Found it! Found it! A way to save my iPhone from my kid!

iPhones are cool. Super cool. And i heart my iPhone 5!

That being said, I have a one year old kid in the house too. Only God saves our phones.

Just like any other kid now, Zidaan has been exposed to iPhone since he was born. No wonder he swipes the lock bar like a Pro. Seriously, you should see that lil finger go 'Woooh' so perfectly. Maasha'Allah! Sometimes I wonder if it's my phone or his. Of course it is mine, that is why he takes the glory of deleting the apps on the phone. I am sure he would have taken care of them if it was his phone.

The apps he usually 'uses' is the Race Penguin & Subway Surfers. Maasha'Allah, I was totally amazed one day when he took my phone, swiped across three pages of apps, and clicked on the Race Penguin app, Clicked on 'Play' and rotated the phone to the game mode!!! If that wasn't enough, he finishes the game and clicks on the 'Restart' button and plays again! No! He wasn't just messing with the icons, he actually did that repeatedly. I even gave him a little test just to make myself believe, by getting the phone back to the Home screen and saw what he would do next. And yes, he did the above steps again.

Photo credit: Mehwish Kapadia

I'm REALLY not a fan of giving kids A LOT of screen time, i.e time to spend on Screens, be it Phones or TV. I try my best to limit his use of these devices as it's not something which kids should be glued to. But sometimes when i don't have any option, i do allow him to do it. I make sure he stays on one app for sometime at least so that i can quickly do my work. He does take the phone, but all he does usually is to click on apps, stay on it for 5 seconds and click on the Home button. And next his favorite part, keep his finger on the home button until the apps start dancing and then 'Delete'. Every night before i go to bed, I have to re-install the unfortunate apps which didn't make it through Zidaan's mercy.

And every time I whine, why hasn't someone invented some app for the phone to be kid proof or a pass code on apps so that they can use the phone normally while important apps be password protected. Last evening was one such evening once again when Zidaan took my phone, kept on switching between apps and pressing the home button a zillion times. I was so fed up and asked Zu to invent an app which would help me save my phone! Zu said I'm sure there is something out there as every parent faces this similar problem. But yes, if it is around already, i bet it isn't toooooooooo popular cuz I haven't heard anyone mention about it or Maybe it's just me. So there i was Googling about some tips to having your kid use the Phone without cleansing it.

Click. Nah.

Click. Seriously? *Smh*

Click. You don't know my son.

Click. Nada.

Click. Heyy!!!

This might work!! Found out a way to keep the kid away from clicking on the home button and staying on one app until we desire! Is this for real?! Let's try it out. I follow the instructions and give the phone to Zidaan. And Boom!!! We won this time!!! I can't express the happiness I experienced when it worked!

So here it is for those of you who don't know it already!

1. Go to the 'Settings' app on your iPhone.

2. Click on the 'General' settings.

3. Click on 'Accessibility'

4. Click on the 'Guided Access'

5. Turn it 'On'.

6. Set a Pass code.

Now go to any app which you want your kid to stay on, Triple tap the home button and you will see a pop-up on the top of your screen asking if you want to start a Guided access session. Happily click on the 'Start'.

And there you are ready to win the battle with your kid.

Once your kid is done playing, or like in my case- your work is done, Triple tap again and click on the 'End' guided access session but this time since the guided access is turned on, you have to in your pass code. Once that's done, you are able to click the home button and return to your home screen. It's said to work on the iPad too.

How could I have ever doubted Apple's programming capabilities. May your soul RIP Mr. Steve Jobs.

One con in this settings is that you can't answer calls while the guided access is turned on, though you get to see the miscall once you are out of the access mode. Your call is sent across to Voice mail.

And yes, this works really well until your kid grows up to outsmart you. If he/she gets to know the trick and knows the passcode, Well, you just gotto be smarter and keep changing your passcode! ;)

Happy iPhoning guys! :)

What's up - June 2013

Photo Credit : http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2012/05/31/desktop-wallpaper-calendar-june-2012/

Alhumdulillah! Last month turned out really well and most of it went as planned. Amazing vacation, happy birthdays, good shows, shopping sprees etc filled the month with fun and good memories. Looking forward to another good month insha'Allah !

So June's here and it's already up by six days. Tell me about flying times! Anyway, this month I have a lot to do. Simple goals that I have set for myself. Hopefully I stick to them insha'Allah! Let's out the itinerary for June.

