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Here's How to Show a Photo to Someone on Your iPhone Without Them Swiping to Other Pics
We all have those photos we wouldn’t want anybody to see.
Imagine handing your phone to a friend to show a funny picture of your dog. Before you know it, they start swiping left and right through through your entire camera roll like crazy.
Luckily, there’s one little trick you can use to prevent people from swiping through your photos on your iPhone.
In this guide, we’ll show you how to use the Guided Access feature to stop people from swiping to other photos on your iPhone. Let’s get started.
What Is Guided Access?
In case you don’t know, Guided Access is a built-in feature on iPhones and iPads that helps you stay focused by restricting your device to a single app at a time.
It lets you control and customize which features within that app are accessible during a designated session.
Some of its notable features include:
- Sleep/Wake Button: Turn off your device’s Sleep/Wake button.
- Volume Buttons: Turn off the volume buttons on your device.
- Motion: Prevent your device from responding to motion.
- Keyboards: Turn off the keyboard so that it does not appear.
- Touch: Disable the touch functionality of the screen.
- Time Limits: Choose a time limit for your Guided Access session.
Guided Access is particularly useful in educational and productivity settings since it prevents distractions and ensures a more focused user experience.
Nevertheless, you can also use it when you show someone a picture on your iPhone as a way to prevent them from swiping to other photos.
How to Set Up Guided Access on Your iPhone
Enabling Guided Access on your iPhone is just a couple of taps away.
Here’s how:
Open the Settings app and tap Accessibility.
Select Guided Access.
Tap the toggle next to Guided Access to turn it on.
The next step is to set a passcode or enable Touch ID or Face ID to end a Guided Access session.
Inside Guided Access settings, tap “Passcode Settings.”
Tap on Set Guided Access Passcode to create your password.
You can create a passcode or enable Touch ID or Face ID, depending on your preference.
Once you initiate Guided Access, you’ll need to enter the passcode or authenticate using Face ID or Touch ID to turn it off.
To exit Guided Access, you’ll need to enter the passcode or use Face ID/Touch ID (depending on your iPhone model).
How to Start a Guided Access Session
Here’s how to use Guided Access to protect your photos from prying eyes.
- Open the “Photos” app.
- Select the photo you want to show your friend.
- Triple-click the side button on an iPhone X or later; triple-click the home button on an iPhone SE or any older iPhone with a Home button.
- At the top right of the screen, tap “Start” to begin Guided Access.
Alternatively, you can start a guided access session with Siri. Open the Photos app, then say, “Turn on guided access.”
: Hands on with new features coming to iPhone in iOS 18 Public Beta (KTLA-TV Los Angeles)
As you can see, you can still swipe left and right, as Guided Access still recognizes touch input. To disable touch input in Photos, triple-click the side button or Home button again.
After you enter your passcode, tap the Options button at the lower left-hand corner of your screen.
Toggle off Touch from the pop-up menu. Then, tap Resume at the top right of the screen.
Now, your Photos app is locked down, and no one can swipe through your photos without your consent.
How to End a Guided Access Session
When you’re ready to restore normal touchscreen capabilities and disable Guided Access, do any of the following:
- Use the Guided Access Passcode: Triple-click the side button or Home button (depending on your iPhone model) and enter the Guided Access passcode.
- Use Face ID: If your iPhone features Face ID, double-click the side button and then unlock using Face ID.
- Use Touch ID: For iPhones equipped with Touch ID, double-click the Home button and then unlock using Touch ID.
With this useful trick, you can hand your phone to someone to show them a single photo without worrying about them nosily swiping through your photo library.
What to Do if You’re Stuck in Guided Access
If you cannot disable Guided Access using the passcode or Touch/Face ID, you can force restart your iPhone as a last resort to exit Guided Access mode.
There are different ways to do this, depending on whether your iPhone has a home button. For step-by-step instructions, here’s how to force restart your iPhone.
Finally, you can use iCloud.com from a computer to disable Guided Access. Log on to that site, select the Find My Phone option, and activate Lost Mode.
This forces the phone to return to the lock screen, just unlock it to get back in.
