In this post, we help parents use Apple’s Screen Time to improve online safety for their children. Screen Time is a set of free parental controls from Apple, included with their Apple devices (iPhones, iPads, and Macs). While Screen Time offers a broad set of capabilities to parents who wish to moderate their child’s device use, our focus in this post will be settings that help limit a child’s access to age-appropriate content only. We’ll talk about other settings briefly and include links to Apple’s website for anyone wanting more information.
Since there is a lot of information here, feel free to use the following links to jump around to the information that’s most interesting to you. If you’re new to Screen Time, it’s better to work through this top to bottom.
Screen Time has many features that (a) help a parent understand how their child spends time using their device(s) and (b) limit what they can do, when they can do it, and how much daily time they’re allowed for different activities.
If you’re a parent who activates this for your child, Screen Time will give you on-demand reports of their daily activity, including:
Screen Time also allows you to apply limits and restrictions to their device usage, including:
We will focus most of this post on the last two bullets, above – limiting access to appropriate content and care with privacy settings. See these Apple websites for their official Screen Time guidance:
Note: If you also use Apple’s Family Sharing, you’ll be able to view your child’s Screen Time activity reports and control their settings from your own device, instead of having to hold theirs in your hand. Also, Screen Time settings you configure will be applied across all of their devices.
Apple’s Family Sharing allows you to share with your family many Apple services, App Store and iTunes purchases and subscriptions, iCloud storage, and location services (like Find My devices). We mention it in this post because it also enables some great parental control features for your kiddos.
Besides the great sharing you can enjoy with your family, Family Sharing brings with it three other benefits we like for families with children.
First, when you setup Family Sharing, you’ll create Apple IDs for each of your kiddos. This will allow many settings you configure for your child, including Screen Time, to follow them across the devices they use so you don’t have to configure each device separately.
Second, you can turn on Ask to Buy – a feature that sends a request to parents when their child wants to buy, install, or download a new item. This gives parents the opportunity to review the requested app, song, movie, etc., before approving. The opportunity to review and approve / decline is important because not all items are free (gives you the opportunity to avoid unwanted charges) and likely not all requested items will be considered appropriate.
Third, with Family Sharing enabled, you can setup Screen Time, view activity reports, and control settings from your own device (described above).
If you haven’t already, we suggest you begin by setting up Family Sharing and then proceed with the Screen Time instructions below. See these Apple websites for their official guidance:
Now we’ll take you through setup of Screen Time. Rather than try to explain everything it can do, we’ll focus on the essentials important for helping keep kiddos protected from inappropriate content and experiences. For more information, please refer to Apple’s Screen Time documentation (links included above).
Note: The following instructions are for an iPhone running iOS 16.0. If you’re using an iPad or a slightly older version of iOS, these should still be of help.
If you’ve already configured Family Sharing (above), you can setup your child’s Screen Time from your device (recommended). Otherwise, be sure you’re doing this on the device your child will be using.
Select Screen Time.
Select Turn On Screen Time.
If you have Family Sharing enabled with your child...
From your device, open the iOS Settings app and select Screen Time. Under Family, select your child. If you haven’t already, select Turn on Screen Time, then Continue.
Or, if you’re not using Family Sharing currently...
From your child’s device, open the iOS Settings app and select Screen Time. If you haven’t yet setup Screen Time, select Turn On Screen Time followed by This is My Child’s iPhone.
Select This is My Child's iPhone.
At this point, you’ll be offered a setup wizard that helps you easily enable the basics and select your Screen Time passcode. These settings can be adjusted in detail anytime and we give detailed guidance below.
Select your child's age and Turn On Restrictions.
For now, select a content age for content and apps you’d like to allow for your child, which will give you a good set of defaults. Feel free to customize any of the settings below the age slider – scroll the list to see them all. When ready, select Turn On Restrictions to continue.
Optionally enable Downtime for your child.
Next, you can optionally select Downtime, during which your child’s device use will be limited to Phone calls and any apps you allow. Notice the default times start at night and end in the morning. This helps those kiddos who are tempted to stay up late socializing or playing games. To customize or setup later, go to Settings -> Screen Time -> Downtime.
Optionally enable App Limits for your child.
