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November 4, 2026 · Good Lock

Installing Good Lock and Setting It Up
- Under a Minute

From installing the app to seeing your new lock screen - the things you only have to do once, in order.

Before you install

• No sign-up, no payment. Install it and every feature is available.
• It installs on Android 6.0 and above, whatever the manufacturer. You don't need a Galaxy.
• There is one required permission: 'Display over other apps'.

Install and get the lock screen running

1. Install Good Lock from Google Play.
2. Open the app. The first screen asks for 'Display over other apps' - the lock screen cannot be drawn without it, so you have to allow it to continue.
3. Swipe through the five tutorial cards and tap Start on the last one.
4. It is applied straight away, and the Good Lock screen appears right there.

That is the whole one-time setup. From then on, the Good Lock screen is what you see whenever you wake your phone.

Why that permission is needed

Good Lock is a lock screen app, so it has to be able to draw its own screen over whatever is showing. That is what the permission is for - it is the only one that is required, and the app will not run without it.

The others - contacts, music, calendar, notifications - are requested only when you use that feature, and declining them leaves everything else working. You can change them any time in Settings > Apps > Good Lock > Permissions.

It works straight out of the box

There is nothing you have to download first. 13 wallpapers and 5 widgets come with the app, and one wallpaper is already applied when you start.

To change it, open Settings > Wallpaper and pick another one - or use the My Photo and My Video tabs to add a photo or video from your own phone. You choose a filter in the step where you apply it.

When you want more

That is when you open the store. Settings > Store has Wallpaper and Widget tabs; there are over 1,200 wallpapers, with new ones every week, all free.

The full walkthrough is in how to download Good Lock wallpapers.

Get Good Lock free (Google Play)

If the lock screen sometimes doesn't appear

If the Good Lock screen occasionally fails to show when you wake your phone, battery saving is probably putting the app to sleep. The app's Settings > Preferences has an option to exclude Good Lock from battery optimization - turning that on makes it appear far more reliably.

If that doesn't fix it, send an email and I will look into it.

Your existing lock stays as it is

Good Lock appears in place of your phone's default lock screen, so it works just as it did before. Unlock it and you go straight to the fingerprint, PIN or pattern set on your phone - the lock itself is still your phone's, so it stays just as safe.