Thankful : To the Almighty for blessing me a beautiful life, religion, family and friends. Without his blessings, there is absolutely no way we can live happily. It's very important to show him our appreciation  and praise him for blessing us with each and everything.

Focusing : On becoming a better Muslimah, a  good wife, a righteous parent, a loving daughter and daughter-in-law, a good friend, sibling and overall a nice human being, Insha'Allah! 

Reading : Blogs. I should be reading books too but I just haven't been doing it, for no reason at all. But reading blogs are very informative. People writing about various topics, their experiences and the like. I really love how Blogs have brought out the writing skills and imagination out of people's minds. Food blogs are the best! I find it so convenient to look for recipes with their step by step methods. As most of you would know I own a food blog too but haven't updated it since two years. Lazy me. Planning to resurrect it soon. Oh well, you never know! It can be done this month too ;) insha'Allah let's see if I do it! 

Drinking : Don't worry, it's just about Water ;) I really haven't been drinking a lot of water since a long time and I know it's really not a good thing. So I have planned to drink at least 8 glasses of water each day insha'Allah ! Every morning I am gonna fill a 2 ltr bottle and try to finish it by the end of the day. Talk about cleaning the system ;)

Watching : In addition to my favorites which I mentioned in my last 'What's up' post, I started watching this brand new show 'Brain Games' and OMG, it is soooo amazing! It's all about how our brain perceives things and makes us think in a particular way. The last episode I saw was classic! It was about the battle of the sexes. Boys Vs girls. They showed how each sex has its own way of thinking and they proved certain skills each sex beats the other at! Try to watch it. It's on the Science channel or of course you could YouTube and find it. 

Fasting : The blessed month of Ramadan is on its way and is just about to reach us. It's good to prepare for it and since I have to make up for my missed fasts, this is a good time for it. Hopefully insha'Allah I am able to do it. 

Eating healthy : This is one thing which I feel I just can't do. I love junk food and I love eating. Lol! So having a healthy diet is just not on my plate. But I feel I should try it. I have a friend who is maasha'Allah so fit yet she has this amazing will power to be on a healthy diet constantly. She truly has inspired me to go the healthy way. One doesn't need to wait to go out of shape and then panic to get back. its all about maintaining one's body all the time. I'm planning on a healthy heavy breakfast, making some healthy juices, good lunch and a light dinner. This is a very very difficult job for me but insha'Allah I'll try to start on it.

Organizing : I love being organized yet I find myself lazy doing it. This is a vast area but i wanna start it with little things first. Having a one year old kid at home is like a licence to be messy. He is everywhere in the house not to forget his toys, and our stuffs which also counts as his toys. There is really not much i can do to stop him nor do i wanna stop him from that. If he doesn't do it, who will? I wish i could though! ;)
Just started with organizing his stuffs into compartments and hopefully a lot more things will go organized in the days to come Insha'Allah! :)

Hosting : Just came up with an idea to host a potluck party at my place Insha'Allah this Sunday. Invited the girls in the family and everyone has promised to get yummy dishes. And we are having a stay over too! Yaaay! Looking forward to one helluva day and a crazy night! Insha'Allah!

Searching : For a sister-in-law! LOL! We are on the look out for the eldest daughter-in-law of the house. It's exciting to be searching a girl for my brother yet it's such a tedious task! May Allah (swt) guide us in this search and bless my brother with a wonderful soul mate. Aameen! (You never know, it can be one of my readers too!!) LOL! ;)

Excited : For the baap-of-all Cricket matches. The India- Pakistan ODI at the Champions Trophy being played in England. It will be played on the 15th of June and guaranteed to ignite fights! LOL! :p

Planning : For summer outings. It's so good to see the sun and heat back in NYC. The happiest is Zidaan because he gets to visit the park almost everyday now. I find so much joy in seeing him play with other kids and his cousin at the park, Maasha'Allah! Wish i could be a kid again.. Sigh! Every grown up's fantasy.

Learning : Of late I've fallen in love with DIY projects. These Do-it-yourself tasks bring out so much creativity within you that you just want to do more of them. There are so many amazing blogs and websites sharing DIY projects and helping one make good use of time and resources. Gonna try my hand at few Insha'Allah and will share with you all how it goes!

Laughing : At the IPL jokes going around all over the place. I really miss watches the Indian Premier League matches though, so much of fun and excitement it gave all of us. Sadly spot-fixing brought a bad name to the game but hey! There are good and honest players in the game who definitely keep the spirit of the game alive! Go Cricket!

Praying : For the entire humanity. May love and peace spread all over the world. Aameen.