Use parental controls on your child’s iPhone and iPad
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 directly 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 decide you want to set this up later, you can turn on Content & Privacy Restrictions in Screen Time.
Open the Settings app, then tap Screen Time.
Under Family, choose your child’s name.
Tap Content & Privacy Restrictions. If asked, enter your Screen Time passcode, then turn on Content & Privacy Restrictions.
If you’ve turned off Content & Privacy Restrictions, any parental controls that you’ve turned on will be paused until you’ve turned Content & Privacy Restrictions back on again.
Turn on parental controls for your child’s device
After you’ve turned on Content & Privacy Restrictions, you can set up specific parental controls.
To make sure your parental control settings are synced across the devices in your Family Group, update all of these devices to the latest software version before turning on parental controls or changing your parental controls settings.
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.
Go to Settings, then tap Screen Time.
Tap Content & Privacy Restrictions. If asked, enter your passcode.
Tap iTunes & App Store Purchases (or App Installations & 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.
Find out 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 will just be hidden from your Home Screen temporarily. For example, if you turn off Mail, the Mail app won’t appear on your Home Screen until you turn it back on.
Go to Settings, then tap Screen Time.
Tap Content & Privacy Restrictions.
Enter your Screen Time passcode.
Tap Allowed Apps.
Select the apps you want to allow.
Prevent explicit content and content ratings
You can also prevent the playback of music with explicit content and films or TV programmes with specific ratings. Apps also have ratings that can be configured using content restrictions.
Go to Settings, then tap Screen Time.
Tap Content & Privacy Restrictions, then tap Content Restrictions.
Choose the settings you want for each feature or setting under Allowed Store Content.
Here are the types of content 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
Films: prevent films with specific ratings
TV Programmes: prevent TV programmes 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 filter website content automatically 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.
Go to Settings, then tap Screen Time.
Tap Content & Privacy Restrictions and enter your Screen Time passcode.
Tap Content Restrictions, then tap Web Content.
Choose Unrestricted Access, Limit Adult Websites or Allowed Websites.
Depending on the access you allow, you may need to add information, such as the website that you want to restrict.
If your child is under the age of 13*, whenever they update a device that’s 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 will be reset to Limit Adult Websites for all of their devices.
Restrict Siri web search
Go to Settings, then tap Screen Time.
Tap Content & Privacy Restrictions, then tap Content Restrictions.
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 only apply to games that use Game Center features.
Go to Settings, then tap Screen Time.
Tap Content & Privacy Restrictions, then tap Content Restrictions.
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 to 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 for your device only.
To allow changes to privacy settings:
Go to Settings, then tap Screen Time.
Tap Content & Privacy Restrictions. If asked, enter your passcode.
Under Privacy, tap the setting 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.
Go to Settings, then tap Screen Time.
Tap Content & Privacy Restrictions. If asked, enter your passcode.
Under Allow Changes, select the features or settings you want to allow changes to and choose Allow or Don't Allow.
Here are some features and settings you can allow changes for:
Passcode & Face ID: prevent changes to passcode, Touch ID and Face ID
Account: prevent account changes in Accounts & Passwords
Mobile Data: Prevent changes to mobile 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 regarding 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 the age of 13* in a Family Sharing group.
Find out about Communication Safety on your child’s iPhone or iPad
Find out about Screen Distance
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