First, I was talking with a good friend regarding how her son uses his iPad during a Saturday baseball game. During our conversation, she shared a few stories of 'unauthorized purchases'. She shared how she setup her son's iTunes account utilizing her email address so that she could monitor his purchases (which I highly recommend), but in the same breath remarked she had no actual control over what her son could download both through iTunes and through the App Store. So while she was being notified of what her son was doing, she really couldn't stop him from doing it because he was not following the family rule of asking before purchasing. She was also concerned about her son downloading music and apps at school. She really wanted his iPad to be solely for educational purposes.
On Sunday, I was engaged in a conversation with my sister-in-law regarding a related issue. My niece had just bought her own iPod Touch, and my sister-in-law had no idea about how to set it up, much less how to secure the device for her young daughter. In fact, she had been told by friends that it was not possible to secure the device.
So, here is a quick step-by-step guide to setting up Restrictions on Apple devices.
Go to General > Settings > Restrictions. The default setting is Off.
When you select Restrictions, you will be prompted to enter in a Restrictions Passcode and then confirm the password. Note, this password should be different than any code you setup for general access to the device. This code should not be shared with your child.
You will have the ability to limit access to the Internet (Safari), You Tube, Ping (social networking through iTunes), installing apps, etc.
You can also setup restrictions for access to email accounts as well as location services that can identify the location of your device through games, etc.
You can set restrictions for the types of music, movies, tv shows, and apps based on ratings (i.e. PG, PG-13, R). So if you allow your child to download on his or her own, you may still want to check these settings to restrict inappropriate content.
Be sure to pay attention to the controls for In-App Purchases which will allow students to purchase new apps within apps even if Installing Apps is turned off above.
If you don't want your student to play social games, you need to pay attention to the 'Multiplayer Games' and 'Adding Friends' setting. These control the social networking aspects of the Game Center App built into each device.
