Why can’t I find Kid’s Corner on my Windows phone?

Q

I’m one of those rare people who carries a Windows smartphone, and have done for years. I like the interface, and it does everything I want. Well, it did. Up until recently I was able to use a feature called Kid’s Corner, which allowed me to restrict what apps were available to my son when I allowed him to play with the phone. Now, all of a sudden, this mode seems to have disappeared. Or at least, I can no longer find it. My phone did update itself recently, with what I guess is the Anniversary edition of Windows 10, but I’m really not sure. Am I going loopy? If not, what’s happened to Kid’s Corner? Kieran Mckenzie

A

You’re certainly not going loopy because the Anniversary update did indeed remove Kid’s Corner. According to Microsoft, this was because usage of Kid’s Corner was “too low to justify continued development and support”. In other words, you might’ve liked the feature but there just wasn’t enough profit in it for Microsoft, so it’s been ditched.

Unfortunately, there’s no like-for-like replacement for Kid’s Corner. Moreover, given the moribund state of Windows 10 on smartphones it seems unlikely that Microsoft will revive it any time soon.

However, the mobile edition of Windows 10 does retain a similar feature called Apps Corner, which you can use to restrict the apps your son can access (Kid’s Corner also allowed control over music and videos). To try this, tap Settings followed by Accounts, and then Apps Corner. Now tap Apps and then tap to tick those you want to be available, or clear ticks from those you want to hide. When you’re done, tap the ‘Pin to Start’ icon (a pin) followed by Back. Now tap the Apps Corner tile followed by Launch.