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Set limits on your screens

A handy how-to guide

Find out how to set limits for mobile phones, computers, internet browsers and video streaming.

Mobile Phones

Settings for iPhone and iPad in iOS 12

Set content & privacy restrictions:

  1. Go to Settings and tap Screen Time.
  2. Tap Continue, then select Use Screen Time Passcode to create a passcode. Re-enter the passcode to confirm.
    Note:If you’re setting up Screen Time on your child’s device, follow the prompts until you get to Parent Passcode and enter a passcode. Then, re-enter the passcode to confirm.
  3. Tap Content & Privacy Restrictions. Enter your passcode if applicable, then turn on Content & Privacy.

Prevent web content:

  1. Go to Settings > Screen Time.
  2. Tap Content & Privacy Restrictions and enter your Screen Time passcode.
  3. Tap Content Restrictions, then tap Web Content.
  4. Choose Limit Adult Websites, or Allowed Websites Only.

Prevent iTunes & App Store purchase:

  1. Go to Settings > Screen Time.
  2. Select Content & Privacy Restrictions. If prompted, enter your passcode.
  3. Make your selections on which to Allow under Store Purchases & Redownloads.
  4. Select Always Require a password.

Prevent explicit content and content ratings:

  1. Go to Settings > Screen Time.
  2. Tap Content & Privacy Restrictions, then choose Content Restrictions.
  3. Choose the settings you want for each feature or setting under Allowed Store Content.

Learn more at Apple Support

Settings for Android 

Set up parental controls:

  1. Sign in with your own Google account or use their account if they have one.
  2. Launch the Play Store app and tap the three horizontal lines at the top left.
  3. Scroll down and select Settings, and scroll until you see Parental controls.
  4. Tap the Parental controls and create a PIN code. Re-enter the PIN.
  5. The setting will be turned on and you can then tap each category to set how restricting you’d like each category to be.

Use Family Link:

  1. Download the Family Link app on your device.
  2. Launch the app and select Get Started.
  3. Choose Start on the Set up Family Link screen and follow the prompts to progress through the setup.
  4. Answer a few questions about whether your child has a compatible device and select that you want to create a child’s account and to start a family group.
  5. Enter your child’s first and last names and press Next.
  6. Add their birthday and gender, then press Next.
  7. Choose a Gmail username and press Next.
  8. Then add a password and press Next.
  9. Agree to the Terms and Conditions and add credit card information.
  10. To add the account on your child’s device, start by turning on their phone and signing in using their account.
  11. Then enter your own Google password and press Next. Family Link will now be installed on your child’s device.

Computers

Windows 10

Blocking inappropriate apps, games and media:

  1. Head to this page and sign in with your Microsoft account.
  2. Set up a child account through Windows Settings. If you already have one, find your child’s name and choose Content Restrictions.
  3. Go to Apps, games & media and toggle Block inappropriate apps, games and media to On.
  4. Under Allow apps and games rated for, choose the age limit you’d like to apply for your child.
  5. When your child requests to access a blocked application or game, you can approve it by going to Content restrictions and adding it to the Always allowed list.
  6. In the case that your child downloaded something prior to these limitations, you can block it by going to the Activity page. Your child will need permission to use it again and you can approve or disapprove via email.

Blocking inappropriate websites:

  1. Sign into your Microsoft account using this page.
  2. Find your child’s name and click Content restrictions.
  3. Scroll to Web browsing and toggle Block inappropriate websites from off to On.
  4. For blocking specific sites, add their URLs under Always blocked.
  5. To limit your child to only browse specific websites, check the box next to Only allow these websites.

Apple

To enable internet content filtering:

  1. From the Apple menu, select System Preferences.
  2. Select Parental Controls.
  3. Choose the user account on the left side of the window that you want to enable filtering for (your child’s account).
    Note: Parental Controls cannot be enabled for administrator accounts. Make sure your child’s account has managed access and is not an admin.
  4. Select “Enable Parental Controls.”
  5. Click the Content tab.
  6. Choose one of the three modes under Website Restrictions (unrestricted, automatic, whitelist).

