Island

Isolate, clone and freeze apps for stronger privacy and control

Island is a powerful sandbox that gives you a second space on your device to run and manage apps with far more control than usual. It leverages the system’s work profile feature to create a separate “island” where selected apps live, safely walled off from your main environment.

The core idea is simple but effective: you can clone existing apps into Island to run parallel accounts, isolate untrusted tools, or experiment without touching your primary data. Each cloned app behaves like a fresh install, with its own settings and storage. For privacy-conscious users, this separation is invaluable, especially when dealing with apps that are overly hungry for permissions or data.

Island’s standout feature is its ability to freeze apps. When an app is frozen, it is completely blocked from running in the background, stopping notifications, tracking, and resource usage until you explicitly unfreeze it. Combined with the option to hide apps and route VPN traffic differently between your main space and the Island space, you gain granular control over both privacy and network behavior.

The interface is utilitarian rather than flashy, but once you understand the work profile concept, managing apps inside and outside Island becomes straightforward. Power users will appreciate the transparency around the required permissions, particularly device administrator rights and usage statistics, which are clearly requested and explained.

There are trade-offs. Not every app likes being cloned or frozen, and casual users may find the concepts a bit technical. You also need to follow the in-app guidance to properly “Destroy Island” before removal, or clean up the work profile in system settings.

Overall, Island is an excellent choice for users who want serious control over app behavior, privacy, and parallel usage, and are willing to handle a slightly steeper learning curve to get it.