use iPhone 4s as iPod only

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Level 1

39 points

use iPhone 4s as iPod only

I have had to move my 90 year old father in law into a home where there is not a lot for him to do. Up until a few months ago he was pretty active at home in the garden and at the airport hangar. Anyway, he has said he might like to be able to listen to some music to help pass the time. Unfortunately his faculties are slipping pretty fast and this has to be as simple as possible now. He won't be using WiFi to log into my family Apple music account. I will sync the songs from my Mac. What I need to do is to hide everything else on the phone except to have the music button visible that when he clicks it just shows the playlists to select and then the basic iPod functions of volume, play, pause, and skip forward? If he gets lost in everything else it can do, he will just get frustrated. Basically, I need it to function the way the old iPods did that were just music players. Is there anyway to do this or an app I can load onto it that can help? Thank you.

iPhone 4S

Posted on Jun 10, 2016 12:17 PM

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Answer 1

elcpu

Level 7

31,586 points

Jun 11, 2016 8:29 PM in response to mb34

You can only do some of what you want. The native apps cannot be deleted but you can hide them to some degree by placing them into a new folder and then moving that folder to a new home page. You can go into restrictions and limit as much it will allow you there. But regardless it is not possible to prevent all mishaps, sorry.

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Answer 2

Klotar

Level 2

297 points

Jun 11, 2016 8:29 PM in response to mb34

Possibly "Guided Access" (also called Single App Mode) may do what you want. Normally, that mode is used to restrict the iPhone to one application, for example when handing the phone over to someone else to make a call with but not let them do anything else such as read emails, look through your camera roll, etc.

To set this, go to Settings -> General -> Accessibility. Scroll down to Guided Access. Turn it ON and set a passcode. Then, go to the Music App, triple-click the home button, and tap guided Access from the popup menu. Apparently there may be some options here to set, once done (such as disabling certain screen areas, disable some app controls, motion sensing, etc.), tap Start. From then on, the home button is disabled and the user can't exit out. To exit Guided Access mode, triple click the home button, enter your passcode and tap the End button.

Disclaimer: I haven't tried this myself. I don't think this is exactly the intent of Guided Access mode but sounds like it may do what you want if there aren't better suggestions.

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Answer 3

elcpu

Level 7

31,586 points

Jun 10, 2016 1:19 PM in response to mb34

The suggestion above by Klotar is a good one and may do it for you. Here are Apple's instructions for Guided Access. Like Klotar, I have not used it myself so no guarantees.

Use Guided Access with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch - Apple Support

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Answer 4

mb34 Author

Level 1

39 points

Jun 11, 2016 8:30 PM in response to Klotar

Thank you for your suggestion. I gave it a try. Unfortunately it locked the volume buttons and the screen display would never go to sleep.

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Answer 5

mb34 Author

Level 1

39 points

Jun 11, 2016 8:33 PM in response to elcpu

Thank you for your reply. I have gone through and tried to move everything off the home screen and restricted the ability of any program to do or access anything in the settings. Since he won't have access to WiFi he won't be able to get online. If he does somehow manage to somehow fiddle with it and accidentally mess it up, I see him almost every day and can reset it, so it will have to do.

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Answer 6

elcpu

Level 7

31,586 points

Jun 11, 2016 8:38 PM in response to mb34

My pleasure.... 🙂

I agree with you, this seems like you best option. Good luck.

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Answer 7

Klotar

Level 2

297 points

Jun 13, 2016 7:36 AM in response to mb34

According to the article, the allow/disallow sleep function is supposed to be settable in Guided Access, however, I didn't think of the volume buttons; and it looks like if you enable those, the other buttons would be enabled too.

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