Free · Lock the phone to one app

Hand them the phone, and they get the one thing you meant to give them.

Sometimes the only way to get a kid to sit still is to hand them your phone. Then they find your email, your texts, or the shopping app. This setting locks the phone to the one app you opened before you handed it over. They get the show or the game. They don't get the rest of your phone.

What it does

Before you hand the phone over, you triple-click the side button. The phone stays in that one app until you triple-click again and enter your passcode.

What you need

An iPhone. Nothing to download. It's a setting already on your phone, called Guided Access, and the steps below turn it on once.

One email, the whole library

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Running iOS 27?

Two things look different in Shortcuts. When you create a new shortcut, the first screen asks you to describe it in words. Skip that and tap Edit in the top right to get to the action list the steps below use. Some phones skip the describe screen and land on the action list straight away. And automations no longer have their own tab. The trigger now sits at the top of the shortcut itself, as the first block. The steps below are written for iOS 27, with a short note under each trigger step for iOS 26 and earlier.

If you set up before updating, nothing changes. Your automations moved over on their own. The steps below build everything by hand so everyone gets the same result, whichever version you are on.

New · Lock to one app

Hand it over, they stay in one app.

What it does: Guided Access locks the phone to a single app until you unlock it, so a toddler cannot leave the show, buy anything, or wander into your email.

Build 3 minIn SettingsStart Triple-click

The steps

1

Open Settings, tap Accessibility, scroll to Guided Access, and turn it on. Turn on Accessibility Shortcut too.

2

Tap Passcode Settings and set a passcode you will remember. This is what keeps little hands from ending it.

3

Open the app, click the side button three times, and tap Start. The phone is now locked to that app.

4

To get out, triple-click again and enter your passcode. Tap End to unlock, or Resume to keep them locked in.

Fix · stray taps

Before you tap Start, circle any part of the screen with your finger to disable it, so a tap on an ad or a menu does nothing. Time Limits can end the session on its own.

Good to know.

In Cassie's house, this is how hair gets done. The twins sit still as long as they have the phone, and Guided Access keeps them in the one app.

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The phone can carry more than that.

The Family Operating System puts the rest of the phone to work for your house — a text every morning with each person's day, and chore reminders that go to the kid who owns the chore.

See The Family Operating System →