With the release of iOS6 for iPad/iPhone/iPod (lets just call them iDevices), Apple has introduced many new features. There are 2 features that I will explore in this article, Restrictions and Do Not Disturb.

Restrictions allow control over many aspects of your (or your child’s) iDevice. Most usefully, you can prevent in-app purchases from occurring. This is useful if you don’t want your children buying upgrades from “free” games. I’ve heard of people who have spent a large amount of money unknowingly through this method of procurement. App developers are becoming smarter in the way they monetise their apps, so instead of paying upfront for a game or app, you can download it free but buy additional features using in-app purchases. This is as easy as a tap of a button and can rack up spending rapidly if you are not aware of it. To disable in-app purchases, make sure this is set to off under the Restrictions menu (found under Settings | General | Restrictions). Also make sure that you keep your Apple ID password secret as this is required for purchases. You can also restrict the purchase of apps under this menu.

The Do Not Disturb (DND) feature allows you to schedule when your iDevice will notify you of messages, calls and other alerts. This is useful if you don’t want your phone waking you up in the middle of the night with the latest offer from eBay, or an unwanted phone call. You can also set options so that people on your favourites list (or any defined group in your contacts) can call, or if someone tries to call repeatedly, the call will become audible (presumably in case of emergency), while DND is on. To access these options go to Settings | Notifications | Do Not Disturb. Note there is currently a bug where the DND setting is not turned off after the scheduled time. This is supposed to be fixed in update 6.1 of the iOS, which has just been released.

There are many other options that can limit the features available, so if you are concerned about what your child can or can’t do with their iDevice, take a look through the settings and make sure you have configured it for an appropriate level of access.