How to Use Guided Access on iPad: Lock It to One App

Guided Access temporarily locks an iPhone or iPad to a single app. It began as an accessibility feature, but Apple’s support page “Use Guided Access with iPhone or iPad” (published July 29, 2026) also presents it as something to use when letting a child use a device.

You hand your child the iPad, and a few minutes later they’re in a different app. Guided Access stops that from happening. This post walks through setup to ending a session, following Apple’s page. Labels can differ slightly between iPadOS versions, so compare with your screen as you read.

Set it up once

Open Settings and tap Accessibility.
Tap Guided Access and turn it on.
In Passcode Settings, set the passcode used to end Guided Access. You can also allow Face ID or Touch ID here.

The same screen has a few more settings:

Time Limits. Choose whether to play a sound or speak the remaining time before time runs out.
Accessibility Shortcut. Choose whether triple-clicking during a session shows the shortcuts panel.
Display Auto-Lock. Set how long the screen waits before locking during a session.

Make this passcode different from both the Screen Time passcode and the iPad’s unlock passcode.

Start a session

Open the app you want your child to use.
Triple-click the top button. On an iPad with a Home button, triple-click the Home button.
If the shortcuts panel appears, tap Guided Access.
If needed, use Options (sometimes shown as Session Settings) to choose which buttons work and set a time limit (more on this below).
Tap Start.

Now your child can’t leave the app. They can’t go to the Home Screen or switch to another app.

Turn off parts of the screen or buttons

Before starting, circle any part of the screen you don’t want touched, and touch is disabled there. You can move, resize or remove the circled area. It’s handy when an app has a settings button or a button leading to a store that you’d rather your child didn’t press.

In Options, you can turn each of these off:

Top Button (or Home Button)
Volume Buttons
Motion: responses to shaking or rotating the device
Software Keyboards
Touch: touch on the whole screen, useful when the child is only watching a video
Time Limit: when time is up, a message fills the screen and the device can’t be used further

For young children, a time limit can be used together with Guided Access. When the screen stops, it’s easier to say “that’s it for today.”

End a session

Triple-click the top button (or Home button). Apple’s page says to double-click instead on iPadOS 18 or earlier.
Enter the Guided Access passcode, or authenticate with Face ID or Touch ID.
If the shortcuts panel appears, tap Guided Access.
Tap End. You can also tap Resume to continue, or Options to change settings.

The same steps work after a time limit stops the session.

Don’t get locked out

If a parent forgets how to end Guided Access, the parent is stuck too. There are two precautions.

First, allow Face ID or Touch ID during setup. If you forget the passcode, your face or finger still ends the session. Second, write the passcode down somewhere out of your child’s reach. If you still can’t get out, contact Apple Support.

Also note that on iPhone, Apple’s page says Crash Detection and emergency calls aren’t available during a Guided Access session. Keep that in mind when lending a child your iPhone.

Combining it with Kinder Browser

Guided Access locks an app, not a set of websites. Lock the iPad to Safari, and your child can still go anywhere Safari can.

Kinder Browser is a children’s browser that opens only the sites a parent has added. Lock the iPad to Kinder Browser with Guided Access, and your child can’t move to another app, and inside the browser sees only the sites you added. Two boundaries overlap.

One thing to watch when combining them: Kinder Browser keeps the screen from turning off while a page is shown. That’s so the screen doesn’t go dark during learning, but it means the end time should be set with a Guided Access time limit or with Screen Time.

Kinder Browser’s settings sit behind a parental gate of their own. The default parental passcode is “0000,” so turn on Use CustomPIN and change it to your own number. It’s a one-time purchase of $9.99 in the US and 1,500 yen in Japan, with no in-app purchases, subscription or ads.

Screen Time setup is in How to Set Up Screen Time on an iPad for Your Child, and what to do when a child gets around the limits is in When Kids Get Around Screen Time. How Guided Access and Screen Time compare with Kinder Browser is in Kinder Browser vs Other Ways to Keep a Child’s Web Safe.