This Buried Apple Feature Turns an iPhone Into the Perfect Kids’ Dumb Phone

I person been looking astatine classical dumb phones for months. Not retired of nostalgia—though the archetypal telephone I bought with my ain wealth was the Nokia 8210, and I inactive deliberation astir it (launched successful October 1999 astatine Paris Fashion Week, it was past the world's smallest and lightest mobile). But the time I've been dreading has come: It's yet clip for my lad to get his archetypal phone.

Come September, helium volition person to locomotion crossed municipality to schoolhouse connected his own. But if he's going to beryllium walking astir retired successful the satellite without me, past a tracking tag won't chopped it. He is acold excessively young to person unfettered entree to the net and societal media platforms, but what if helium gets lost? A classical Nokia, supplying conscionable texts and calls, won't travel to his aid. Maps and satnav necessitate a web connection.

In short, helium needs a smartphone that's not a smartphone. As a household profoundly embedded successful the Apple ecosystem, we archetypal looked to acceptable draconian restrictions connected my child's Apple account. But, amazingly, it instantly became evident that it is intolerable to artifact the usage of Safari connected iOS. Yes, you tin restrict entree to the app, but children person rapidly recovered workarounds for specified measures, specified arsenic asking friends to connection them links, which tin bypass restrictions erstwhile opened.

There are third-party apps specified arsenic Dumb Phone for iPhones and the Minimalist Phone app for Android users, but what irks maine astir these is that they complaint you for the privilege of removing entree to applications from your phone. Not adding—removing. My caput can't fathom the logic of paying for things to beryllium taken distant from a phone.

Surely determination indispensable beryllium a mode to acceptable up an iPhone arsenic the cleanable dumb telephone for children—one with entree to lone the apps you deem appropriate, nary net browser, but with all-important tracking and navigation abilities—without having to wage different institution to marque it work? Well, determination is. It's been hiding successful the iOS Accessibility paper the full time. And, inexplicably, it's a diagnostic Apple hardly talks about.

It's called Assistive Access. Introduced with iOS 17, Apple designed it for those with cognitive disabilities. If you've ne'er encountered oregon stumbled crossed it, it's a distinctive iOS experience: less options, much focused features, easier to navigate. The aesthetic is perfect for kids: large, affable tiles for the apps regenerate the smaller icons of the “normal” Apple interface.

Here's however you acceptable it up: Head into Settings, pat Accessibility, scroll down to the General conception astatine the precise bottom, and pat Assistive Access. Now, pat Set Up Assistive Access, past Continue. It volition past inquire you to prime your preferred appearance: rows oregon a grid. I suggest choosing a grid. This is however you get those super-large tiles. Now the OS volition inquire you to prime allowed apps—tap the greenish positive icon adjacent to the apps you privation to allow.

Crucially, this is where, dissimilar with Apple’s modular kid screen-time restrictions, you tin take to wholly artifact net browsing by simply not allowing Safari, Chrome, oregon immoderate different akin app. And, dissimilar with those screen-time restrictions, if idiosyncratic texts your kid a link, it won't work. Why? Assistive Access is designed to forestall accidental navigation, truthful the strategy restricts unexpected web browsing.

Even though Assistive Access connected Apple devices allows net access, it is heavy restricted by design, and it's turned disconnected by default. In this mode, the telephone treats immoderate nexus successful a connection arsenic plain text, preventing the idiosyncratic from accidentally leaving the simplified interface.

Made for caregivers oregon trusted supporters, the idiosyncratic indispensable specifically adhd internet-enabled apps similar Messages, Safari, oregon third-party web apps to the Assistive Access interface. And erstwhile you add, say, Messages oregon Calls, you past take whether your kid tin interaction oregon beryllium contacted by everyone, their contacts only, oregon conscionable selected favorites.

You tin adjacent take to person the keypad oregon talker beryllium disposable successful Calls. Want the clip displayed connected the fastener screen? Check that box. Make the mute power inoperable? Tick. Decide however notifications appear? That too. The Music app lone accesses playlists you preapprove. It's all, well, child's play to enactment together.

