It’s always been a heart-stopping experience letting young children play with your smartphone. Their fingers are filthy; they drool everywhere and invariably end up trying to eat it.
Concern for the physical integrity of the device is just the start. You can be guaranteed that a child will somehow manage to call someone, purchase some apps or delete key data from your phone.
But if it keeps them quiet for just a few minutes then it’s all worth it, right?
In the Kid’s Corner
Thankfully, with Kid’s Corner on your Nokia Lumia 920 or Lumia 820 such fears are now a thing of the past.
Kid’s Corner creates a part of your Lumia that gives children access to the games, apps, music and videos that you’ve already chosen for them.
Everything else such as your Start screen, your apps and your data is out of bounds behind a password.
With Kid’s Corner you can let children play with your Lumia with complete peace of mind – just make sure they’ve washed their hands before you hand it over!
Setting up Kid’s Corner
First Kid’s Corner needs to be enabled from your Settings. When you do this for the first time you’ll be given the option to add:
- Games
- Music
- Videos
- Apps
Go through each of these in turn and add the game, music, video or app that you want included in Kid’s Corner.
You’ll also be able to customise and change these options whenever you like by returning to Settings > Kid’s Corner.
If your Lumia doesn’t already have a lock screen password, you’ll then be asked to create one. Tap Finish and you’re ready to go!
Playing with Kid’s Corner
You’ll now notice that if you swipe towards the left from your lock screen, the Kid’s Corner screen will appear. Swipe up just the same as you do with your lock screen to see all the content that you’ve allowed in Kid’s Corner.
When someone is in Kid’s Corner they are unable to access the other bits of your Lumia unless they know the passcode! Rather than a corner, think of it as a completely sealed room.
You will hear message notifications in Kid’s Corner, such as email or SMS, but to access them you’ll need to return to the lock screen and enter your password first. However, you will be able to answer phone calls directly from Kid’s Corner.
Obviously from within Kid’s Corner, a child won’t be able to make calls, send any texts or buy any apps.
Here’s a useful FAQ on Kid’s Corner on the Windows Phone 8 website. In particular it’s worth bearing in mind the web browsing options in Kid’s Corner (severely limited) and making in-app purchases (only if you’ve set up Wallet PIN on your Lumia).
Customising Kid’s Corner
As well as adding the apps, music, video and games that you want, the screen image, accent colour and name of Kid’s Corner can also be changed. Just tap the ‘Customise’ tile at the top of the Kid’s Corner screen to change these options.
It’s also worth mentioning that the tile sizes can be changed in exactly the same way as the tiles on your regular Start screen. It even supports the wide tile!
Finally, if you only need this feature on rare occasions then you can go to Settings > Kid’s Corner and switch it off. At least you know it’ll be ready the next time you get ambushed by some young kids!
