How to use screen time to protect your child

From An apple released iOS 12, parental controls have always been available on iPhone and iPad devices. These settings help parents control how their children use Apple devices. As a parent, you can restrict the viewing of content on your child’s Apple device, be it iPhone or iPad.

Most parents may not even know that they can control how their children use their device without having to supervise them in person. Many of those who may also be aware of it don’t know how to set it up properly.

This article is to guide you to properly set up Apple Parental Controls. So you won’t have to worry anymore about the type of content your kids can access.

When it comes to content and privacy restrictions on the iPhone or iPad, many of them fall under Screen Time settings. Screen Time is a feature you can find on all iPhones, iPads, and MacBooks. It records the time you spend on your device.

Apple’s Screen Time does more than just record how much time users spend on their devices. It may be able to tell you how much time you spend in a particular app and even limit the amount of time you can spend in that app. It also has the ability to limit the notifications you receive from apps.

It also works great when it comes to blocking apps and other content. Screen Time lets you completely block app usage and even restrict some apps from making purchases. If you also want to restrict explicit content, you can do so easily.

How to set screen time on a child’s device

You can set the screen time on the child’s device or through the Family Sharing feature on your own phone.

1. Touch Settings on your child’s iDevice (iPhone or iPad).

2. Scroll to Screen time or search for the word “screen time” in the search area. You should find the search area at the top of the settings list. Once you find the screen time, tap the option to turn it on and tap continued.

3. On the next page, there is an option to choose who the iPad or iPhone belongs to. Whether you’re setting up Screen Time for yourself or a child. Select the option that says “this is my child’s iPhone/iPad. You can slide on the slide until you reach your child’s age. The highest is 18 years.

4. Below the slider, you should find options to limit apps, movies, books, and TV shows. Scrolling down reveals other options that you can limit. Let’s say you restrict apps, that means only app that is designed for the age of the child will be displayed in the app store.

5. Those of you happy with all your selections, go ahead and tap the restrictions at the bottom of the screen.

6. The next page is where you schedule your downtime. For example, you can set a time between 21:00 and 14:00. During these periods, the child cannot use the device.

7. Once everything is done, the next page allows you to set a new password for your screen time. This ensures that the child will not change anything you set in the restrictions.

How to use Family Sharing to set Screen Time

Using Family Sharing to set up screen time for your child requires the same steps as listed above. The only different thing is that you have to be a family organizer to be able to do this. The family organizer will tap the settings icon on their phone, tap Screen Time, and tap the child’s name to turn on the restrictions.

Application Limitations

This area allows parents to restrict the use of apps, categories and websites for their little ones. To do this, just follow these simple steps.

• Press Settings
• Press screen time
• Then choose Application limit

Once you set the app limit, any new apps the child downloads will fall under the same limits. For example, if you set a game app limit, any new games the child downloads from the App Store will fall under the same limits. This is because they all fall into the same category.

How to set a communication limit using Screen Time

As I said earlier, the Screen Time feature can do more than most users know. In the screen time settings, you can limit who can contact the child and who the child can contact. Whether it’s connecting to your child through an app, messaging, FaceTime, or an iCloud contact list.

However, if you add a contact as an emergency contact, they can always connect to your child’s phone. You can set it to block only specific contacts, groups, or all contacts.

If the child already has iCloud contacts saved on their device, they will receive a message on their device. This message will prompt them to approve your contact management request.

If there are no contacts, you can manually add some contacts and restrict the communication of these contacts with your child. When this happens, no form of communication between the blocked contacts and your child will go through.

The parent can change the settings in the restrictions at any time. As the child ages, the parent will receive periodic messages to adjust the settings to suit the child’s age.

Content and Privacy Restrictions

There is one more important thing you can do within screen time. As a parent, you can restrict your child from buying apps as well as buying music from iTunes. You can also restrict them from installing new apps from the app store or uninstalling apps from their iDevice.

1. Open Settings and head to Screen time

2. Touch Content and privacy restrictions. If the system asks for a password, enter your Screen Time password.

3. Toggle the content and privacy restrictions button if it is off.

4. Select iTunes and App Store purchases. From here, you have the freedom to select any app you want to allow or disallow. Just select ‘Allows‘ or ‘Do not allow‘ for each application.

Under the content and privacy settings is another useful feature that most parents will like. This function is called “Ban apps‘. This feature blocks some functions of certain system apps or features.

For example, you can use these settings to disable features like Apple AirDrop. The reason this particular feature is very important is that there may be content that you have restricted on your child’s phone or tablet. But a friend who doesn’t have such restrictions on their device can forward it to your child’s device using AirDrop.

The same goes for system features like SharePlay. You can restrict your child from accessing the SharePlay feature or using the Apple Wallet app.

Under Allowed Apps, you can find all the content restriction features you might need. Here you can limit obscene content from music, fitness apps, podcasts and news.

You can also block adult websites in the Safari browser. Disable music videos and allow some apps for certain age groups.

You can check out more features

There are many ways a parent can restrict content and settings. All under screen time settings. Enough for each parent to find what works best for them and their children. After doing all this, you can live carefree. Knowing your child is safe from unwanted content.