Your kid wants to use your iPhone

Keep a child inside one app with Guided Access, clear private photos out of the library and give an older kid their own account.

A four-year-old with a video app can get to your camera roll in two swipes without meaning to. A ten-year-old who has watched you unlock your phone can do it on purpose. The right setup depends on which of those kids you have.

Set up Guided Access before you hand the phone over

1. Open Settings and tap Accessibility, then Guided Access.
2. Turn on Guided Access.
3. Tap Passcode Settings and set a Guided Access passcode. Turn on Face ID as well if you want a faster way out.

You only do this once. Menu labels can differ slightly between iOS versions.

Start a session

1. Open the app your kid will use.
2. Triple-click the side button. On an older iPhone with a Home button, triple-click that instead.
3. If a panel of accessibility shortcuts appears, tap Guided Access.
4. Tap Start.

The Session Settings screen has switches for the side button, the volume buttons, the keyboard and touch. You can also set a time limit, which helps when screen time tends to run long. To stop, triple-click the button again and authenticate.

On iOS 18 or earlier, Apple says to double-click the button to pause a session.

Lock the Photos app for the casual tap

Guided Access works for a planned handoff. For the moments when your kid grabs the phone while it is unlocked, you can also lock the Photos app.

Touch and hold the Photos icon on the Home Screen, tap Require Face ID, and confirm. Photos now asks for Face ID, Touch ID or your passcode each time it opens. It locks again after you quit it.

Move the photos you worry about most

Hide them from the Photos app so they stop appearing in the library, in other albums and in the Photos widget. Then think about your passcode. Kids pick up four and six digit codes fast, especially when they watch you enter one at the checkout or in the car. If you suspect yours knows it, change it and read the steps for someone who has seen your passcode.

Deleted photos go to Recently Deleted for 30 days. That collection is locked by default, and it opens with the same passcode.

Give an older kid their own account

Apple recommends that each child has their own Apple Account in a Family Sharing group, rather than sharing yours. With a Child Account you can manage apps, contacts and schedules from your own phone through Settings, then Family. Your kid gets a device or a login that holds none of your photos, and your iCloud library stays off their screen.

A tablet signed in to your Apple Account with iCloud Photos on will show your whole library, as covered in photos showing up on the family iPad.