Shapes

Open the app — that is all. The shapes start changing straight away and keep looping until you close it.

Place the device so your baby can see it comfortably, roughly an arm's length away. Do not hold the screen directly above their face.

In the app's settings you decide which shapes appear and how long each one stays. For very young babies, longer intervals and a few clear shapes are usually more comfortable — a change every several seconds gives enough time to bring the shape into focus.

Guided Access locks the device to Shapes, so a stray swipe opens nothing else. Turn it on once under Settings › Accessibility › Guided Access, then press the side button three times inside Shapes.

Briefly. A few minutes is plenty, and together is better than alone. Shapes is meant as a small diversion for in-between moments — during a nappy change, say — not as a programme for longer stretches.

For questions about screen time and visual development, your paediatrician is the right person to ask. We are developers, not doctors, and will not pretend otherwise here.

In the first weeks of life colour vision is still developing, while contrast vision is considerably further along. Strong light-and-dark transitions are what a baby can reliably make out. Colourful shapes would look prettier to us — to a newborn they would simply be less visible.

No, it is deliberate. Shapes is completely silent and sends no notifications either. It is meant to stay calm, not to entertain.

That is the automatic lock in iOS, not the app. Set it to a longer time or to Never under Settings › Display & Brightness › Auto-Lock. Remember to set it back afterwards, or the battery will drain faster than usual.

No. The app runs entirely offline and works on a plane exactly as it does at home. There is no account, no sign-in and nothing that would need to be transmitted.

No. Shapes gathers no usage data whatsoever. There is nothing to transmit because nothing is collected — and therefore nothing that would need deleting later.

iPhone and iPad. On iPad the display is larger, which often suits the distance at a changing table better. There is no Apple Watch version — the screen is too small for this.