Use parental controls on your child's iPhone and iPad - Apple Support (2024)

With Screen Time, you can turn on Content & Privacy Restrictions to manage content, apps, and settings on your child's device. You can also restrict explicit content, purchases and downloads, and changes to privacy settings.

Apple's parental controls are important tools that allow parents to choose how — and how often — their children can use their devices. Parental controls are built right into each iPhone, iPad, and Mac.

Turn on Content & Privacy Restrictions

When you set up Screen Time on your child's device, you can set age-related restrictions for content, purchases and downloads, and privacy settings. If you chose to set up later, you can turn on Content & Privacy Restrictions in Screen Time.

1. Open the Settings app, then tap Screen Time.

2. Under Family, choose your child's name.

3. Tap Content & Privacy Restrictions. If asked, enter your Screen Time passcode, then turn on Content & Privacy Restrictions.

If you turn off Content & Privacy Restrictions, any parental controls that you turned on are paused until you turn on Content & Privacy Restrictions again.

Turn on parental controls for your child's device

• After you turn on Content & Privacy Restrictions, you can set up specific parental controls.

• To make sure that your parental control settings sync across the devices in your Family Group, update all of those devices to the latest software version before turning on parental controls or changing your parental controls settings.

• Prevent App Store purchases

• Allow built-in apps and features

• Prevent explicit content and content ratings

• Prevent web content

• Restrict Siri web search

• Restrict Game Center

• Allow changes to privacy settings

• Allow changes to other settings and features

• Make changes to health and safety features

Prevent App Store purchases

You can prevent your child from being able to install or delete apps, make in-app purchases in apps installed from the App Store, and more.

1. Go to Settings, then tap Screen Time.

2. Tap Content & Privacy Restrictions. If asked, enter your passcode.

3. Tap iTunes & App Store Purchases (or App Installations & Purchases).

4. Choose a setting and set to Don't Allow.

You can also change your password settings for additional purchases from iTunes, App Store, Book Store, or Apple TV app. Under Require Password, choose Always Require or Don't Require.

Learn more about managing app installation preferences for your child's iPhone in the EU

Allow built-in apps and features

You can restrict the use of built-in apps or features. If you turn off an app or feature, the app or feature won't be deleted, it's just temporarily hidden from your Home Screen. For example, if you turn off Mail, the Mail app won't appear on your Home Screen until you turn it back on.

1. Go to Settings, then tap Screen Time.

2. Tap Content & Privacy Restrictions.

3. Enter your Screen Time passcode.

4. Tap Allowed Apps.

5. Select the apps that you want to allow.

   

Prevent explicit content and content ratings

You can also prevent the playback of music with explicit content and movies or TV shows with specific ratings. Apps also have ratings that can be configured using content restrictions.

1. Go to Settings, then tap Screen Time.

2. Tap Content & Privacy Restrictions, then tap Content Restrictions.

3. Choose the settings that you want for each feature or setting under Allowed Store Content.

   

Here are the types of content that you can restrict:

• Music, Podcasts, News, Fitness: Prevent the playback of music, music videos, podcasts, news, and workouts containing explicit content

• Music Videos: Prevent finding and viewing music videos

• Music Profiles: Prevent sharing what you're listening to with friends and seeing what they're listening to

• Movies: Prevent movies with specific ratings

• TV Shows: Prevent TV shows with specific ratings

• Books: Prevent content with specific ratings

• Apps: Prevent apps with specific ratings (or Unrated apps in the EU)

• App Clips: Prevent app clips with specific ratings

Prevent web content

iOS and iPadOS can automatically filter website content to limit access to adult content in Safari and other apps on your device. You can also add specific websites to an approved or blocked list, or you can limit access to only approved websites.

1. Go to Settings, then tap Screen Time.

2. Tap Content & Privacy Restrictions and enter your Screen Time passcode.

3. Tap Content Restrictions, then tap Web Content.

4. Choose Unrestricted Access, Limit Adult Websites, or Allowed Websites.

   

Depending on the access you allow, you might need to add information, like the website that you want to restrict.