Next, you can set a time limit (hours / minutes) for how long your child can use certain categories of apps. After initial setup is complete, you can also set limits for specific apps (not only whole categories). This is useful if, for example, you’d like to limit TikTok and Instagram, but not Messages or FaceTime. To customize or setup later, go to Settings -> Screen Time -> App Limits.
Choose your Screen Time passcode.
Setup passcode recovery.
Finally, choose your Screen Time passcode that you will use to approve requests and change Screen Time settings. Do not make it the same as the code that unlocks the device, or a code your kiddo can guess, and do not share it with your child, since they may be able to change settings and approve their own requests. Follow the instructions to setup passcode recovery by entering your Apple ID.
Now that Screen Time is turned on and you’ve configured initial controls, let’s review some of the most important content and privacy restrictions. We offer our suggestions here and encourage you to adapt these to meet what’s best for your family.
To get started, open Screen Time from within the iPhone (or iPad) Settings app, like you did above. If you’re not using Family Sharing, be sure to do this from your child’s device.
Select your child for Screen Time settings.
If you are using Family Sharing (described above), scroll to the bottom of the Screen Time screen and select your child. Otherwise, you’ll be adjusting settings for yourself.
Select Content & Privacy Restrictions.
Confirm restrictions are enabled.
Next, select Content & Privacy Restrictions from the list of control groups. On the next screen, confirm they are turned on. If not, enable them by touching the button at top.
We’ll walk through the most important of these in the sections below...
From the Content & Privacy Restrictions screen, select iTunes & App Store Purchases.
Select settings to restrict installs, purchases, and deletes.
In our family, we allow our kiddos to install apps and make in-app purchases. This is because we use Family Sharing (see above), with Ask To Buy enabled. This means they can only install or buy things we approve. If you aren’t doing the same, then you can prevent your child from doing these things by selecting Don’t Allow here. We have Deleting Apps disabled so, if there’s any question, we can see what’s been installed.
While not a big deal, we also enable Always Require password. This might prevent buddies from installing things on your child’s device.
From the Content & Privacy Restrictions screen, select Allowed Apps.
Select Apple's apps and features to disable for your child.
This set of controls allows you to disable system apps and features (those that come from Apple with the device), so they’re unusable by your child. We’re most concerned by those that might expose your child to inappropriate content, experiences, or privacy concerns.
At Kiddofy, we always disable Safari (and prevent installation of all other browsers) because our kiddos use Kiddofy as their only browser (safest). If you allow your child to use Safari or other browsers, such as Chrome), be sure to see our guidance in the next section, Content Restrictions. We’ll show you how to prevent access to unwanted Web content.
Note: If you intend to use the Kiddofy app as your child’s only browser, disable Safari here and remove any other browsers that have been installed on their device(s). Then, be sure to prevent your kiddo from installing browsers in the future.
We also disable Podcasts and News because we prefer to prevent our younger kiddos from being exposed to mature topics. You’ll see in the next section that you can limit articles and podcasts to Clean (vs. Explicit), but there are subject matters we wish to avoid even when no bad words are used.
From the Content & Privacy Restrictions screen, select Content Restrictions.
In this section, we walk through important controls that allow you to apply restrictions to accessible content. If your child uses Game Center, there are also controls to help limit online interaction with other players.
Configure restrictions for allowed content.
Scroll to continue setting Content Restrictions.
In this section, you can configure whether you allow content designated Explicit, or Clean only. Of course, we recommend Clean only. You can also designate content age ratings allowed for things like Movies, TV shows and Apps. We turned off Music Videos and Music Profiles for our kiddos, because only a song’s lyrics are used to determine if it’s clean or explicit. Videos can still have content considered by some families to be inappropriate.
App Clips are small parts of apps (like mini-apps) that allow you to perform a task quickly. We haven’t learned of problems with these but, since they’re not very common, your kiddo won’t likely miss out on much if they’re disabled.
At Kiddofy, this is one of our favorite Screen Time controls. It allows you to apply restrictions that limit accessible websites, enforced across all browsers on your child’s device – whether it’s Safari, Chrome, Kiddofy, or something else.
If you haven’t set your family’s approach for guiding your children’s Web access, we invite you to consider our guidance, detailed in our blog post: How To Help Your Child Enjoy the Web Safely.
Unrestricted
This is not recommended. We suggest you choose Limit Adult Websites, at least.
Limit Adult Websites selected.
