It won’t be long before parents can hand their iPhone or iPad to a small child and be sure they don’t go on the web or accidentally make a phone call. The ability to lock apps so that they require Face ID to open is coming in iOS 18 and iPadOS 18.
I tested the new feature, and while it isn’t as useful as being able to make separate accounts for different users would be, it’s still a welcome change.
More parental control: Lock apps on iOS 18
It’s a situation any parent can recognize: You’re waiting in line and your child asks for your iPhone to play their favorite game. You hand it over, and a few minutes later you realize they’re watching an R-rated movie or doing something else equally bad.
This is why parents have been asking for a Child Mode for iPhone and iPad for more than a decade. They want to be able to quickly limit the applications their child can access on Mom’s or Dad’s devices.
While Apple still hasn’t brought support for separate user profiles to iOS 18 and iPadOS 18, these upcoming upgrades do allow applications to be locked with Face ID. This means that you can set your iPhone so that the only person who can access Netflix is you. And you can lock YouTube, Safari, etc. … a whole range of applications you might not want your child to access on your iPhone or iPad without your specific permission. The only exception I’ve found is Settings. When testing early betas of iPadOS 18, I can’t lock this particular app.
In my tests, unlocking an app with Face ID adds roughly an extra second to opening it. It’s no big deal, especially when it comes with the peace of mind that no one but me can access the application.
Hide an app in iOS 18
Screenshot: Apple
You can even take this feature to the next level and completely hide an application. Doing so puts it in a folder in the App Library called Hidden. Just seeing what app icons are in this folder requires Face ID. Then opening individual applications requires Face ID again.
I tested the feature in iPadOS 18. I found it creates enough extra hassle that it’s probably more than you want to deal with just to keep your child from accessing Netflix without your permission. But it’s perfect for something you don’t want them to know about at all, like maybe a dating app.
Apple promises, “When an app is locked or hidden, content like messages or emails inside the app are hidden from search, notifications, and other places across the system.”
Hope for the future: User profiles
I’m probably being overly optimistic, but perhaps this is a stepping stone to user profiles being added to iOS 19 and iPadOS 19. iPads in particular are frequently shared within families, and being able to create profiles for each family member would make this easier. Each person should be able to access their own apps and data — and not other people’s.
But a simpler Child Mode would be a nice addition to iPhone and iPad, allowing parents to quickly block children out of adults-only applications. In the meantime, we’ll have to be satisfied with being able to lock apps.
