Q: "Triple clicking on the side button has no effect. Checked Accessibility settings and guided access is on. Turned it off, then on again. Did not fix the problem. I feel that it initially worked after the update, but has stopped working since." – from Apple Community
Guided Access is a feature that limits you to use a single app and restricts your activities in an area. You could take advantage of this feature when your kid needs to use iPhone or iPad to avoid his/her distractions. Particularly, you could set up guided access passcode and time limits, which is similar to the Screen Time limit. However, sometimes this feature is unresponsive when you do triple-clicking. Why does guided access not working happen? How should you fix it? In this article, you will get the explanation and the corresponding solutions.
- Part 1. Why Is Guided Access Not Working
- Part 2. How to Fix Guided Access Not Working
- Part 3. Summary
Part 1. Why Is My Guided Access Not Working
The triggers causing the guided access not working issue are various, here list some possible reasons for you to troubleshoot your device.
- Didn't turn on the guided access feature.
- Didn't set guided access passcode/Face ID/Touch ID.
- Wrong Accessibility Shortcut settings.
- Triple-clicking not working due to the damaged Home/Side button.
- System errors occur, such as guided access does not display, password screen does not pop up, cannot type passcode, does not accept passcode, etc.
Part 2. How to Fix Guided Access Not Working
Method 1 Disable and Enable Guided Access Feature
If you have not turned guided access on, or if you have enabled it but it's unresponsive, it would be better to disable this feature and then enable it again so that it could be refreshed. Go to Settings, find Accessibility, scroll down to Guided Access, toggle off it and exit the Settings app. Then, come back to the Guided Access screen to enable this feature again.
Method 2 Restart/Force Restart Your Device
To rule out the possibility of a sluggish system, the first thing you are required to do is restart your iPhone or iPad. On Settings, locate General, scroll to the Shutdown option, and drag the power-off slider to turn off your device. Then, hold the Power button to turn it on again. For further repair, you could follow the guide below to force restart your device.
- iPhone 8 and later/iPad with Face ID: press and quickly release Volume Up, press and quickly release Volume Down, and hold the Side button until the Apple logo appears.
- iPhone 7 series: simultaneously hold the Side button and the Volume Down button, and release them after the Apple logo occurs.
- iPhone 6 and earlier/iPad with Home button: hold the Home and Side buttons in the meantime, and undo the two buttons when you see the Apple logo.
Method 3 Remedy Accessibility Settings
Another situation where the guided access not working problem appears is the wrong settings on accessibility. There are several settings that need to be remedied. First, head to Settings, find Accessibility, locate Guided Access, tap Set Guided Access Passcode, and set up a passcode for this feature. Then, you could exit guided access by triple clicking along with entering the passcode. Second, on the Accessibility interface, find Accessibility Shortcut, and tick Guided Access so as to enable triple-click in this action. Third, in case you cannot activate guided access with a triple-click, this feature could also be enabled in Control Center. Open Settings, find Control Center, and add Guided Access by tapping the + button. After that, check if you could turn on this feature in the Control Center.
Method 4 Reset All Settings
When all the above-mentioned methods to fix the not working guided access feature are useless, you could try to reset all settings on your iPhone or iPad. In this case, the guided access will come back to the default settings. Run Settings, tap General, find Transfer or Reset iPhone (iPad), choose Reset, select Reset All Settings, and enter your screen passcode. Once your device gets restarted, do the triple-click again to see if the guided access works.
Method 5 Repair Guided Access Feature via Recovery Tool
As mentioned before, your iPhone or iPad may fall into system troubles when guided access not showing, passcode screen not springing up, passcode cannot be entered or accepted. The best solution to fix this issue is to repair your iOS/iPadOS system via Joyoshare UltFix. As a recovery tool, Joyoshare UltFix is specifically designed to repair Apple-related system problems, which means it could support all modes of iPhone/iPad/iPod touch and all versions of iOS and iPadOS. With its standard repair mode, your guided access triple click not working issue is able to be fixed without losing data and with a high rate of success.
- Fix iPhone Bluetooth not working
- Free to exit/enter recovery mode
- Upgrade/downgrade iOS system
- 100% safe and high compatibility
Step 1 Connect iPhone/iPad to Joyoshare UltFix
Connect your iPhone or iPad to your computer and open Joyoshare UltFix. On the main page, select iOS System Repair, and click the Start button.
Step 2 Select Standard Repair Mode
Click on the standard repair section, and you will be guided to the next step if your device is successfully detected. If your device cannot be recognized, follow the on-screen instruction to put your iPhone/iPad into DFU mode or recovery mode. Then, you could also continue to the next step.
Step 3 Download and Verify Firmware Package
Hit the Download button if you are sure that your device information is correct, and then the firmware package is downloaded and verified automatically.
Step 4 Repair Guided Access Not Working
Click on the Repair button to start repairing your system glitches. When you see the Finish button, you can check whether the guided access feature could be activated by triple click.
Method 6 Factory Reset iPhone/iPad
Factory resetting is an effective way to put your device into default status. As a result, the unworkable guided access feature might go away. If you want to adopt this method, please back up your data first. Then, go to Settings, choose General, tap Transfer or Reset iPhone (iPad), select Erase All Content and Settings, and type into your passcode to start the progress.
Method 7 Restore Device with iTunes
Identically, you could utilize iTunes on your computer to restore your device, which has the same principle of factory resetting.
- Step 1: Plug iPhone or iPad into computer and run iTunes.
- Step 2: Locate your device icon and enter the Summary module.
- Step 3: If you have no backup, click on Back Up Now.
- Step 4: Hit the Restore iPhone (iPad) option and your device will be restored.
Part 3. Summary
After reading this article, you may have a clear understanding of the reasons why iPhone/iPad guided access is not working. Only by getting to know the possible causes, and you could choose a more suitable method to solve your problem. Therefore, it is not hard to find that Joyoshare UltFix is the optimal one among all the 7 methods. In case the unavailable guided access function is caused by a system error, you could use its standard repair mode to fix this issue and keep your data. It is hoped that your device could come back to normal.
