How to set up parental controls on iPhone

Your kid’s first iPhone comes with a great deal of responsibility, for both of you. They now have a powerful super computer in the palm of their hand, capable of great things… and some not-so-great things. As their parent, you’ll most likely want to manage the content they’re exposed to, monitor their usage and restrict certain activities to ensure their safety. That’s where parental controls come in. We’ll show you how to set up parental controls on iPhone and, when the time comes, how to disable them as well.  

What are iPhone parental controls?

The parental controls on iPhone are a built-in system that can be used to manage device and network usage as well as monitor activity. Apple designed them with families in mind, so parents can feel confident letting their kids have an iPhone. Parental controls can be used to limit content and screen time, restrict certain features and maintain safe communication protocols.

How to turn on screen time for your child

Screen Time helps you monitor how much time your child spends on their iPhone and allows you to restrict what they can do in that time. 

• Open Settings
• Scroll down and select Screen Time
• Under Family, tap your child’s name
  • If you haven’t set up Family Sharing yet, you’ll be prompted to do that first. Follow the steps to invite your children to your iPhone family via their Apple Accounts.

Follow the on-screen prompts to set up age restrictions, enable Screen Time reports, and lock your Screen Time settings & parental controls by creating a passcode.

How to Set Downtime

Downtime allows you to lock down your child’s iPhone for a set period of time, like if you don’t want them scrolling Instagram during school hours.

• Open Settings
• Select Screen Time
• Under Family, tap your child’s name
• Tap Downtime and choose either:
  • Turn on Downtime Until Tomorrow to enable it immediately
  • Scheduled to schedule specific windows of Downtime for your child

If you schedule Downtime, your child will receive a notification five minutes before it begins. They will also be given the option to request more time that you can either approve or deny from your iPhone.

You may also want certain features on your child’s phone to always be accessible, like calling or texting, in case of emergencies. 

• Open Settings
• Select Screen Time
• Under Family, tap your child’s name
• Tap Always Allowed 

From here, you can choose which apps you’d like your child to always have access to, even in Downtime. You can even choose specific Contacts that they’ll always be able to call or text.

How to Set App Limits

You can also limit how much time your child is allowed to spend on specific apps each day.

• Open Settings
• Select Screen Time
• Under Family, tap your child’s name
• Select App Limits
• Tap Add Limit
• Select one or more app categories (games, social media, entertainment, etc) or tap on a specific category to select individual apps in that category
• Tap Next
• Set the amount of time you’d like your child to be able to spend on the selected apps/categories
  • You can also choose Customize Days if you wish to give them more time on some days than others.
• Tap Add

App limits will reset each day. You can also follow these steps to access your set limits if you ever wish to adjust or delete them.

How to block adult websites

Managing what your child can do is one thing, but it’s also important to filter what can come through via their mobile browser, messages and apps.  Here’s how to create a safer online space for your child:

• Open Settings
• Select Screen Time
• Under Family, tap your child’s name
• Select Content & Privacy Restrictions and turn it on
• Tap App Store, Media, Web & Games and choose Web Content
• Select Limit Adult Websites
  • You can also tap Add Website below Never Allow to enter the URLs of specific websites you want to block, or Add Website below Always Allow to create a list of only approved websites

You can also go back to App Store, Media, Web & Games to set content ratings and other restrictions beyond just websites, like the following:

• Music, Podcasts, News, Fitness
  • This can restrict them from being exposed to explicit content in media
• Music Videos
  • This will restrict them from viewing music videos
• Music Profiles
  • This setting will keep your child from sharing what they’re listening to and seeing what others are listening to
• Movies/TV Shows/Books
  • You can prevent them from accessing content with specific ratings

Communication Safety & Allowed Contacts

You can easily limit who your child is allowed to communicate with by choosing specific contacts to block or allow, including unknown numbers. 

• Open Settings
• Select Screen Time
• Under Family, tap your child’s name
• Select Communication Limits
• Choose During Screen Time if you wish to block or allow specific contacts whenever your parental controls are active
• Choose During Downtime if you want to restrict more contacts whenever Downtime is active
  • Whatever contact restrictions you set during Screen Time will automatically apply to Downtime unless you choose additional limits

You can also protect your child from receiving sensitive content in Messages with Communication Safety.

• Open Settings
• Select Screen Time
• Under Family, tap your child’s name
• Select Communication Safety and turn it on

Purchases & App Store Controls

You can also control what your child is allowed to download to their iPhone from the App Store, to avoid unwanted purchases. 

• Open Settings
• Select Screen Time
• Under Family, tap your child’s name
• Select Content & Privacy Restrictions 
• Tap iTunes & App Store Purchases

Follow the prompts to set specific restrictions for app downloads. You can also turn on Ask to Buy to allow your child to request permission to download apps and make in-app purchases.

• Open Settings
• Select Screen Time
• Under Family, tap your child’s name
• Select Ask to Buy  
• Turn Require Purchase Approval on

When your child tries to download an app or make an in-app purchase, you’ll receive a notification to review the request. You can approve or deny it right from your own iPhone.

How to Monitor Usage Reports

Parental controls allow you to view your child’s phone usage details and make adjustments based on their habits.

• Open Settings
• Select Screen Time
• Under Family, tap your child’s name
• Select See All App & Website Activity
  • From here you can choose Pickups to see how often they pick up their phone, or Notifications to see what kind of notifications they’ve received

How to Turn Off Parental Controls

You can remove all restrictions in just a few clicks by disabling Screen Time completely.

• Open Settings
• Select Screen Time
• Under Family, tap your child’s name
• Select Turn Off Screen Time
• Enter the passcode you created and confirm that you want to disable Screen Time

Now You’re in (Parental) Control

Parental controls are an extremely useful tool intended to keep your family safe online while still making the most of their wireless service. They empower parents to monitor their children’s phone usage and help support healthy habits when it comes to screen time. And as you’ve read in this article, they are very simple to set up and manage from your own iPhone thanks to Family Sharing. Now that you’ve got your family set up and secured with parental controls, consider bringing that iPhone to Ultra Mobile. Click below to see how you can save big and keep the family connected on the T-Mobile 5G Network, America’s largest 5G Network, with an Ultra Family Plan.