Assistive Access: an iPhone with only the essentials
Assistive Access is a mode in every iPhone that shows only the apps you chose: no settings, no other functions. Swish, SL and BankID work in the mode, and time limits from Screen Time, for example on Messages, apply there too. The mode is free and takes nine minutes to set up.
Good to know first
- The phone cannot be switched off without the passcode. If it does go off, for example when the battery runs out, it starts straight back into the mode.
- Emergency calls always work, without the passcode: press the side button three times. The 112 app can be added to the apps in the mode.
- No Aeroplane Mode, no Bluetooth setting except inside an app. Signal strength is not shown, but the battery is.
- iOS updates are done outside the mode: leave it with the passcode, update, and start it again.
- The mode has no schedule of its own. It stays on until someone with the passcode turns it off. Times and the night lock are handled by Screen Time.
- The look is simple, with big buttons. A young teenager may find it childish. It suits children best before their teens.
- The mode does not replace the conversation about why the phone does not have everything.
What you need
Allow nine minutes. You need your child's iPhone. Assistive Access is available from iOS 17.
Here's how
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Open Settings on your child's phone and go to Accessibility. Assistive Access is in the General section. Tap it and choose Start Assistive Access.
The way there: Settings, Accessibility, Assistive Access, Start Assistive Access.
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Under Manage Apps you choose what the phone can do. Start narrow: Calls and Messages go a long way. Then add what you need day to day, like Swish, SL and BankID.
The Optimised for Assistive Access list shows apps with big, clear buttons in the mode, like Camera, Music and Photos. Under More Apps are all the others, which look as usual inside the mode. More can be added later.
Selected apps at the top; more are added from the lists below.
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For each app you add, you choose what it may do inside the mode. A suggestion for each choice:
Calls. Receive Calls From and Make Calls To: Favourites, Contacts or Everyone. Contacts suits most families: your child reaches everyone you have added, and unknown numbers do not get through. For a really narrow list, choose Favourites and add them with Select Contact. Under In-Call Options: leave Keypad off, so no number outside the list can be dialled. Speaker as needed, Show Recents on.
The contact choices for Calls. Favourites keeps the list short; Contacts opens it to everyone you have added.
Messages. Receive Messages From and Send Messages To: the same three choices, and Contacts suits most families. Under Message Input you choose how your child writes: Keyboard and Emoji go a long way. Photo and Video Selfie off keeps it to text. Tap to Hear Message and Conversation Details can be off.
Camera. Modes: Photo, Photo Selfie, Video, Video Selfie. Photo is often enough. Video off makes the camera simpler and does not fill the phone with clips.
Music. The mode shows the playlists you select. Make a couple of playlists with your child first, so there is something to play.
Apps that are not adapted, like Swish, SL, BankID and 1177: when they are added, iOS asks the privacy questions straight away, about Location, Camera and Microphone. Suggestion: Location While Using the App where it helps, like SL for journey suggestions, otherwise Never. Precise Location off if the app does not need it. Camera on for Swish and BankID, for QR codes and identification. Microphone off unless you know why it is needed. Everything can be changed afterwards under the app's row.
Which contacts are available to choose is managed from Screen Time, see the Screen Time guide.
The privacy questions are asked once per app, when it is added. Here SL and location.
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Under Options you choose how the apps are shown: Rows increases the text size and shows everything in lists, Grid makes the icons larger. Rows is the calmest, and the easiest to tap.
The phone may also ask whether to turn on iMessage. It can be changed afterwards.
The suggestion is Rows.
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Further down the same screen are more choices. Suggestions:
- Allow Volume Buttons: on.
- Allow Silent Mode: off, so the phone is always heard when you call.
- Show Battery Level on Home Screen: on, so your child sees when it is time to charge.
- Show Notification Badges: off for the calmest possible screen, on if your child needs to see that something is waiting.
- Show Time on Lock Screen: on.
- Allow Siri: off. Otherwise Siri can become a way round your choices.
- Hide Back Button for Unoptimised Apps: leave off.
- Wallpaper: any. A calm picture suits the mode.
The suggestion: volume buttons on, silent mode off, battery level on, Siri off.
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The mode is protected by a passcode. If the phone already has a Screen Time passcode, as in the Screen Time guide, that one applies here: the same passcode opens and closes the mode. Otherwise you set one now. You can change it later under Passcode Settings.
The passcode is yours. Choose one that cannot be guessed and that is not the phone's usual passcode.
The passcode is entered when the mode starts and when it is left. It is the only thing that separates you from your child here.
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Tap Start Assistive Access. The screen goes dark for a moment while the phone switches over. Then: a calm screen with only the apps you chose.
The phone in the mode, with Rows. Nothing to scroll, nothing to get stuck in.
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Press the side button three times, choose to exit and enter the passcode. It is the only way out. The same three presses reach Emergency Call, which always works without the passcode.
Try it before you hand over the phone: press three times without entering the passcode, and you see what your child sees.
Three presses on the side button, then the passcode. Without it the phone stays in the mode.
Questions? Write through the contact form or on Instagram, @stillna.app (opens in a new tab).