Check the App Block
The most common reason protection isn’t working is that the app block isn’t enabled on your theme.
Go to Online Store > Themes in your Shopify admin
Click Customize on your active theme
Click App embeds (puzzle piece icon)
Make sure Photolock is toggled On
Click Save
You can also check your installation status from the Photolock app’s Settings > Installation section.
Theme Editor vs Live Store
Protection is automatically disabled in the Shopify theme editor. This is intentional — it allows you to customize your store without interference.
Always test protection on your live store or a theme preview, not in the editor.
Check Feature Requirements
Some features require specific plans:
Feature | Required Plan |
Content Protection (right-click, copy, save) | All plans |
Image Protection (right-click, drag & drop) | All plans |
Image Shield, Invisible Watermark, Visible Watermark | Advanced |
Screen Capture (screenshot, focus, printing) | Advanced |
Bots & Crawlers | Advanced |
Smart Activation | Premium |
Rules (page, market, customer exclusions) | Premium |
If a feature is grayed out with an Upgrade badge, you need to upgrade your plan to use it.
Exclusion Rules
If protection works on some pages but not others, check your Rules settings:
Go to Settings > Rules
Check if Page Filtering is enabled with excluded products or collections
Check if Market Filter is set to specific markets
Check if Customer Rules exclude logged-in or tagged customers
Browser Extensions
Some browser extensions can interfere with protection features. Ad blockers, developer tool extensions, or privacy extensions may override Photolock’s protections. This only affects the visitor using that specific extension — other visitors are still protected.
Mobile Limitations
Screenshot Lock works on desktop only — mobile screenshots use hardware buttons that web apps cannot intercept
Right-Click Lock works on mobile as a long-press block
All other protections work on both desktop and mobile
Smart Activation
If you have Smart Activation enabled, protection is dormant until a suspicious action is detected. During normal browsing, it may appear as if protection isn’t active. Try right-clicking on an image — protection should activate immediately after the first attempt.