Once you're blessed with your kid-appropriate apps, you acceptable a unsocial four-digit Assistive Access passcode. This lets you crook the simplified OS connected and off. To permission Assistive Access, triple-click the broadside fastener connected Face ID devices oregon the Home fastener connected iPhones with Touch ID, and it'll bring up the passcode punctual that lets the instrumentality power backmost to the mean iPhone interface.

My chosen setup? My lad lone gets Calls, Messages, Maps, Camera (so we tin video call, but I've ruthlessly turned disconnected selfies), Photos, and Music. Nothing else. I’ve turned an old, unused iPhone 13 languishing successful a drawer into the champion six-app dumb telephone wealth hasn’t bought. Not a atrocious happening astatine a clip erstwhile Apple’s prices are skyrocketing.

What's more, this tin present turn with him. Right now, I'm toying with adding Wallet truthful helium tin wage for things with his Acorns Early account. If I privation to adhd Safari oregon Spotify oregon a crippled oregon 2 successful the future, a delve backmost into the Assistive app settings lets maine bash truthful with 1 press. And I'm unafraid successful the cognition that determination is perfectly nary workaround here. In this mode, my kid is incapable of doing thing that requires navigating modular iOS Settings oregon strategy idiosyncratic interface layers. Unless helium gets my Assistive Access passcode, what I deem off-limits remains off-limits.

It's astir each upside and nary downside. A customizable, wholly harmless dumb telephone with nary monthly interest but with the added payment of FaceTime, navigation, and Find My tracking, made from a instrumentality I had lying successful a drawer that slots consecutive into our family's Apple ecosystem.

When I archetypal acceptable the telephone up, I was disquieted I was missing something, that this solution could not beryllium arsenic bully arsenic it appeared. So I took the iPhone into an Apple Store and showed it to a enactment staffer. “What person you done?” helium said, looking incredulously astatine my son's iPhone with its six dumb tiles. “This is simply a overmuch amended solution than Screen Time. I'm going to person to archer my colleagues astir this.” I told him it was Assistive Access. “We don't get trained connected that,” helium admitted. “But this is great.”

Yes, it's unusual that Apple doesn't bid each its store unit connected this laudable feature, but it's baffling that it doesn't outcry astir however bully Assistive Access is for making a kid's dumb phone. I asked Apple straight wherefore it doesn't marketplace this buried diagnostic successful this way. Has it ever considered making a mentation of Assistive Access for children, a kids' OS, successful effect? While Apple helped maine with each my method queries for this piece, it declined to reply these questions.

It's much than a small absorbing that the coming revamped Screen Time dropping successful iOS 27 this September adopts immoderate of the cardinal benefits of Assistive Access, successful peculiar the ability, for the archetypal time, to region entree to Safari erstwhile mounting up a child's profile.

So, what's the downside? Well, Assistive Access runs sluggish, but my kid was truthful excited to get a phone, helium didn't attraction 1 bit. More importantly, it does not admit Screen Time limits and volition wholly override them, truthful support this successful caput erstwhile you adhd things similar Safari oregon WhatsApp. We'll privation to comparison the usage of Assistive Access for a child's telephone with the caller Screen Time redesign erstwhile it arrives. You besides cannot crook disconnected an iPhone successful Assistive Access mode; you person to revert it to mean iOS to bash this.

Perhaps much worryingly, connected 1 occasion, my lad managed to frost the Messages app successful Assistive Access mode by trying to hunt done loads of emojis. I was adjacent capable to repetition this freezing erstwhile helium showed maine what helium did. The lone mode to unfreeze Messages was to instrumentality it retired of Assistive Access mode, past enactment it backmost in—something helium cannot bash connected his own. He was capable to usage the different 5 apps conscionable good erstwhile Messages fell over, though.

So far, determination person been nary different issues, isolated from worrying my lad volition present suffer an costly iPhone—but astatine slightest we’ll beryllium capable to way it, conscionable arsenic we did erstwhile helium near it astatine schoolhouse the different day.