Apple devices not only have fantastic built-in accessibility features but also easy-to-use parental controls, making them an excellent choice for children with vision impairment. With the controls set up, your child can use their iPad or iPhone to explore and communicate, whilst giving you the confidence that there are restrictions in place to protect them.
We take a look at how to turn on parental controls on your iPad or iPhone, as well as other safety features on iOS devices.
The main way to set up parental controls on your child's iPhone/iPad comes from activating the Screen Time feature. This allows you to see how much time your child spends on specific apps and websites, with the option to set up restricted access, so that they're not all available or they have time limits for using them.
You can prevent iTunes and App Store purchases from being made on your child's iPhone or iPad by using Screen Time. To do this:
Create app limits by tapping the Allowed Apps option, which will enable you to move the slider from the on to off position against each app. To prevent iTunes purchases, deselect the iTunes Store.
If you'd like to give your child some freedom on their device, an alternative would be to use the Ask to Buy feature so that when your child wants to buy or download a new product or game, they send a request to you, the family organiser, to approve. This option is available if you've set up Family Sharing, which you can do by going to settings, then your profile at the top, and then Family Sharing to connect family members.
Under Content & Privacy Restrictions in Screen Time, you can tap Content Restrictions to choose the content your child has access to. You can adapt this to your child's age as the categories are split into categories from early years to pre-teen to adult.
For apps, the categories are:
In the Content Restrictions section, you can also restrict what your child can access online using the Web Content option. By default, this option is set to Unrestricted Access. You can change this to Limit Adult Websites and Allowed Websites Only. This option has pre-populated sites such as Disney, as well as the option to add a website with the URL address.
The Privacy section in Content & Privacy Restrictions allows you to limit access to services such as Location Services, Share My Location, and Speech Recording on your child's device. Most of the options are a choice between Allow or Don’t Allow changes.
Downtime is an option that allows you to set a specific time to block access to apps and notifications. To do this, use the green slider to enable this option and set the start and end time. A reminder appears five minutes before the downtime is due to begin.
Another important safety consideration is what to do if your device gets lost or stolen. Luckily, Apple devices have the Find My iPhone/iPad option to help in these situations. By having this activated, you can use it to locate or secure your iPad or iPhone if it's lost or stolen. To set it up:
If your device is lost or stolen, you can use the Find My iPhone/iPad option to locate it. This is managed from your Apple account.
Guide Dogs is committed to integrating technology into our service delivery and promoting excellence in accessibility and usability. Our staff undergo comprehensive training in technology and accessibility in collaboration with industry leaders like Apple. We foster knowledge of technology and create content through our Technology Champions, comprising Vision Rehabilitation Specialists and Habilitation Specialists. We review this content periodically to ensure that it is up to date and includes new features and changes with operating systems. We work with our partners to ensure accessibility is at the centre of the design. To find out more, there is more information in our accessibility policy.
Whilst Guide Dogs may be able to suggest various third-party websites and third-party applications which may be able to assist you, those are not endorsed by Guide Dogs. Guide Dogs have no control over those third parties and cannot be held responsible for the accuracy of information and support they can provide or the suitability and quality of any products or services they provide.