The embodiment of the invention discloses an application program starting method, which is applied to a terminal, and comprises the following steps of: judging whether the type of an unlocking mode ofthe terminal is the same as that of an unlocking mode of an application program; if yes, acquiring terminal unlocking data when the terminal is unlocked; comparing the terminal unlocking data with historical unlocking data of the application program and obtaining a comparison result; and starting the application program according to the comparison result. The invention further provides a terminaland a computer readable storage medium, by implementing the application program starting method, on the premise of not influencing the user information security, the user operation is facilitated, and the user experience is improved.