Guided Access for Kids Games on iPhone and iPad

By the JMH Developers editorial team · Published: August 5, 2026 · Last reviewed: August 5, 2026 · About 7 min read.
Disclosure: JMH Developers publishes kids’ games, including titles linked in this guide.

Guided Access locks an iPhone or iPad into one app until someone enters a passcode. It is built into iOS and iPadOS, takes about two minutes to set up, and is the most reliable way to hand a device to a small child without them wandering into your messages, your photos or the App Store. It is a containment tool rather than a content filter, so it works best when you have already chosen the app carefully and set up Screen Time behind it.

What Guided Access actually does

Guided Access pins the device to whatever app is open when you start the session. While it runs, the home gesture and the app switcher stop working, and Control Centre and the Notification Centre cannot be pulled down. On top of that you can switch off individual parts of the screen, switch off hardware buttons, and set a time limit. Nothing ends the session except your passcode, Face ID or Touch ID.

Apple Support documents the full feature in its article Use Guided Access on iPhone or iPad. It lives under Accessibility rather than under Screen Time, which is why many parents never find it.

Turn it on and set a passcode of its own

You do this once per device, and the order matters: the passcode field only appears after the feature itself is switched on.

• Open Settings, then Accessibility, then Guided Access, and turn on Guided Access.
• Tap Passcode Settings, then Set Guided Access Passcode, and enter a six-digit code twice.
• On the same screen, turn on Face ID or Touch ID if you want a faster way out of a session.
• Still under Guided Access, set Display Auto-Lock. Never or 15 minutes suits a young child who puts the device down and picks it up again; a short auto-lock will interrupt play.
• Check Accessibility Shortcut is on, so a triple-click starts a session.

Make the Guided Access passcode different from the device passcode. Children watch hands closely, and a shared code means the first time you unlock a session in front of them you have also taught them how to unlock the whole device. Write the six digits down somewhere you can reach, because a forgotten Guided Access passcode can leave you needing to erase and restore the device.

Start a session and lock down the screen

Open the game yourself, wait until it is past any splash screen, then triple-click the side button. On an iPhone or iPad with a Home button, triple-click the Home button instead. If you have more than one accessibility shortcut enabled, the triple-click shows a short menu and you pick Guided Access from it.

Before you tap Start, you get a setup screen with two useful controls:

• Circle areas to disable. Draw a loop with your finger around any part of the screen that should stop responding: a settings cog, a shop button, a link out to another app. The circle can be dragged, resized by its handles, and removed with the small x.
• Options, bottom left. Switch off the Side Button, the Volume Buttons, Motion (which stops the screen rotating), Keyboards, Dictionary Lookup or Touch. Turning Touch off freezes the whole screen, which suits a video but not a game.

Tap Start at the top right and the session begins. To adjust circles or options mid-session, triple-click again, enter the passcode, make the change and tap Resume rather than End.

How much you need to circle off depends on the app. A game with no ads, no accounts and no outbound links usually needs nothing disabled at all. Our own titles are built that way: single taps and short drags, no chat or social features, no adverts, and purchases behind a parental gate. In our toddler mini-game collection, for instance, the hardware buttons are the only thing worth disabling.

Time limits and ending a session

In Options, switch on Time Limit and choose a duration. When the time runs out the screen locks and shows that the session has expired, and the passcode is needed to carry on or to leave. You can also have the device speak or play a sound as the limit approaches, which gives a child warning and takes the argument off you.

To end a session, triple-click the side or Home button, enter the passcode, and tap End at the top left. If you enabled Face ID or Touch ID, a double-click of the side button plus a glance or a fingerprint does the same thing. The device then returns to the normal home screen.

A Guided Access time limit applies to that single sitting and does not carry over. For a daily budget across apps and days, you want Screen Time instead.

What Guided Access does not do

Guided Access has no opinion about what is inside the app. It cannot tell a gentle drawing game from something unsuitable, and it will keep a child inside either one just as firmly. Specifically, it does not:

• Filter or rate content. Age suitability is judged before you install, using the store rating and your own look at the app. App Store Connect Help sets out what the 4+, 9+, 12+ and 17+ tiers mean in its guidance on setting an app age rating.
• Remove adverts, chat or outbound links from an app that has them. If a game shows a rewarded video, Guided Access will let it play.
• Block in-app purchases inside the pinned app on its own. That is a Screen Time restriction, not an Accessibility one.
• Stop notifications appearing as banners. Turn on a Focus or Do Not Disturb if you want a clean screen.
• Apply to a second device, or follow the child's Apple Account anywhere else.

That is why the app choice still does the heavy lifting. Our notes on choosing age-appropriate games and on what we do and do not put in our games cover what to check before a game gets anywhere near a locked session, and why games without adverts make the lock-down far simpler.

Combining it with Screen Time

Screen Time and Guided Access answer different questions. Screen Time decides what may be installed, what may be bought and how much total time is available across the day. Guided Access decides the boundaries of the sitting happening right now.

In Settings, Screen Time, the parts worth doing once are Downtime, App Limits, and Content & Privacy Restrictions, where you can set iTunes & App Store Purchases so in-app purchases are not allowed and a password is always required. If the child has their own Apple Account inside Family Sharing, Ask to Buy sends every purchase request to you for approval. Apple Support explains the whole set in its article on using parental controls to manage your child's iPhone or iPad.

Troubleshooting, and a check before you hand it over

• Triple-click does nothing. Guided Access is off, or the Accessibility Shortcut is not enabled. Both are in Settings, Accessibility, Guided Access.
• Triple-click opens a menu instead of starting. More than one accessibility shortcut is assigned. Pick Guided Access from the list, or remove the others.
• The passcode is rejected. The Guided Access passcode is separate from the device passcode. Set or reset it in Passcode Settings.
• The session will not end. Triple-click and use Face ID or Touch ID if you enabled them. A forced restart is the last resort, and it will not recover a forgotten passcode.
• The screen keeps dimming or locking. Raise Display Auto-Lock inside the Guided Access settings.
• The child taps something you meant to block. Triple-click, enter the passcode, circle the area, then tap Resume.
• Volume cannot be changed. Volume Buttons are switched off in Options. Set the level before starting the session.
• Rotation is stuck. Motion is off in Options; turn it back on for a game that expects both orientations.

Before handing the device over, check four things: the app is open and past its splash screen, the volume is set, the Options suit this app, and a time limit is on if you want one. Then triple-click and tap Start. If you are still deciding what to pin the device to, our games for iPhone and iPad all run offline once installed, so a locked session works the same on a train as it does at home.