After a long day’s work, my husband entered home and after a mandatory screening right at the entrance, he handed over his iPhone to our daughter (who gave me a “see, i did it again” look!) She started busily watching her earlier videos, audio recordings, photo gallery and even shot some really candid snaps of me. After she retired for the night, I picked up the phone only to find out what she had done in the short span - two messages were sent to some long-lost contact, a missed call to my in-laws and three pictures of herself sent to my husband’s colleague via Whatsapp! I froze for a second. There’s just no separating the gadgets and today’s kids right? Many toddler lock apps have come and gone; the screen pattern as a password is a big joke to my daughter, as she cracks it in no time.
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This is a common worry for all of us and enough has been said about how to wean off children from gadgets. Even if they don’t use it for hours, the damage is done in the few minutes. And I am more worried about my child sending pictures to strangers or making those embarrassing phone calls to contacts we are not even in touch with.
How many of us actually know about or have used the Guided Access feature on our iPhones?
- Go to Settings -> General -> Accessibility -> Guided Access and turn it ON.
- Set in a Passcode that is relatively difficult for your child to crack (and if you kid is able to crack your screen passcode, Â please use another one here!)
- Once you want to hand over the phone to your little one, open the App he/she is interested and triple tap the Home button.
- Click Start. Guided Access will start and your child cannot exit the app, without ending the Guided Access.
- To end the Guided Access, you will need to type the passcode.
Image source: simplydesigning.porch.com
This way, you are sure, your child doesn’t meander from what they are watching.
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Another way to child-proof your phone and end the umpteen number of apps being automatically added by your child or essentials ones being deleted is to enable Restrictions.
- Go to Settings -> General -> Restrictions.
- Among the list of Allowed Content, chose the ones you want to restrict from your kids. For instance, Installing Apps, Deleting Apps, In-App Purchases. Under the Allow Content, chose OFF.
- Set a passcode that your child will come across if they try to make In-App purchases or Modify your Apps.
Guided Access Also comes in handy if your child wants to watch rhymes on YouTube. Just tab on the area of the screen where you want Guided Access to be enabled and this will ensure your child doesn’t go about clicking something else and it gives you a momentary relief!
Image source: hongkiat.com
Are there any other hacks/tricks that you use to kid-proof your phones? Do let us know!
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Mansi Zaveri
Aditi Malik
Janani S Koushik
Parul Gupta
Rati Ramadas Girish
Rushita Sheth
