How to Lock an iPad to One App (Guided Access)

To lock an iPad to one app, turn on Guided Access in Settings, Accessibility, open the app, and triple-click the top button (or the Home button). The iPad then stays in that app until someone enters your Guided Access passcode.

It works the same on iPhone, and it's built into iPadOS, so there's nothing to install. The steps below follow Apple's own guide. Many people who use my app on a frame for their parents set this up, so I've added the app settings that go with it at the end.

Set up Guided Access

1. Open Settings and tap Accessibility.
2. Tap Guided Access and turn it on.
3. Under Passcode Settings, set a Guided Access passcode. You can also allow Face ID or Touch ID to end a session.
4. Under Display Auto-Lock, choose how quickly the screen locks during a session. For a photo frame, choose Never so the screen stays on.

Lock the iPad to an app

1. Open the app you want to lock, for example the photo frame app.

2. Triple-click the top button (or the Home button on iPads that have one).

1. If the Accessibility Shortcuts menu appears, tap Guided Access.
2. Optionally circle parts of the screen that should ignore touches, or turn off touch in the options.
3. Tap Start.

The iPad now stays in that app. Pressing the Home button or swiping up does nothing.

End a session

Triple-click the top button (or Home button) again, enter your Guided Access passcode or use Face ID or Touch ID, and tap End.

For a photo frame: lock inside the app too

Guided Access keeps people in the app. Digital Photo Frame App adds two settings that keep the slideshow itself from being changed by accident:

• Simple Controls (in Accessibility): a tap just shows the next photo, so nothing gets paused or changed. You choose how to leave the slideshow, for example a visible Exit Slideshow button.
• Configure Passcode: a PIN is needed to stop the slideshow or open its settings.

Together with Guided Access, that's a frame nobody can accidentally break. The full setup is in how to turn your iPad into a digital photo frame, letting it rest at night is covered in slideshow by day, sleep at night, and the iPad page shows what else the app does.

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