Restriction brings guest and user accounts to jailbroken iPhones

The iOS and iPadOS platforms offer one heck of a user experience, so long as the device is intended for just one user. One thing that’s obviously missing, however, is a guest mode or multi-user experience, much like the ones you’d come to expect on any Mac or Windows PC.

The concept of a guest mode-style user experience for iPhones and iPads isn’t new, and has manifested itself in the form of various jailbreak tweak releases over the years, but one of the latest attempts to create this type of user experience stems from a new release dubbed Restriction by iOS developers SouthernGirlWhoCode and MeBlackHatof the TitanD3v team.

Just as the tweak’s name implies, Restriction allows you to impose user-based restrictions that apply only to specific user accounts on your device. For example, you can create a separate user account for your kids, parents, significant other, or best friend that operates separately from your own and with configurable rules that control what that user can do with your device while it’s under their control.

Among the things you can do with Restriction are:

  • Hide specific apps from different user accounts
  • Choose whether Control Center can be accessed by a specific user
  • Control which types of app notifications a specific user will receive
  • Prevent apps from being uninstalled by a specific user
  • Block access to the Today view for specific users
  • Prevent specific users from accessing Spotlight search
  • Prevent specific users from accessing Siri
  • Set specific wallpapers for each individual user
  • Impose time limits for specific users
  • And much more…

Here’s a video demonstration graciously provided by the developers:

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Once installed, users will find a dedicated preference pane in the Settings app where Restriction can be configured to the user’s liking:

Here, you can:

  • Toggle Restriction on or off on demand
  • Add, remove, and manage user accounts on your device
  • Colorize user accounts
  • Configure locking options

In the User Accounts preference pane, you can create, remove, or manage existing user accounts on your device:

When creating or managing an existing user account, Restriction offers the following options:

  • Setting a user account image
  • Naming the user account
  • Setting a specific wallpaper for each user account
  • Choosing which apps each user account may access
  • Changing or set passcodes for each user account
  • Allowing or disallowing access to the following items:
    • Control Center
    • Notification Center (for blacklisted apps)
    • Spotlight search
    • Today view
    • Uninstalling apps
  • Enabling and configuring a time limit for each user account
    • 5 minutes
    • 10 minutes
    • 15 minutes
    • 30 minutes
    • 45 minutes
    • 1 hour
    • 2 hours
    • 3 hours
  • Saving any changes you make

The owner of the device may also colorize the Restriction user interface, including:

  • Enable or disable colorization of the Restriction interface
  • Configure Lock Screen user background color
  • Configure Lock Screen user font color
  • Configure Lock Screen user buttons color
  • Configure Lock Screen users icon tint

And lastly, the device’s primary user will need to enter the device’s passcode so that the tweak can properly direct the assumed behaviors of all user accounts through iOS & iPadOS’ native security authentication mechanism. Users may also choose to lock the Restriction preference pane for guest mode, effectively preventing other users from changing the tweak’s settings without your permission.

Restriction is a great way to ensure that another person you trust, if only slightly, stays in the apps you wish to allow while preventing them from looking through other private apps such as Photos, Messages, and your social media apps. Those interested in trying the tweak out for themselves may purchase it for $2.50 from the Twickd repository via their favorite package manager, and keep in mind that Restriction supports jailbroken iOS & iPadOS 13 and 14 devices.

Do you have any plans to implement a guest mode or dedicated user account on your iPhone or iPad for other people to use? Be sure to let us know why or why not in the comments section down below.