With the freedom that the modern day internet provides, it is essential for every parent to monitor the online activities of their kids. From their web content to the time spent on apps, parental control has become a necessary feature for every smartphone, and the iPhone is no different. Thanks to the restriction features on the iPhone, not only can you manage the apps and web contents, but you’ll also be able to turn off specific things too. It often involves setting up a password to prevent anyone from switching off the parental control options. If you are also using Windows laptop, learn more on how to setup parental control setup in Windows computers.
How to Setup Parental Control in iPhone?
So, how can you turn on content and privacy restrictions on your iPhone? There are two different scenarios of using parental control.
- Sharing your own iPhone with your children.
- Your kid has his / her own iPhone.
- Use third party apps
Let us check how to make parental controls in all these scenarios.
Sharing iPhone with Children
Follow the steps outlined below to step up content privacy and restrictions.
1. Enable Content Restrictions
In order to restrict content on your iPhone like webpages, you first need to enable the content restriction option.
- Tap the “Settings” icon on the home screen and select “Screen Time” option.
- Next, tap “Content & Privacy Restrictions” and toggle it on.
You’ll have access to three primary options along with many other minor control.
1.1. iTunes & App Store Purchases
Tap on “iTunes & App Store Purchases”. Under this settings you can do the following:
- Restrict installing a new app on your iPhone.
- Disable your kid mistakenly deleting the apps that you have installed.
- Disable in-app purchases so that your kid can’t buy items from App Store.
These options play well if you don’t mine your kid to see and access all your emails and browsing history on Safari. However, this may be awkward if you have teenager kids. So move on to next option for allowing them to choose which apps they can use on your iPhone.
1.2. Allowed Apps
This will allow to restrict access to installed apps such as Mail, Safari, FaceTime, Camera, etc. Tap on the “Allowed Apps” and turn off the apps that you don’t want your kid to see on the phone.
You can enable the apps again when you are using the phone.
1.3. Content Restrictions
There are many kinds of content you can access on the iPhone. With this settings, you can place restrictions on everything you have access to. These include TV shows, books, movies, Apps, Books, webpages and music. You can also set the rating for your country to filter the suitable rated content.
You can also disable multiplayer games and adding friends in the games to ensure the kid can’t use these functions from Game Center.
2. Limiting App Time
This is a social world and networking platforms like Facebook will take considerable time of your kid if not controlled properly. The easiest way on iPhone is to set usage time for categories like Social Networking and Games.
- Tap on “Settings” and go to “Screen Time” option.
- Tap on “App Limits” and select “Add Limit”.
- Choose categories for restricting the usage time and tap on “Next”.
- Setup allowed time and turn on “Block at End of Limit” button.
If you have setup 30 minutes for social networking category, then iPhone will automatically block the social networking apps like Facebook after 30 minutes. When you are using you can relax the limit and use unrestrictedly.
3. Downtime
If you worry that your kid is using the phone at late night then use this function.
- Tap on “Downtime” option and enable it.
- Setup a start and end time and enable “Block at Downtime”.
This will completely block using the device during the set time everyday. For example, you can set 9PM to 7AM, so that your kid can’t use the phone during the time. Obviously we recommend, you also to follow the downtime schedule to be away from the iPhone screen.
How to Setup Parental Control on iOS 11 or Earlier?
Although earlier versions of the iOS don’t have the Screen Time feature, Apple still provided a way of setting up parental control on devices running iOS 11 and earlier. Here are the steps outlined below.
- Tap the Settings icon on the home screen
- Select General and tap Restrictions
- Tap once again to enable Restrictions
- Now create a passcode
The steps outlined above allows you restrict access to apps such as Safari browser, Camera, Airdrop, FaceTime, iTunes, etc. Note that the passcode must be different from your lock screen passcode. Also, remember to keep the passcode safe, you may have to reset your iPhone if you lose or forget it.
When Your Kid Using Own iPhone
When your kid have a separate iPhone then use Apple’s “Family Sharing” feature to control the “Screen Time” on your kid’s phone.
- Tap on “Settings” and go to your Apple ID.
- Select “Family Sharing” and tap on “Screen Time”.
- Add your child account and setup Screen Time for your family.
- After the “Family Sharing” setup, go to “Screen Time” settings and select your kid name.
- You can view the screen time details of your kid similar to how you can see on your own activities.
Using Third Party Apps
With the default iPhone, you can only use the options in Screen Time settings to control the kid’s activities. In most cases, this will not help in completely monitoring like messages sent or delete. There are many third party premium apps available for this purpose allowing additional features. For example, apps like Parental Control App – Kidslox, Parental Control – Screen Time and Norton Family offer additional features like below:
- Get the search words your kids using to filter content or understand their interests.
- Check the YouTube videos list that your kid watches.
- Setup location tracking to know where you kid is available.
- Instantly lock the device when you find the usage is inappropriate.
- Get emails alters when kid is trying to view the blocked websites.
The good part is that the parental control apps like kidslox are available on Mac, Windows, Android and iOS. So you can get some of the features across platform to use on multiple devices.
Wrapping Up
Now that you know how to enable parental control on your iPhone, you just have to determine which contents to block. From restricting in-app purchases to blocking adult websites, the iPhone’s content and privacy restriction are all you need to manage your kid’s online content. When your kid using separate iPhone, setup family sharing to use the same parental control features.
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