Lock Down Your Kid’s iPhone With These New Parental Controls

Whether you like it or not, it is now the norm for kids to have their own iPhones.

Luckily,yourchilds iPhone wont be that.

The first step is to add your kid to Family Sharing.

On iOS 16, openSettings > Family, then tap theAdd Memberbutton in the top right.

Choose Create Child Account, then tap Continue.

On both platforms, it’s possible for you to follow the on-screen instructions to set up the account.

While everything is self-explanatory, check that you choose the right age for your child.

TapInvite Others, then follow the on-screen instructions.

Setting up your childs iPhone

To start, pry your kids iPhone away from them.

On their phone, go toSettings > Screen Time.

The first step is to set up downtime.

You choose those soon.

To create a downtime schedule for your kid, tap the toggle next to Scheduled.

Here, you might choose how to customize this schedule.

Its really whatever works best for your kids schedule.

This option lets you choose how long your kid has access to each app on their iPhone per day.

Check out App Limits, then choose Add Limit.

Here, categories pop up for all apps on your childs iPhone.

Lets say youre applying a limit to all Social apps, including Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat.

Tap its circle to highlight the category, then tap Next.

Now, choose a length of time youd like to grant for Social apps.

Youll have the option to apply this chosen limit to every day, or customize times for each day.

For example, you might want to give two hours a day on weekends instead of one.

Youll see this request come through as a standard notification on your iPhone.

To start, check that Contacts on iCloud is enabled.

However, even the most restricted iPhone likely needssomefeatures enabled at all times.

You dont want your kid unable to call or messageyouduring downtime, after all.

Thats what the Always Allowed setting is all about.

Of course, you could choose to allow very few contacts and apps into this list.

The Contacts section here is the same controls menu as During Downtime above.

The apps, however, are new.

One setting that shouldnotgo under the radar, though isWeb ContentinContent Restrictions.

AnotherScreen Timesetting,communication safetyconstantly checks for any nude photos being sent to your child.

Ask to Buy can help with that.

you might approve or deny the request then and there.

To set it up, go toSettings > Your Name > Family Sharing, then tap your kids name.

Tap Ask to Buy, then follow the on-screen instructions.