Help with TakeALook

Guided Access is an Apple feature TakeALook can detect but never control. Check Settings → Accessibility → Guided Access is on, that you have set a Guided Access passcode, and that Accessibility Shortcut is enabled. Then triple‑click the side button from inside TakeALook. Test starting and ending it manually before relying on any automation.

Tap the lock icon in the guest controls, confirm, then press and hold — or enter your passcode if you turned that on. If Guided Access is running you must end that first: triple‑click the side button, authenticate, and tap End. TakeALook cannot end Guided Access for you.

There is no reset code and nothing for us to look up — it never leaves your device. If no handoff is running, open Settings inside TakeALook and tap Change Passcode under Protection; it asks for the new four digits, not your old ones. If you are stuck in a handoff, keep trying first — wrong attempts are never locked out. Leaving or force quitting the app will not help, because an active handoff is restored the next time TakeALook opens. The way out is to delete the app and install it again, which clears the stored handoff and leaves your Photos library untouched. Then, before starting another handoff, open Settings → Protection and turn Require Passcode to Exit off or set a new code: the old passcode is kept in the keychain and can survive a reinstall, so it may still be waiting for you. The protection page has the full walkthrough, including what a reinstall costs you.

Double‑click the side button and use Face ID or Touch ID first, if you enabled that. Otherwise force restart the device — press and release volume up, press and release volume down, then hold the side button until the Apple logo appears — and it restarts with Guided Access off. If you set up the Shortcuts automation that starts Guided Access when TakeALook opens, turn that automation off before opening the app again, or it will lock you straight back in. More on all of this on the protection page.

Album browsing needs full photo library access. Under Limited Access, Apple’s PhotoKit does not expose your album structure to any app, so there is nothing for TakeALook to list. Open Settings → TakeALook → Photos and choose Full Access.

That item is stored in iCloud and has not finished downloading. TakeALook will never substitute a different photo to fill the gap — it fails closed on purpose. Connect to a network and use Retry, or move to the next item.

Either the photo has no location recorded, location display is switched off in Settings, or the device is offline. Place names come from Apple Maps and need a connection.

TakeALook keeps the display awake during a session by default. Check Keep the Screen Awake under During Handoff in Settings. It only holds while a handoff is actually running and TakeALook is the app on screen; outside a session your normal Auto‑Lock applies, which is deliberate.

Open Settings inside TakeALook and tap Restore Purchases. Make sure you are signed in with the same Apple Account used for the purchase. Full Access supports Family Sharing, so a family member’s purchase can also unlock it for you.