How to set up two or more users on the same Android phone

We have the perfect example when we want to leave our mobile to the little ones in the house. Since the phone is the nerve center of our social and work lives, we may be wary of allowing it to access our files and data and even fear that it will make inappropriate purchases or visit unsavory websites.

To avoid these fears, Android allows us to set up multiple user accounts to allow our child (or any other individual) to browse and play in a different space than our main account.

What are user profiles in Android?

If you own or have used a Windows PC or Mac computer and have had to share it, either at home or at work, you may already be familiar with this concept. Each user of the computer has their own login , protected by their username and password. By entering the credentials, we enter a particular space with its own applications and settings. It’s like having multiple computers in one.

Well, although hardly anyone knows it, some Android devices have a very similar feature built-in. It goes beyond just adding a second Google account along with its settings, because what we create is a completely different profile with its own apps, settings, wallpapers and everything else you can think of. As we have said before, it is like having two devices in one.

Can it be activated on all mobiles?

The option to add multiple user profiles is not available on all Android devices. There are brands that offer it from their system settings without much problem, but there are others in which it is more difficult to find this option or, directly, they do not have it.

Google Pixel phones have them, as do other Chinese phones such as OPPO, OnePlus, realme or Motorola smartphones. However, when it comes to Xiaomi or Samsung models, we can find devices that offer this option, and others that do not allow it.

To get rid of doubts, the best thing you can do is open the settings panel of your phone and, in the search bar, enter the term ‘ users ‘. If it shows up, you’re in luck.

Advantages and disadvantages

The advantages of using this system to share your smartphone are many. Each user can enjoy their private space, keep their data safe, restrict content, and access different profiles from the lock screen. However, not everything is as beautiful as they paint it.

And it is that, despite all these benefits, there is a drawback: performance . The more users there are on the phone, the worse the phone will perform. As you can imagine, the more applications installed in each profile, the mobile will work slower, so it is something that you should take into account if you plan to configure profiles for your entire family on the same device.

Also, keep in mind that the smartphone’s storage is shared among all users, so if you have a mobile with limited space, it can be a problem.

User configuration

When creating the different user accounts on our mobile , there are three types of profiles: Administrator , who is the owner of the phone, Users and Guests . The first will have control over all the others, while the second will be able to do almost everything that the first can do, but with some other limitations. The latter will only have access to a limited number of features, since you’ll only be using the phone temporarily, or at least that’s the point of it existing.

Once we have this in mind, it is time to start developing our different profiles on mobile.

Create a user on Android

If you intend to share your Android smartphone with other people, whether they are friends, family or your partner, you will have to access the mobile settings to create the different profiles that we have talked about. On paper, all versions of the operating system support multiple user profiles, with the exceptions noted above, and are easy to configure.

1. Enter the Settings app
2. Go down to the System or Users and accounts options
3. Locate the Multiple Users option (may vary depending on your customization layer) and enable the feature
4. Click on the Add user icon
5. Set up the new profile with your own Google account, which you can create directly from the profile creation process
6. Set up a screen lock PIN or fingerprint for the new user

You can repeat the same steps to add more profiles , depending on how many you need. When you add a new profile, you will have to go through the entire setup process as a new device. The new user will then be in charge of customizing the user’s profile with their own wallpaper, font size and applications, which can be changed at the time of creation or later.

Delete the user from the mobile

If you reach a point where you no longer need multiple profiles on a device , you can easily remove the additional profiles by undoing the previous step. You just have to access the smartphone settings to delete the user you want.

Scroll down and select System or Users & Accounts. Next, select the user profile you want to delete . Click on the ‘Delete user’ button and select ‘Delete’ again to confirm the action.

Create a guest profile

As we said, there is also the possibility of creating a guest profile if you are going to leave your smartphone to someone temporarily . The settings for these accounts will vary depending on the Android device you have, but will generally limit access to certain apps and settings, unlike a normal user profile.

Of course, to enable it, the process is the same:

1. Enter the Settings app
2. Go down to the System or Users and accounts options
3. Locate the Multiple Users option (may vary depending on your customization layer) and enable the feature
4. Click on the Add guest icon

How to switch between profiles

There is no mystery to changing profiles . Simply, you must lower down the notification panel from which you access the different shortcuts of the smartphone.

Now you will notice that, next to the time and the settings icon (something that can also change depending on the customization layer you have) the user icon appears . Clicking on it will give us the option to switch between one or the other or create a Guest profile (option that is only available from the Administrator profile).

If you have a PIN, password or access pattern, enter it and you’re done.

What is shared and what is not

Although we create independent profiles, and despite the fact that there are many things that we can keep private, there are some elements that will be shared among all users . This is all that will be common between the different accounts that we have created on the devices:

• App updates
• Incoming phone calls (if a call comes in, it will do so in all profiles, although this can be configured depending on each mobile brand)
• Storage Usage
• data usage

On the contrary, each user profile will be able to act on a series of elements independently . These are the things that are not shared:

• Files (photos, videos, music, etc.)
• installed applications
• Application data such as chats, history, etc.
• Notifications
• SMS
• Uninstall apps
• Contacts and call history

For example, if you install WhatsApp in one of the created profiles, it will not be available to other users. But if another person using the phone also installs the app, both of them will be able to update the app. On the other hand, that does not mean that your WhatsApp history or chats can be seen by any of them. Similarly, uninstalling the app from your own profile will not uninstall it from others.