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Lending your iPhone or iPad out to someone? Guided access is what you need

If you worry about someone going through your phone when they only need it for one task, activating this will help.

LENDING OUT YOUR phone or tablet to someone isn’t exactly something you want to do often. If you’re lending it to a child to watch a movie or film, the last thing you want is for them to leave the app and checking other parts of your phone.

If you want to make sure they only stay on one app, then Guided Access on iPhone/iPad will ensure they don’t end up exiting out of it by hitting the home button.

It also allows you to disable parts of the screen that aren’t relevant to what they’re doing so they don’t accidentally exit or trigger an unnecessary option.

To activate it, go into Settings > General > Accessibility and scroll down to Guided Access. Here you can turn it on/off, set a passcode or activate Touch ID, and whether the device can go to sleep during a session.

Accessibility shortcut.gif

Now that you have it activated, go into the app of your choice and triple-click the home button. Select Guided Access and begin the session.

When you start, you can draw on the screen to disable certain parts. Don’t worry if your drawing isn’t accurate, it will correct itself to a square or rectangle (you can resize it later). If this doesn’t come up the first time, triple-click the home button and select Guided Access again.

iPhone assistive instagram

If you tap on options at the bottom, you can turn off certain settings like the sleep/wake button, volume, screen rotation, keyboards and touch controls (if you’re watching a movie).

You can also set a time limit for Guided Access if you only need it temporarily. Otherwise you can turn it off by triple-clicking the home button again, selecting Guided Access and entering in your PIN.

Read: What apps allow you to activate two-step verification? >

Read: Apple has an answer for your iPhone battery woes, but it will cost you >

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