Limit Adult Websites
Selecting this control will block access to “many adult websites.” Our view is that parents should, at least, choose this option for all children. Do this even if you’ve disabled Safari (covered earlier), because if Safari is ever re-enabled, or another browser is installed, this control will be enforced. Don’t forget, though, that lists of adult websites are never complete, since new sites pop-up daily and not all include profane language. While helpful, this does not guarantee all will be blocked.
With this option, you can also specify websites that are Always Allowed or Never Allowed. To add your own list of blocked websites by using this option. Select Add Website, under Never Allow, for each website you’d like to block. You can remove one from the list anytime by sliding it left and selecting Delete.
Recommended: Allowed Websites only (Apple's defaults shown).
Allowed Websites Only
This is the safest approach. As explained in our blog post (linked above), we believe the only way to protect younger children from bad experiences is to limit their access to approved websites only. To do this with Screen Time, select Allowed Websites and then add your approved websites to the Only Allow These Websites list, by selecting Add Website for each. Apple includes some in the list as a starter (shown above). Feel free to remove any by sliding the website left and selecting Delete.
Note: Kiddofy offers many tools for moderating your child’s access to the Web. With Kiddofy’s patented technology, there’s no better way to safely share the Web with children – especially when allowing access to approved content only.
SIRI can deliver content it finds on the Web, such as when you ask it questions: Who’s the strongest Avenger? It’s not clear what filtering Apple does when SIRI relays third-party content as part of its response. With these settings you can control whether SIRI will search the Web and include results in responses to your child.
Select Content Restrictions for SIRI.
Web Search Content
The policy you choose here should be aligned with the policy you decided for Web Content restrictions, above. For example, if you selected Limit Adult Websites, above, then Allowing SIRI to include Web Search Content, here, is consistent. However, if you selected Allowed Websites Only for Web Content (above), then you’d likely choose Don’t Allow here.
Explicit Language
In either case, we recommend selecting Don’t Allow for Explicit Language.
Apple’s Game Center lets players connect with friends for game play, earn achievements when playing games, compete on leaderboards, and connect with friends and other players, including nearby players, for multi-player game play. It works with games that are Game Center enabled. See Apple’s Game Center guidance here:
Probably the most fun part of Game Center is the ability to play games with your friends. If your kiddo is a gamer, you’ve probably already encountered multi-player games with certain iPhone games and other platforms, such as Xbox and PC games. We suggest that parents are discerning when allowing their children to interact with others online, whether in a game or other setting.
Game Center controls.
In the controls guidance offered here, we enable kiddos to play with their friends but aim to give you full control over that set of friends, so you can limit it to people you know.
Note: Your child’s Game Center nickname and avatar (a cartoon depiction of themself) will be visible to everyone, even if you select Friends Only for Multiplayer Games (below). Their avatar is unlikely to offer any personal information, for privacy / online safety concerns. Though, be sure you approve your child’s selected nickname, since it could reveal their identity or location.
Recommended: select Allow with Friends Only.
Multiplayer Games
If you choose to not allow your child to play games online with others, select Don’t Allow. If it’s ok for them to play, but with friends only, select Allow with Friends Only (recommended). If you choose not to restrict who they can play with, select Allow with Everyone.
Adding Friends
With this control, you can select Allow or Don’t Allow. We recommend Don’t Allow, so you control your kiddos Game Center friends. With this, your child can tell you when they’d like to add a friend. Once you know this person and approve, you can change this setting to Allow long enough for them to add the friend, then change it back to Don’t Allow. If, instead, you’d like them to be able to add friends at will, with periodic review from you, set this to Allow. You can always remove friends later.
Connect with Friends
You can select Allow or Don’t Allow. When this is allowed, games your kiddos play can connect them with their list of friends, so they can use the Game Center features with that game. If you’re letting your kiddo use Game Center to play with friends, choose Allow. Otherwise, select Don’t Allow.
Screen Recording
With Game Center and apps/games that support this feature, kiddos can record their gameplay (what happens on the screen) and their microphone (what they say while playing). This can be shared with other people, even streamed live. Select Allow to enable this for your child or Don't Allow to prevent it.
