.
And, as you can see, no battery optimization is affecting the app. No notification restrictions.
So, none of your workarounds is really working.
If Google Store had not banned Kaspersky (despite me being in Colombia, and not in the U.S.), I would have stayed with their app. Their app lock used to be consistent, and worked without any issues.
Get your act together.
(My phone is a Samsung A35, 256GB)
@agozob can provide some insights here.
After a few months, I temporarily disabled my third-party applock and tried Bitdefender (BD) again, carefully setting all the recommended battery optimization options. The BD applock worked properly for a few consecutive days, which made me quite satisfied. However, strange behavior soon appeared — the app lock suddenly stopped working and only resumed after two or three retries when opening protected apps. After some time, the same issue repeated: the applock stopped functioning, leaving my apps unprotected. Occasionally, it would start working again after a few attempts, but sometimes only a phone restart helped.
I find the BD app lock completely unreliable and have been forced to return to my third-party app, which never had such problems. Are there any fixes or updates planned to resolve this issue?
Samsung S23 Ultra, UI 8.0, Android 16, with latest updates installed
