When a child uses your phone
Kids borrow phones for games and videos. Keep them safe from adult content and keep your private photos out of reach.
The waiting room is running late and a small person beside you is running out of patience. You open a game and hand over the phone. Ten minutes later they have found the camera, the photo library and your messages, because children are wonderfully good at tapping things.
Before you hand it over
Open the game or video yourself, then lock the phone to it. On iPhone that is Guided Access: turn it on once in Settings under Accessibility, then triple-click the side button inside the app. On Android it is app pinning; search Settings for "pin" and set it to ask for your PIN to unpin. Our Guided Access and app pinning guide has the details.
Turn on Do Not Disturb too, so a message does not appear over the game.
When you get home
Check the camera roll. Children love taking photos, and occasionally delete or send them. Then do the two settings that prevent most surprises:
- Require a password for every App Store or Google Play purchase.
- Move private photos out of the main library: the iPhone Hidden album (with Face ID required to open it), Google Photos Locked Folder, or Samsung Secure Folder.
Over time
As children get older, they start watching how you unlock the phone. Shield the screen, and change your passcode if you think it has been learned. A few agreed rules help a lot too: which apps, how long, and that the phone comes back when asked. Children tend to respect rules they helped make.
If they use your phone often, an old phone or tablet with just their apps, set up with Apple or Google parental controls, is usually simpler than locking down your own. A separate vault app such as VaultWell, coming soon, can also keep a few things behind a lock that random tapping will not open.
Can my child get out of Guided Access?
Not without the Guided Access passcode or your Face ID or Touch ID, if you set one. Pick a passcode they have not seen.