Apple launched its new iOS 6 software for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch last month, with a host of new features. One of the more low-profile of them, Guided Access, is the one that could be a big deal for parents, though.

It’s part of Apple’s accessibility features on its devices. Here’s how the company describes it: “Guided Access helps students with disabilities such as autism remain on task and focused on content. It allows a parent, teacher, or administrator to limit an iOS device to one app by disabling the Home button, as well as restrict touch input on certain areas of the screen.”

It’s not quite the Kid-Safe mode that we’ve been hankering after, but it’s a start. So how does it work? Allow us to be your guide…

You can turn on Guided Access from your iOS device’s Settings menu. Tap on ‘General’, then swipe down to ‘Accessibility’. In this menu, swipe down to ‘Guided Access’, and flick the toggle to ‘On’. You’ll be asked to choose a four-digit passcode at this point, in the same way that you do when locking your device’s in-app purchases (which we hope you’ve done already).

Once on, you can start using Guided Access from within any app by pressing the ‘Home’ button under your screen three times quickly. At this point, you have a couple of choices.

First, you can draw circles on the screen around any buttons you want to lock off – for example, the button for a storybook collection’s in-app store if you don’t want your child to be trying to buy new stories using in-app purchase, or the button that leads to a developer’s collection of other apps.

Tap the Start button at the top of the screen, and the circled areas of the screen will be greyed out, and untappable. But you can also tap an Options button when setting up your Guided Access, and choose to turn the hardware buttons off, and even the touchscreen and accelerometer (tilt sensor) if you just want your child to watch rather than interact.

When the hardware buttons are off, your child won’t be able to press the Home button or the Power Off button. In fact, the only way to exit an app is to press the Home button three times then enter the passcode. Voila, your email / browser / collection of violent first-person shooter games is out of reach.

Is it useful? Hmm. We can see the appeal, particularly in classrooms, or when handing your device to a child in the back of a car. At other times – using apps in the living room, for example – traditional supervision is probably a better bet, especially if your children like moving from (approved) app to app.