Peculiar iPad Home Screen

Question

Level 1

104 points

Peculiar iPad Home Screen

Hello all.

My neighbours managed to destroy their iPads the other day by spilling milk on them. The iPads are irreparable and they have bought themselves new ones. This evening I went to try to set their new devices up for them. (They are rather aged, and not at all tech-savvy.)

So I started the set up process and chose 'Restore from iCloud back-up' for each iPad. It worked fine, and both new iPads are effectively clones of their old ones, but...

Although one of the iPads looked 'normal', the other one had a very peculiar home screen. It seems that the lady had accidentally done something to her old iPad to make it look like this, and of course the iCloud back-up faithfully restored her new one to look the same. The home screen looks like this:-

Now, I have never seen an iPad or an iPhone with a home screen like that. I Googled it, and Google suggested that the iPad had some sort of Zoom feature applied. My neighbour has no recollection of deliberately setting Zoom.

If one of those huge icons on the home screen was the Settings icon, I might have had a chance to sort it, but Settings was not on that home screen, and no amount of swiping left or right took me to anywhere that it was.

Google suggested a three-finger tap on the display might work, but when I tried doing that nothing happened at all.

So I am a bit snookered.

Can anyone suggest how I can restore this iPad to having a 'normal' style home screen please?

Thanks in advance.

iPad (10th generation)

Posted on May 14, 2026 12:55 PM

Reply

Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

LotusPilot

Level 10

307,271 points

May 15, 2026 3:20 AM in response to Steve Zodiac

The iPad's Top Button is indeed the "power button" to which you refer.

If you forgot the passcode and can’t exit Assistive Access

If you set up a recovery Apple Account when you set the Assistive Access passcode, you can use the recovery Apple Account to exit Assistive Access and reset the passcode.

Triple-click the Home button (on an iPad with a Home button) or the top button (on other iPad models), tap Exit Assistive Access, then tap “Forgot Assistive Access passcode?”
Enter the recovery Apple Account email address or phone number, enter the recovery Apple Account password, then tap OK to exit Assistive Access.
Reset the Assistive Access passcode in the Settings app. See Change the Assistive Access passcode above.

Note: If you forgot the passcode, can’t exit Assistive Access, and didn’t set up a recovery Apple Account, you will need to reset your iPad. See the Apple Support article How to reset your iPad passcode using your Mac or PC.

Information about Assistive Access and the associated Passcode can be found within the iPad User Guide. Here is a direct link to the relevant section of the Guide:

Change the Assistive Access passcode on iPad - Apple Support

Reply

Answer 2

May 14, 2026 2:21 PM in response to Steve Zodiac

That's Assistive Access. It's set up in Settings ➜ Accessibility ➜ Assistive Access.

click here ➜ Set up Assistive Access on iPad - Apple Support

Reply

Answer 3

Steve Zodiac Author

Level 1

104 points

May 14, 2026 10:30 PM in response to Phil0124

Thanks Phil.

So, from that link I see that the way to get her iPad back to 'normal' is:

'To exit Assistive Access at any time, triple-click the Home button (on an iPad with a Home button) or the top button (on other iPad models), tap Exit Assistive Access, then enter the Assistive Access passcode.'

I had been three-finger tapping the screen, which is clearly not the correct way to do it. The iPad in question has no Home button, so I assume 'top button' is the power button?

At one stage during my abortive attempts to sort it last night I did come across a screen that told me to enter the Assistive Access passcode, but of course I didn't know what Assistive Access was then. The trouble is that it is not the same passcode she uses for her iPad, and she has no idea what it might be. So that might well be a problem.

Thanks again.

Reply

Answer 4

May 15, 2026 7:12 AM in response to Steve Zodiac

Yes, the top button or power / sleep button should let you exit that mode.

The problem may arise when it asks for the assistive access passcode.

If she does not remember it, try something simple like 1111 and hope that is the one she set.

Otherwise, you may be forced to restore the iPad and set it up without the backup so the assistive access mode is not restored.

Reply

Answer 5

Steve Zodiac Author

Level 1

104 points

May 15, 2026 7:17 AM in response to Phil0124

Phil0124 wrote:

Otherwise, you may be forced to restore the iPad and set it up without the backup so the assistive access mode is not restored.

Yes, thank you for that, and I had considered that a Restore to factory might be necessary. But when I resume the set-up process, would I not be able to adjust what settings in the back-up are transferred in the restoration of it?

Reply

Answer 6

May 15, 2026 7:32 AM in response to Steve Zodiac

Steve Zodiac wrote:

Phil0124 wrote:

Otherwise, you may be forced to restore the iPad and set it up without the backup so the assistive access mode is not restored.

Yes, thank you for that, and I had considered that a Restore to factory might be necessary. But when I resume the set-up process, would I not be able to adjust what settings in the back-up are transferred in the restoration of it?

Unfortunately no. The restore restores everything from the backup. You don't have the option of picking which settings get transferred.

Reply