iOS has Guided Access which should accommodate what you’re trying to do.
I’m sure android has something similar too.
this post was submitted on 22 Sep 2025
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Nope. The buttons in the phone app still work. Which means the kid can still mute or hold or hangup the call. Which is the problem here.
It’s been a while since I played with it but last I played with it you could set which areas on the screen are able to be interacted with.
Oh shit. I just checked and I see "session settings" which seems like it actually might work for this. I'm gonna have to try this out!
Yes! I’ve used it recently in iPad if you turn off all settings is perfect for babies! Much better, much better than try to run away from your child 🤣
This. There are ways to do this they are just fairly hidden. Because if they are not inevitably people activate them by mistake and then have a rather difficult time figuring out how to turn it off again.
I know natively you can only pin an app (puts app on lock screen basically), but never looked if apps have this feature
Not ironically this would mess up granny and granddad when they activate it accidentally.
Whatever the method of unlocking the screen is, the kids will learn it
I want this, but not just for toddlers, just for handing over my phone to anyone really. Put on some media (photo, slideshow, video), lock your phone inputs, hand it over to someone else to look at, without having to worry that they will invade your privacy as a prank.
iOS has this with "Guided Access". It's in the accessibility options.
I'm on Android and android has something called app pinning, but that still allows full functionality of the open app and is thus open to abuse. I looked up the guided access system and it's a lot better than the android method, but it seems much more convoluted to set up. I just want a simple option: you can look at what is currently playing, but touching does nothing.
My old phone had a setting for this but it seems it's part of OneUI so Samsung only :/ It's called Interaction Control in Accessibility Settings.
Yes. My niece is alredy 4 but she discovered all the amazing filters. I cant have 1 video call without her taking the phone and using all the filters. Headache inducing
On the other end, they need to move the camera to the bottom of the screen so people with bifocals stop using only the bottom third of the camera.
Or you just parent them properly.
You mean like by making sure they get to interact with lots of their family, even if they live far away....?
I understand limiting screen time but why would having something to assist with video calling be bad parenting exactly you mong?
Some of us dont leave near parents and grandparents and like to stay in touch.
Please grant me further wisdom though, oh childless one