How it works
The iPhone smartphone has a range of features beyond taking photographs, making phone calls and sending text messages. Through Apple’s iOS mobile operating system (the software that powers an iPhone), users can also use the App Store, which gives them access to millions of apps – from TikTok to Minecraft to Apple Music. The iPhone includes a digital assistant, Siri, which can respond to written or spoken commands.
Recent iPhone models include artificial intelligence technology to make communication with Siri more natural and relevant. It also aims to assist users in daily tasks such as managing their calendar, or answering questions as well as writing emails or creating images and videos.
Parental controls or safety settings available
Marketed as the ‘first phone for teens’, the Fusion X1 has few pre-installed apps (e.g. it does not have a browser pre-installed) and it is designed for use with a paid-for parental controls subscription. Various accessories can be connected to the phone to extend its functionality, such as a game controller to turn the phone into a handheld gaming device.
Parental controls or safety settings available
iOS has parental controls to block apps and restrict location sharing. Accessed via Screen Time, these allow parents to:
• Prevent in-app purchases
• Disable certain AI features
• Limit who their child can contact
Parents can limit age-inappropriate content. Parents can also choose to allow apps to find out their child’s age band. Apps may use this information to adjust what the child sees and does on the app.
A passcode can be set to protect these settings and a parent is notified if the screentime passcode is used on their child’s device. Family Sharing lets parents set up child accounts and manage controls remotely. It includes a Communication Safety setting, which detects and blurs nude imagery sent or received in apps like Messages, FaceTime, AirDrop and shared photo albums. This setting is on by default for under-18s.
