How to set up Guided Access on iPhone and iPad
At a restaurant, in the car, in the waiting room: you hand your child the phone for a while – and you don’t want them deleting photos, sending messages or swiping off to YouTube.
That’s what Apple built Guided Access for. It locks your iPhone or iPad to a single app, and without your passcode your child can’t get out of it. It’s free and needs no extra app. Once it’s set up, you start it with three presses of a button.
Set it up once
- Open the Settings app.
- Tap Accessibility.
- Scroll to the bottom, tap Guided Access and turn it on.
- Tap Passcode Settings → Set Guided Access Passcode and choose a passcode only you know.
Don’t use the passcode that unlocks your device. Your child may have watched you type it.
Start it for your child
- Open the app your child should stay in.
- Quickly press the side button (iPhone) or the top button (iPad) three times. On devices with a Home button, press the Home button instead.
- If a list of accessibility shortcuts appears, tap Guided Access.
- Tap Start in the top right.
iOS remembers your settings for each app. Next time, Guided Access begins as soon as you triple-click.
End it again
- Quickly press the same button three times again. On iOS 18 and earlier, twice is enough.
- Enter your passcode.
- Tap End. Tap Resume to carry on instead.
Remember your passcode – without it you can’t end Guided Access.
While Guided Access is running, emergency calls and Crash Detection aren’t available. End it before you use the device yourself again.
Useful options
Everything here is built into iOS. You don’t need any of it, but some of it makes everyday life easier.
End it with Face ID or Touch ID
Go to Settings → Accessibility → Guided Access → Passcode Settings and turn on Face ID or Touch ID. You can then end Guided Access without typing the passcode.
Time limit
Before you tap Start, open Session Settings (Options in older versions of iOS) and turn on Time Limit. When the time is up, the device shows “Time Expired” and can only be used again with your passcode. Handy if you’ve agreed beforehand how long it’s going to be.
Disable areas of the screen
Also before starting, circle any parts of the screen with your finger that should stop responding to touch – a button your child shouldn’t press, for example.
Buttons and motion
In Session Settings you can also turn off the Side Button or Top Button, the Volume Buttons, Motion and Software Keyboards. The side or top button still works for ending the session. If you turn off Touch, the screen stops responding altogether – good for a video that needs no tapping.
Setting it up for the grandparents
If the grandchildren get to use Grandma and Grandpa’s iPhone or iPad, it’s best to set up Guided Access there yourself – on your next visit or at Christmas. Choose the passcode together and write it down somewhere safe.
After that, the grandparents only need two moves: press three times and tap Start to begin, press three times and enter the passcode to end. Face ID or Touch ID makes ending it even easier.
If the children are going to look at your family photos there, the photos have to be on the grandparents’ device. The simplest way is to send them by AirDrop or message and have Grandma or Grandpa save them in the Photos app.
A shared iCloud album is more convenient: you create it in the Photos app and invite the grandparents. Once they’ve accepted the invitation, any new photos you add show up for them too.
Which app should you lock?
Guided Access works with any app – a drawing app, an audiobook or a video.
If you want your child to look at your family photos without being able to delete, edit or send anything, you can use Picture Book. The app only displays photos and videos from Apple Photos and never changes anything. Together with Guided Access, your child stays inside it.
For free, Picture Book shows your newest 150 photos and videos. You can pick a single album – including a shared iCloud album – with the one-time Premium unlock, no subscription.
Download on the App Store