Use parental controls to manage your child's iPhone or iPad
With Screen Time, there are a number of settings and parental controls that you can use to help keep your child's device usage safe, private, and age appropriate.
What you can do with parental controls
Apple's parental controls are important tools that allow parents and guardians to choose how — and how often — their children use their devices. Parental controls are built directly into iPhone, iPad, and Mac, and can help you manage the downloads and purchases your child can make, who they can communicate with, and the apps and other content they can access.
Before you can set parental controls for a child's device, make sure that Family Sharing is set up and that your child's Apple Account is part of the Family Sharing group. Learn how to set up Family Sharing.
When Family Sharing is set up, and your child's Apple Account is added to the Family Sharing group, you need to turn on Content & Privacy Restrictions. Then you're ready to start setting and managing parental controls.
You can use some Screen Time features without turning on Content & Privacy Restrictions or setting parental controls. For example, you can enable Screen Distance to help reduce eye strain; Communication Limits to manage how your child communicates with others; and Communication Safety to help detect inappropriate photos and videos before they're even sent from or viewed on your child's device. Learn more about Screen Time.
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, privacy settings, and more. If you chose to set it up later, you can turn on Content & Privacy Restrictions in Screen Time.
Open the Settings app, scroll down, then tap Screen Time.
Under Family, tap your child's name.
Tap Content & Privacy Restrictions. If asked, enter your Screen Time passcode, then turn on Content & Privacy Restrictions.
If you turn off Content & Privacy Restrictions, the parental controls that you set will pause until you turn on Content & Privacy Restrictions again.
Set and manage parental controls for your child's device
In order for the parental control settings to sync across all the devices in your Family Sharing group, make sure that all devices have the latest software version before you turn on parental controls or change any of the parental controls settings. Some parental controls are turned on by default depending on the child's age. Here's what you can manage for your child's device.
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.
Open the Settings app, scroll down, then tap Screen Time.
Under Family, tap your child's name.
Tap Content & Privacy Restrictions. If asked, enter your Screen Time passcode.
Tap iTunes & App Store Purchases.
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.
In iOS 26 and iPadOS 26, you can allow your child to request an exception to the limit or restriction that you set in Screen Time. Learn how to respond to your child's request.
Allow built-in apps and features
You can restrict the use of built-in Apple apps and features. If you turn off an app or feature, the app or feature won't be deleted, it's just temporarily hidden from the Home Screen. For example, if you turn off Mail, the Mail app won't appear on the Home Screen until you turn it back on.
Open the Settings app, scroll down, then tap Screen Time.
Under Family, tap your child's name.
Tap Content & Privacy Restrictions. If asked, enter your Screen Time passcode.
Tap Allowed Apps & Features.
Select the apps that you want to allow.
Prevent explicit content and manage content ratings
You can prevent music and books that contain explicit content, select specific ratings for movies, TV shows, apps, and more.
Open the Settings app, scroll down, then tap Screen Time.
Under Family, tap your child's name.
Tap Content & Privacy Restrictions. If asked, enter your Screen Time passcode.
Tap App Store, Media, Web, & Games.
Select a type of content under Allowed Media Services Content, then choose the settings that you want to restrict or allow.
You can restrict or allow these types of media content:
Music, Podcasts, News, Fitness: Prevent the playback of explicit content
Music Videos: Prevent finding and viewing music videos
Music Profiles: Prevent sharing what your child is listening to or seeing what others are 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 the use of App Clips
Prevent inappropriate web content
You can prevent or limit the type of web content that your child has access to by adjusting the settings. Some web content settings are on by default, depending on your child's age.
Open the Settings app, scroll down, then tap Screen Time.
Under Family, tap your child's name.
Tap Content & Privacy Restrictions. If asked, enter your Screen Time passcode.
Tap App Store, Media, Web, & Games, then tap Web Content.
Choose Unrestricted, Limit Adult Websites, or Only Approved Websites.
Depending on the access you allow, you might need to add information, like the website that you want to restrict or add.
Restrict Game Center features
These restrictions apply only to games that use Game Center features.
Open the Settings app, scroll down, then tap Screen Time.
Under Family, tap your child's name.
Tap Content & Privacy Restrictions. If asked, enter your Screen Time passcode.
Tap App Store, Media, Web, & Games, then scroll down to Game Center.
Choose a category, then select Allow or Don't Allow.
You can restrict these Game Center features:
Multiplayer Games: Prevent playing multiplayer games with everyone, allow with friends only, or allow with anyone
Adding Friends: Prevent adding friends to Game Center
Connect with Friends: Prevent sharing a Game Center friend list with third-party games
Screen Recording: Prevent capturing the screen and sound
Nearby Multiplayer: Prevent enabling the nearby setting
Private Messaging: Prevent voice chats or sending and receiving custom messages with game and friend invitations
Profile Privacy Changes: Prevent changing profile privacy settings
Avatar & Nickname Changes: Prevent changing avatars and nicknames used in Game Center
Restrict Intelligence & Siri features
You can restrict the features related to Apple Intelligence & Siri.
Open the Settings app, scroll down, then tap Screen Time.
Under Family, tap your child's name.
Tap Content & Privacy Restrictions. If asked, enter your Screen Time passcode.
Tap Intelligence & Siri, then choose your settings.
You can restrict or allow these Intelligence & Siri features:
Image Creation
Writing Tools
Intelligence Extensions
Siri & Dictation
Web Search Content
Explicit Language
Math Results
Prevent 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:
Open the Settings app, scroll down, then tap Screen Time.
Under Family, tap your child's name.
Tap Content & Privacy Restrictions. If asked, enter your Screen Time passcode.
Under Privacy, tap the setting that you want to change.
You can restrict these settings and features:
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
Prevent or allow changes to other settings and features
You can prevent or allow changes to other settings and features, the same way you can allow changes to privacy settings.
Open the Settings app, scroll down, then tap Screen Time.
Under Family, tap your child's name.
Tap Content & Privacy Restrictions. If asked, enter your Screen Time passcode.
Under Allow Changes To, select the features or settings that you want to allow changes to and choose Allow or Don't Allow.
You can prevent or allow changes for these features and settings:
Passcode & Face ID: Changes to passcode, Touch ID, and Face ID
Accounts: Account changes
Cellular Data: Changes to cellular data settings
Reduce Loud Sounds: Changes to volume settings for safe listening
Speaker Volume Limit: Changes to speaker volume settings
Driving Focus: Changes to Driving Focus
TV Provider: Changes to TV provider settings
Background App Activity: 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 child accounts* that are part of a Family Sharing group. Learn more about the additional Screen Time features you can use to keep your child's device usage safe, private, and age appropriate.
Use Screen Distance to reduce eye strain
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