Auto/Lock Not working under Guided Access

Per Engineering, this is the way guided access is supposed to work... So I guess they consider it fixed and are not working on it anymore. I tend to disagree, since pre 11.4 upgrade in May, it used to sleep/lock at the minute mark set in display brightness Settings. So Guided Access Support submitted a feature request for me asking for a change to have the sleep/lock control minute control function within Guided access... we'll see how that goes since I am sure they receive millions of feature requests. At this point, if we all could submit a feature request to have the sleep/lock control minute control function within Guided access that would be great. That would really be our best course of action unless if you know anybody who has Tim Cooks phone on speed dial. I am really disappointed. It makes absolutely no sense for Guided Access to ignore those settings.

That's what they told me in May. Good luck with that . :-) Read previous posts. Just wondering, did you call the Accessibility support or main tech support. If it's main tech support, your complaint is not going to get routed correctly. I have had the experience of talking to them and even the Accessibility support team to only find that they did not record my conversation. They really have no power to solve things (especially something that engineering has to fix) so I think alot of times they just mouthpiece complaints, but really don't do anything. Last I heard from them, I got a call when they got an update from engineering on the matter. According to engineering, the lock/sleep controls in display brightness settings are disabled on purpose and that's how it's supposed to work (I completely disagree ... that makes no sense). Per that conversation, Engineering had stated that they consider the matter fixed and they do not consider it a bug anymore (device lock/sleeps at 12minutes no matter what). Unless things have changed, they submitted a feature request and that was that. I can say that there is a huge community of families who have non verbal disabled children who use the Guided Access feature to assist their kids in using the ipad as a speech device (it is in essence their voice). You can imagine the frustration levels when these ipads don't make it through the day since they end up being continuously on. I hope you are right in what they told you, but at this point, I no longer trust them. We all just seem to get the run around. I do hope they fix this.

Thanks Laura for your input. Unfortunately the option menu and the toggle you are referring to has to do with the sleep/lock hardware button for the ipad. It doesn’t affect the auto sleep/lock feature which is controlled within the display&brightness preference menu.... and the hardware button is not an option for everyone with fine motor limits. This is a bug that twice has creeped up in iOS. This last time it apoeared again after an upgrade to 11.4 (11.3.1 worked great). As of 12.0 guided access ignores the auto sleep lock settings all together an automatically auto sleep locks after 10or so minutes go by without the ipad being disturbed. If you touch the screen (like to say something with an AAC app) the clock starts over again. Unfortunately in many cases this results in the screen being on all day long since our kids use the ipad to speak. Our battery used to last 2-3 say before when we had set the auto locksleep to 2minutes pre 11.4... Now we are lucky if the battery makes it through the day. According to engineering the way it functions now is how its supposed to function. They have submitted a feature request to enable the control within guided access and give people the ability to decide the time before sleeplock, but at this point it is a feature request. Thanks again for submitting your suggestion.

We've all been getting alot of double talk. Now did you talk to Accessibility Support or Tech Support (yes there is a difference). The Accessibility support deals wholly with Guided Access issues and I spoke with them yesterday confirming the information they had gotten from engineering that the way it is working on iOS 12 is the way it was intended and engineered to work (don't ask me whose bright idea that was since it makes no sense). But apparently Apple has "engineered"their current itteration of iOS12 to ignore the autosleep lock settings. So I am not saying you are wrong... what I am saying is that Apple tech support unfortunately is giving alot of double talk, and honestly I don't trust what they are saying since it sounds like it's just PR talk to keep things quiet ... or until there are enough disgruntled users that they actually have to invest time and money to resolve the issue (and I know it's not tech supports fault ... they can't do anything but pass down our complaints). So a bug or a feature request ... either way, until it is a big enough stink, doubt they will fix it.

I completely agree. It becomes a safety issue if the child's battery runs out before the end of the day and they in essence have no voice. How to ask for help? How to ask to go to the bathroom? How to tell someone they don't feel good? If you have any iPads running 11.3.1 they should still work fine ... anything post 11.4 won't so don't upgrade them if they are still pre 11.4. Thank you... any additional pressure for a fix will help.

This is the information that was relayed to me by the Apple Accessibility Support team (different from regular Apple Support) who got a response from the engineers over this issue. According to Engineering, turning off the controls for auto sleep/lock and having it auto/sleep locking on its own about 10minutes in, was the intended result. Don’t ask me why it was engineered that way and they did not explain a logic to it. The support team member at this point recommended I proceed by submitting a feature request to turn on the functionality and control for the auto sleep/lock available in the display brightness settings menu which works perfectly fine when not in guided access. I will say that after calling Support countless times since this last April, my level of confidence is extremely lowon how “straight up” and honest they are with the information they provide. Since Support really has no means to solve problems (all they do is pass the message along) I think most of the time is just paying lipservice and trying to diffuse angry customers by firehosing them with futility. I just don’t understand what the underlying reason would be to engineer your software with no apparent purpose or use. You would think you would want the user to have as much control as possible over the experience (especially when talking about a part of the OS - Guided Access - that is supposed to be designed to do just that).

I believe it’s in September or October after they unveil the new iPhones.