There comes a time when you need to keep your child entertained and all you have is your smartphone. Perhaps you are stuck in the traffic or sitting in a waiting room.

There are lots of great child apps and games that will keep your child busy for sure, but when it comes to finishing and handing the phone back there is usually a little drama. Your child is in the middle of something and doesn’t want to part with this great toy. You end up being the “baddie” because you took away all the fun.

The solution is to get help from the technology. You can set a timer on your iPhone and when it finishes the phone will turn itself off and stay locked until you enter a passcode.

The phone can even announce that their time will soon finish. No problem: your child understands that the fun activity just finished on its own and hands your phone back to you.

Here’s how to set it up.

Open Settings, then Accessibility. Scroll down to the end and tap Guided Access in the “Learning” section:

Enable Guided Access and tap Time Limits. Enable Speak there and set alarm sound:

Now, open any app and press the Home button three times (you will need to press it fairly quickly). You should see the Guided Access screen:

Tap “Options” on the bottom and set time limit:

Tap Done and then Start. Your iPhone is ready for your child.

Another great benefit of guided access is that your child is unable to switch to another app on your phone and mess with the settings, delete something important or access something inappropriate.

See also Use Guided Access with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch on Apple website.