Nearby Multiplayer
This feature of Game Center allows other nearby Game Center players to invite your kiddo to a multiplayer game on the same WiFi or via Bluetooth. This means the other players aren’t across the Internet from your kiddo, they’re probably in the same building or room as your child. This can be really fun (and encouraged) for kiddos when playing with their friends, but potentially creepy if it’s with people you don’t know (discouraged). We recommend you have this set regularly to Don’t Allow, so they can’t play without you knowing, and then switch it to Allow when you’re supervising their play. Don’t forget to switch it back to Don’t Allow when their session is over.
Private Messaging
This feature allows your kiddo to send custom messages to other players and use voice chat in games. If you followed our guidance above to limit their Game Center friends to people you know, Allowing this should be OK. However, if you allow your child to play with people you don’t know, setting this to Don’t Allow will give you an added layer of privacy and protection.
Profile Privacy Changes
To prevent your child from changing the Game Center privacy settings you’ve selected (above), set this to Don’t Allow (recommended). Setting this to Allow will enable your child to change their profile privacy settings.
Avatar & Nickname Changes
Kids have fun changing their avatars and nicknames. Selecting Allow enables your child to change their avatar and nickname at will. As explained above, avatars are usually harmless, but a player’s nickname could reveal personal information, depending on what is chosen. We recommend selecting Don’t Allow. When your kiddo wants a change, enable it briefly, review what they choose, and then set it back to Don’t Allow.
Configure restrictions for changes to your child's Privacy settings.
From the Content & Privacy Restrictions screen, scroll down to the PRIVACY section of controls.
This group of controls gives you the ability to prevent changes to certain privacy settings you make in Settings -> Privacy on your child’s device. In those settings, you can see which apps have requested access to private information (e.g., contacts), or functions of your child’s device that have privacy implications (e.g., Location Services and microphone), and the level of access granted (if any). From there, you can also grant or revoke their permissions.
Here in Screen Time, you can prevent your child from changing some of these settings (directly or indirectly, such as agreeing when an app requests access) by selecting Don’t Allow Changes for the corresponding category. For example, to prevent your child from allowing a new app to track their location, choose Don’t Allow Changes for Location Services, as shown in the list above. This doesn’t revoke access for apps previously approved, it just prevents changes to existing decisions / settings (i.e., your kiddo can’t go back and grant access to an app you had declined) and doesn’t allow new apps to be granted access.
Continuing this example... imagine you’ve selected Don’t Allow Changes for Location Services in Screen Time and later your kiddo installs Pokémon GO (it uses the player’s location as part of the game). The app cannot be granted access to your child’s location until you:
This is our recommended approach for location and, even though it is many steps, it doesn’t come up very often and takes only a moment to complete. If you prefer to give them control over which apps can access their location, set this control to Allow Changes (not recommended).
It’s safest to select Don’t Allow Changes for all privacy controls available in Screen Time. You can then use the approach described in the example above to review access requests from apps and decide yourself. We feel the following items are most important for parents to control and recommend you choose Don’t Allow Changes for these, minimally:
Configure restrictions for changes to other settings.
From the Content & Privacy Restrictions screen, scroll down to the ALLOW CHANGES section of controls.
This set of controls, like the Privacy controls above, allows you to prevent your child from changing certain settings. We recommend you use the same approach as recommended, above, for Privacy settings. That is, choose Don’t Allow for changes to sensitive Settings, so you control any changes that are made.
We recommend you choose Don’t Allow for the following settings, minimally:
Apple provides parents a good set of controls, included with their devices at no extra cost. At Kiddofy, we believe parents should enable their kiddos to enjoy technology and the great assets available to them online. We also believe that parents should stay involved in their children’s online activities and be diligent in keeping their kiddos safe. Controls such as these are essential tools that should be part of every family’s approach.
In this blog post we focused on Content, Privacy, and Settings restrictions. We encourage you to also explore Screen Time’s other controls, which help limit the amount of time your kiddo uses their device, or certain apps, and helps moderate communication. Specifically, have a look at the following from the Screen Time menu:
If you haven’t already, we invite you to consider Kiddofy's guidance detailed in our blog post: How To Help Your Child Enjoy the Web Safely.
If you’d like to make Kiddofy your child’s only browser, see our blog post for detailed instructions.
Thank you for helping kids enjoy the Internet safely!
Kiddofy for Apple Mac and mobile devices (e.g., iPhone, iPad, and iPad Touch) is available in the App Store, FREE for families!