If your child is under 13*, each time your child updates a device signed in with their Apple ID to iOS 17 or later, iPadOS 17 or later, watchOS 10 or later, or macOS Sonoma or later for the first time, Web Content Restrictions is reset to Limit Adult Websites for all their devices.

Restrict Siri web search

1. Go to Settings, then tap Screen Time.

2. Tap Content & Privacy Restrictions, then tap Content Restrictions.

3. Scroll down to Siri, then choose your settings.

You can restrict these Siri features:

• Web Search Content: Prevent Siri from searching the web when you ask a question

• Explicit Language: Prevent Siri from displaying explicit language

Restrict Game Center

These restrictions apply only to games that use Game Center features.

1. Go to Settings, then tap Screen Time.

2. Tap Content & Privacy Restrictions, then tap Content Restrictions.

3. Scroll down to Game Center, then choose your settings.

   

   • Multiplayer Games: Prevent the ability to play multiplayer games with everyone, allow with friends only, or allow with anyone

   • Adding Friends: Prevent the ability to add friends to Game Center

   • Connect with Friends: Prevent the ability to share a Game Center friend list with third-party games

   • Screen Recording: Prevent the ability to capture the screen and sound

   • Nearby Multiplayer: Prevent the ability to enable the nearby setting

   • Private Messaging: Prevent the ability to voice chat or send or receive custom messages with game and friend invitations

   • Profile Privacy Changes: Prevent the ability to change profile privacy settings

   • Avatar & Nickname Changes: Prevent the ability to change Game Center avatars and nicknames

Allow changes to privacy settings

The privacy settings on your device give you control over which apps have access to information stored on your device or the hardware features. For example, you can allow a social-networking app to request access to use the camera, which allows you to take and upload pictures. For some settings, you can allow or restrict changes only for your device.

To allow changes to privacy settings:

1. Go to Settings, then tap Screen Time.

2. Tap Content & Privacy Restrictions. If asked, enter your passcode.

3. Under Privacy, tap the setting that you want to change.

Here are the things you can restrict:

• Location Services: Lock the settings to allow apps and websites to use location

• Contacts: Prevent apps from accessing your Contacts

• Calendars: Prevent apps from accessing your Calendar

• Reminders: Prevent apps from accessing your Reminders

• Photos: Prevent apps from requesting access to your photos

• Share My Location: Lock the settings for location sharing in Messages and Find My

• Bluetooth sharing: Prevent devices and apps from sharing data through Bluetooth

• Microphone: Prevent apps from requesting access to your microphone

• Speech Recognition: Prevent apps from accessing Speech Recognition or Dictation

• Apple Advertising: Prevent changes to advertising settings

• Allow Apps to Request to Track: Prevent tracking activity by apps that you've denied access to

• Media & Apple Music: Prevent apps from accessing your photos, videos, or music library

Allow changes to other settings and features

You can allow changes to other settings and features, the same way you can allow changes to privacy settings.

1. Go to Settings, then tap Screen Time.

2. Tap Content & Privacy Restrictions. If asked, enter your passcode.

3. Under Allow Changes, select the features or settings that you want to allow changes to and choose Allow or Don't Allow.

Here are some features and settings that you can allow changes for:

• Passcode & Face ID: Prevent changes to passcode, Touch ID, and Face ID

• Account: Prevent account changes in Accounts & Passwords

• Cellular Data: Prevent changes to cellular data settings

• Reduce Loud Sounds: Prevent changes to volume settings for safe listening

• Driving Focus: Prevent changes to the Driving Focus

• TV Provider: Prevent changes to TV provider settings

• Background App Activities: Prevent changes to whether or not apps run in the background

Make changes to health and safety features

Some Screen Time features are turned on by default for children under 13* in a Family Sharing group.

Learn about Communication Safety on your child's iPhone or iPad

Learn about Screen Distance

Published Date:June 07, 2024