By default, your iPad locks itself after a certain period of inactivity (5 minutes, but you can customize your iPad Auto-Lock settings). All you then need to do is slide the "slide to unlock" slider to access your iPad, which means that anyone who has access to your iPad will be able to access its content. This is convenient, but not much in terms of protection, which is why Apple lets you password-protect your iPad: in other words, once you enable password-protection, only those with the correct password will be able to "open" your iPad.
- In this iPad tutorial:
- Add a password to your iPad (enable passcode-protection)
- Change your iPad password (passcode)
- Remove the iPad password (disable passcode-protection)
- What to do if you forgot your iPad passcode / password
Add a password to your iPad (enable passcode-protection)
Follow these steps to create a password for your iPad:
Click on the "Home" button, and flick through Home screens until you find the "Settings" icon: then tap on it.- Once the iPad Settings screen loads, tap on the "General" settings on the left (should be automatically selected).
- In the fourth section of preferences, notice that there is a "Passcode Lock" option, which is followed by the word "On" or "Off" - this indicates whether your iPad is currently password-protected or not.
- Tap on Passcode Lock to access these settings.
- To enable password-protection for your iPad, tap the "Turn Passcode On" button.
- Your iPad will then ask you to enter a 4 digits passcode: after you've entered it, re-enter it for confirmation.
- Your iPad is now protected by a "pin", and you can configure the following settings: tap on "Require Passcode" to choose if the iPad should require the passcode as soon as someone is trying to slide-to-unlock it (choose "Immediately", the default), or if it should wait "After 1 minute" (of inactivity), "After 5 minutes", "After 15 minutes", "After 1 hour", or "After 4 hours". Click on the "Passcode Lock" button at the top to return to the previous screen.
- The "Picture Frame" setting determines whether your iPad should apply these passcode settings also when your iPad is used to display photos as a digital frame: by default, this setting is set to "On", meaning that the iPad will ask for the passcode to exit picture frame after the amount of time you specified above.
- Be careful with the final setting, "Erase Data" - it is disabled by default. If you turn on this feature, your iPad will destroy anything on it after a person enters 10 times the wrong passcode.
Once you have finished configuring your passcode settings, just click on the Home button to return to your work / play; your security preferences will take effect immediately, and you'll be asked to enter your passcode pin based on the options you chose.
Tip: to protect itself against pranks or unauthorized access in general, the next time you try to access your passcode protection settings, your iPad will ask you to enter the current passcode, or four-digits pin / password you have configured. (Prevents someone from changing your passcode, for example.)
Change your iPad password (passcode)
Follow these simple steps to choose a new passcode pin:
- Go to "Settings", and make sure that "General" is selected on the left.
- Then, tap on the "Passcode Lock" button and enter the current password / pin.
- When the next screen loads, tap on "Change Passcode".
- Enter your old passcode, then type in your new 4-digit pin twice.
You are done, just make sure to remember to enter the new passcode next time.
Remove the iPad password (disable passcode-protection)
If you decide that you no longer want to protect access to your iPad (temporarily or permanently), follow these instructions:
- Go to "Settings", and make sure that "General" is selected on the left.
- Then, tap on the "Passcode Lock" button and enter the current password / pin.
- Now tap on the "Turn Passcode Off" at the top.
- Re-enter your current passcode at the prompt, and you are done: this is visually confirmed by the new text on the button, which now reads "Turn Passcode On".
What to do if you forgot your iPad passcode / password
Since the iPad doesn't yet offer a "security question" to reset or retrieve your forgotten passcode, you will need to plugin your iPad in iTunes, and fully restore it (which will be explained in details in a later tutorial).