Chrome

  1. Sign into your Chromebook.
  2. Click on your account photo located in the lower right-hand corner of the screen.
  3. When the pop-out window appears, choose the gear-shaped icon for Settings.
  4. Scroll down to the section People and click Manage other users.
  5. The Users interface should be visible. Select a check mark next to the Enable supervised users setting. Then select Done to return to the previous screen.
  6. Click on your account photo again and select Sign out. Select Click More at the bottom of the screen with three vertical dots.
  7. Then select Add supervised user. Click Create supervised user.
  8. You’ll be prompted to choose the managing account for your new supervised user profile. Choose the desired account from the list and its password. Select Next to continue.
  9. Enter a name and password for the supervised user. Add an image and click Next.
  10. You now have a supervised profile and if successful, you’ll receive an email with more details.

Learn more at Chrome Support

Parental Control Chrome Extension

Internet Browsers

Safari

Listed above, safari parental control is the same as Mac OS parental controls.

Safari Additional Support

Google Chrome

  1. Log into your Google account.
  2. Click on the main menu button in the top right-hand corner with three vertical dots.
  3. Once the drop-down menu appears, select Settings.
  4. Select the section called People.
  5. Select Add person and select an image and a name for the new user.
  6. While creating this person, put a check in the checkbox next to Control and view the websites this person visits from [active user’s email address].
  7. Next, click on Add and a new Chrome window will open.
  8. Once the profile for your child is created, you’ll want to select Supervised Users Dashboard and click on My Child.
  9. Here you can add parental control settings in the Permissions section and choose to “lock” SafeSearch.

Learn more at Google Support

You can also see which sites your child visits in the Activity setting and approve/disapprove their requests to access sites.

Firefox

Firefox automatically checks the parental controls on your device and sets itself to Prefer:Safe mode. This will auto turn on the safety feature on each website your child visits as long as there are active parental controls on your computer. The feature can only be turned off through password-protected parental settings on your operating system. That way your child will not be able to deactivate this feature through the Firefox browser. Here are Firefox add-ons for parental control.

Learn more at Firefox Support

Google SafeSearch

  1. Go to the Google search engine.
  2. Go to Search Settings.
  3. Under “SafeSearch filters,” check the box next to “Turn on SafeSearch.”
  4. At the bottom of the page click Save.

Bing

  1. Visit https://www.bing.com/account.
  2. Under Search and SafeSearch toggle on Strict.
  3. At the bottom of the page click Save.

Yahoo

  1. Open the Yahoo search engine in a browser or open the Yahoo search app and sign in.
  2. Search for a term, then scroll down to Settings at the bottom left of the page.
  3. Click Settings.
  4. Select Preferences.
  5. Select your SafeSearch preference, then tap Done (if on iOS).

Video Streaming

YouTube

YouTube Kids has become available on both iOS and Android platforms. It is parental control enabled and filtered just for kids. YouTube Kids focuses its content on music, education and other categories. We recommend downloading this to their iPhones (if applicable) and/or keeping YouTube locked/passcode enabled if downloaded on your phone. If you still want to use the original YouTube app, follow these steps.

  1. Launch YouTube and sign in.
  2. Click on your profile picture on the top right of the screen and select Restricted Mode.
  3. It will then open a drop-down menu where you can toggle Restricted Mode on.
  4. For iOS, click on your profile and under Settings toggle on the Restricted Mode button. For Android users, the option can be found under Settings – General.

Netflix

For Netflix, there are a variety of controls that you can choose from. They have hard and soft controls that parents can set up along with maturity levels for each individual profile.

Here are the types of age-limiting parental controls:

  • Little Kids: Only shows and movies suited for “all ages” will be available.
  • Older Kids: Media rated all ages, 7+ and some 13+ will be available.
  • Teens: Movies and shows suitable for teens (13+) will be shown.
  • Adults: All listed media will be available.

Account-level hard controls:

  • Requiring a PIN for specific maturity ratings: Set a 4-digit PIN that is required to play any video content above a selected maturity level on any profile. The PIN ensures that your child doesn’t watch content rated above the selected maturity level.
  • Requiring a PIN for specific video content: Set a 4-digit PIN that must be entered to play specific video content on any profile. This ensures your child does not watch the particular video content.

Setting up your PIN:

  1. Go to your Account page from a web browser.
  2. Choose the link for Parental controls in the Settings section.
  3. Enter your Netflix credentials and select Continue.
  4. Enter four numbers into the PIN field — this will be your PIN.
  5. Set your PIN protection level from the following choices:
    • Little Kids: all ages
    • Older Kids: 7+, some 13+
    • Teens: 13+
    • Adults: 16+, 18+
  6. Choose Save.