Hi theagcaoilis
welcome to the Apple (user-to-user) Community!
Re: Parental Controls - Lock Apps, including Settings (without creating a passcode): "I have been having the most challenging time monitoring my child (who has a mental disability) and his use with older iPhones I hand down".
Commiserations on your plight! Seems with earlier iPhone models, some of the controls available now were just not possible" (Eg: Assistive Access needs iOS 17 or later, so you can set up a simplied interface)
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Re:"Is it really too much to ask to give parents a little more control over what my child can and can't do with an iPhone?" "It's just the simple things too, for example:
- Ability to lock the Settings App so that my child can't disable WiFi (or totally change setting like language or Accessibility)
- Ability to disable the Phone App, so my child does not accidentally call 911 (even with a disabled eSIM)"
Wondering if you have looked at the possibilities available with Apple's other accessibility apps:
Eg: you can temporarily restrict iPhone to the one app you choose when you let a child use the iPhone.
Seems you would need to set that up with a passcode: You can then use Face ID or Touch ID (else you would need to triple-click the Home button and use a passcode) to exit)
ie: You can limit app access to one app by using "Guided Access"
This article below is for iOS 12, or you can choose any later iOS version at the top for accurate info.
See: Use Guided Access on iPhone - Apple Support
Eg: says:
"Guided Access helps you stay focused on a task by temporarily restricting iPhone to a single app, and allowing you to control which app features are available. You can do any of the following:
- Disable areas of the screen that aren’t relevant to a task, or areas where an accidental gesture might cause a distraction
- Disable the iPhone hardware buttons
- Limit how long someone can use the app"
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After you set up accessibility features, you can quickly turn them on or off
(Article below is for iOS 12 or choose a later iOS at top for accuracy)
You can Use accessibility shortcuts on iPhone - Apple Support
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Re: "I don't know if any Apple Engineers even take the time to read these."
Umm ... we are all Apple users, like yourself in the community. Apple engineers would likely be busily engineering.
We can send feedback to reach those who work on the software behind-the-scenes. They read and log our feedback, and are unlikely to reply ... yet if others have similar issues we may then see updates that address them.
All the best :-)
