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About this tool
Turn a shared or personal iPad into a study device with Guided Access, Focus, content filters and a homework block schedule with 20-20-20 eye breaks.
The iPad Study Device Setup Guide builds a setup plan for a homework iPad around the one question that changes everything: is the iPad the child's own, or shared? iPadOS has no ordinary multi-user profiles outside Apple School Manager, so a shared family iPad is one Apple Account everyone signs into, and the work becomes getting the parent's mail, messages and photo library off it. The guide covers Guided Access, a Study Focus, Content & Privacy Restrictions and AirDrop, and lays out a homework schedule of study blocks and breaks that counts the 20-20-20 eye breaks falling inside each block.
Open iPad Study Device Setup Guide on AltFTool — it loads instantly in your browser.
Add your input to the workspace.
Adjust the options until the result looks right.
Copy or download the output and put it to work.
The list changes with the arrangement instead of pretending every iPad has its own child account.
The single most useful control on a study iPad is treated as critical rather than as an accessibility footnote.
Study blocks, breaks, finish time and 20-20-20 eye breaks are calculated from the times you enter.
Not at home. Multi-user Shared iPad exists only for devices managed through Apple School Manager or a mobile device management service. A family iPad is one Apple Account, so either give the child their own iPad account or accept that the shared account's mail, messages and photos are visible to whoever is holding it.
Guided Access locks the iPad into a single app until you enter its passcode. Turn it on in Settings > Accessibility > Guided Access, set its passcode there, then triple-click the top button inside any app to start a session. You can also circle parts of the screen — an ad, a chat button — to disable them for the session.
Every 20 minutes of screen work, look at something about 20 feet — roughly 6 metres — away for 20 seconds. It is standard optometry advice for digital eye strain, and a 25-minute study block contains one such break while a 20-minute block ends on one anyway.
There is no single published figure, and it varies by age, subject and the school's own expectations. Blocks of 20 to 30 minutes with short breaks suit most primary and lower secondary work; the useful part is agreeing the plan in advance so the finish time is known rather than negotiated. Ask the school what they expect for the year group.