Setting Restrictions for Content and Apps
You can restrict the access to specific content and apps on your phone. Suppose you let other people borrow your iPhone but don’t want them to use certain apps or to see data you’d rather keep to yourself. You can enable a restriction to prevent someone from accessing these areas without entering the restriction code. You can also restrict the use of apps, movies, music, and other content based on the age rating that the app or other content has.
To restrict access to content or apps, perform the following steps:
On the Settings screen, tap General.
- Swipe up the screen until you see Restrictions.
Tap Restrictions.
Tap Enable Restrictions.
Create a Restrictions Passcode. You have to enter this passcode to change the content restrictions or to be able to access restricted content.
Reenter your Restrictions Passcode. You return to the Restrictions screen, and the ALLOW switches are enabled.
In the ALLOW section, set the switch next to each function you want to disable to off (white). For example, to prevent web browsing, set the Safari switch to off (white); the Safari icon is removed from the Home screen and can’t be used. With the other controls, you can prevent access to the Camera, FaceTime, iTunes Store, and so on.
- Swipe up to see the ALLOWED CONTENT section.
Tap Ratings For.
Tap the country whose rating system you want to use for content on your iPhone.
Tap Restrictions.
Tap Music, Podcasts, News & iTunes U.
- To prevent content tagged as explicit from being played, set the EXPLICIT switch to off (white). Explicit content will not be available in the associated apps, such as Music or News.
Tap Back.
Tap Movies.
- Tap the highest rating of movies that you want to be playable (for example, tap PG-13 to prevent R and NC-17 movies from playing); tap Allow All Movies to allow any movie to be played; or tap Don’t Allow Movies to prevent any movie content from playing. Prevented movie ratings are highlighted in red.
Tap Restrictions.
- Tap TV Shows and use the resulting screen to set the highest rating of TV shows that you want to be playable (for example, tap TV-14 to prevent TV-MA shows from playing); tap Allow All TV Shows to allow any show to be played; or tap Don’t Allow TV Shows to prevent any TV content from playing. Prevented ratings are highlighted in red. Tap Restrictions to return to the Restrictions screen.
- Use the Books option to enable or disable access to sexually explicit books.
- Tap Apps and set the highest rating of app that you want to be available (for example, tap 12+ to prevent 17+ applications from working); tap Allow All Apps to allow any application to be used; or tap Don’t Allow Apps to prevent all applications. Tap Restrictions to return to the Restrictions screen.
- Use the Siri option to restrict explicit language for searching the Web.
Use the Websites option to control the websites that can be accessed. The options are to limit sites with adult content or to allow only specific websites to be visited. When you select this option, you can create a list of sites and only those sites can be visited.
- Swipe up the screen until you see the PRIVACY section.
Use the settings in the PRIVACY section to determine whether apps can access information stored in each area and whether they should be locked in their current states. For example, you can prevent apps from accessing your calendars or photos. Configuring these is similar to the Privacy settings you read about earlier in this chapter.
- Swipe up the screen until you see the ALLOW CHANGES section.
- Tap areas that you want to restrict, such as Cellular Data Use and then tap Don’t Allow Changes to prevent changes to that area.
- To prevent multiplayer games in the Game Center, set the Multiplayer Games switch to off (white). Users will no longer be able to play games against other people.
To prevent new friends from being added in the Game Center, set the Adding Friends switch to off (white). Players will be restricted to the friends already allowed.