mathgate

MathGate Support

Everything happens on the iPad or iPhone your child uses. There is nothing to install on your own phone. First-time setup takes about five minutes; the same walkthrough is built into the app (Parent tab > Step-by-step setup walkthrough).

First: which device are you setting up?

There are two kinds of setup, and one question decides which you need. On the child’s device open Settings and look at the name at the very top.

A. It shows your child’s name and, when you tap it, a small “Family” label and their age. The device is on your child’s own Apple ID in Family Sharing. This is the strongest setup: your child cannot switch MathGate off. Follow path A.

B. It shows your own name or email, or no name at all. It’s a parent’s account or a hand-me-down. MathGate works fine here too, with one gap explained below. Follow path B.

Not sure how to give a child their own Apple ID? See “Moving to a child account” at the bottom.

Path A: the child’s own Apple ID

1. Install MathGate on the child’s device. Open the App Store on their device, search MathGate, tap Get. If Ask to Buy is on, an approval pops up on your phone; approve it.
2. Allow Screen Time access as the parent. Open MathGate. It asks for Screen Time access straight away. Tap Continue, then enter YOUR Apple ID password (the parent’s, not the child’s) when the device asks. This is a one-time approval. If the device asked for Face ID or the device passcode instead of your Apple ID password, it isn’t on a child account; use path B.
3. Lock the Screen Time settings. Settings > Screen Time > Lock Screen Time Settings. Choose a 4-digit passcode your child doesn’t know (not the device passcode, not your MathGate PIN).
4. Stop the app from being deleted. Settings > Screen Time > Content & Privacy Restrictions (turn on) > iTunes & App Store Purchases > Deleting Apps > Don’t Allow. If MathGate were deleted, iOS would remove its locks with it.
5. Pick the apps and turn on the lock. In MathGate, tap the Parent tab, create your MathGate PIN, tap Choose Apps to Block and tick the games. Set the problem types, difficulty and unlock time. Tap Save & Enable Shield.
6. Test it before handing it over. Parent tab > Unlock for 15 minutes without math. Open a blocked game and keep playing past the 15 minutes. The lock should come back on its own within a minute or two, and the device shows a “Time’s up” notification.

Path B: a parent’s Apple ID or a hand-me-down

Steps 1, 3, 4, 5 and 6 are the same as path A. Step 2 differs: when MathGate asks for Screen Time access, you confirm with Face ID, Touch ID or the device passcode instead of an Apple ID password.

The gap to know about: because the device is on an adult account, iOS lets anyone who knows the device passcode switch MathGate off in Settings > Screen Time > Apps with Screen Time Access. Keep the passcode to yourself if you can. If access is ever turned off, MathGate tells you the moment it’s opened. Moving the device to a child account (below) closes this gap for good.

Unlock Everything: pay once, share with the family

MathGate’s free plan blocks up to 3 apps with every problem type. Unlock Everything ($4.99, one time, no subscription) adds unlimited apps, whole categories such as all Games, and Block Everything.

You only ever pay once, for every child’s device:

• Child’s own Apple ID (path A). Buy it on any device signed in to your family, or right on the child’s device (with Ask to Buy you approve it from your phone and it’s charged to you). To use a purchase you made on your own phone: on your phone, Settings > your name > Family Sharing > Purchase Sharing, make sure Share Purchases with Family is on. Then on the child’s device, MathGate > Parent tab > Unlock Everything > Restore Purchases.
• Parent’s Apple ID (path B). The purchase is tied to that Apple ID. Buy it on the device, or tap Restore Purchases if you already bought it on another device with the same Apple ID.

Moving to a child account (optional, recommended)

1. On your phone: Settings > your name > Family Sharing > Add Member > Create Child Account, and follow the prompts.
2. On the child’s device: Settings > tap the name at the top > Sign Out. Apple asks what to keep on the device.
3. Sign in with the new child account, install MathGate again, and follow path A.

If your child already has their own Apple Account but it isn’t marked as a child, Apple lets you correct the birthdate and add them to your family rather than starting over. Search “correct age Apple Account” on support.apple.com.

Common questions

Can my kid get around it? The lock is enforced by iOS’s Screen Time system, not by the app staying open. Force-quitting MathGate or restarting the device won’t lift it. On a child account (path A) your child can’t switch it off; on an adult account (path B) see the note above. Settings inside MathGate live behind your PIN.

The timer ran out but the game stayed open. Open MathGate once; it re-locks immediately and the Diagnostics section at the bottom of the Parent tab shows what happened. Restart the device once if it keeps happening, then email us the Diagnostics lines.

Does one wrong answer matter? Yes, the streak resets to zero. It rewards focus, not guessing.

Multiple kids? Install MathGate on each child’s device; each keeps its own settings.

Do you see our data? No. MathGate collects nothing: no accounts, no ads, no analytics.

Contact

Questions or issues: ejfortuna7@gmail.com