If there’s one thing I’ve learned from having three kids at different life stages, it’s that parental controls are not a one-time job. They’re more like a living, breathing thing you have to revisit every few months as kids get older, devices change, and apps evolve. I set up Screen Time on my youngest’s iPad years ago, felt very pleased with myself, and then discovered roughly six weeks later that he’d simply tapped “Ignore Limit” every single time it appeared, because I hadn’t set a passcode. Brilliant. Dad of the year, right there.
The problem most parents face isn’t a lack of tools. There are actually excellent options across every major platform. The problem is knowing where to find them, what they actually do, and crucially, what they don’t do. Because there are some gaps that might surprise you. This guide covers the main platforms your kids are likely using: iOS, Android, Windows, Xbox, PlayStation, and streaming services. Let’s go through them properly.
Before You Start
A few things worth sorting before you dive in. Make sure you know the Apple ID, Google account, or Microsoft account login for each of your child’s devices. You’ll need admin or parent-level access to make changes. It’s also worth knowing your child’s date of birth as it appears on any linked accounts, because some platforms use that to determine what controls apply. On Apple in particular, this matters a lot. Finally, have your own device nearby if you’re setting up remote management, because most of these systems work by linking parent and child accounts together, not just by fiddling with settings on the child’s device alone.
Step 1: iOS — Apple Screen Time
Screen Time is the built-in parental control system on iPhones and iPads, and it’s genuinely comprehensive once you know your way around it.
Setting it up:
- On your child’s iPhone or iPad, go to Settings > Screen Time.
- Tap Turn On Screen Time, then tap This is My Child’s iPhone.
- You’ll be walked through setting up Downtime (the hours where the phone locks down) and App Limits (daily caps per app category or individual app).
- At the end of setup, you’ll be prompted to create a Screen Time Passcode. Do not skip this. Without it, your child will see an “Ignore Limit” button they can tap straight through. Set a four-digit code only you know.
Content and privacy settings:
Once Screen Time is active, go to Content & Privacy Restrictions and turn it on. From here you can block explicit websites in Safari, restrict app downloads by age rating, disable in-app purchases, and prevent your child from changing the device passcode or deleting apps. These are the settings most parents never find, but they’re some of the most useful.
Remote management via Family Sharing:
If you want to monitor and adjust settings from your own device without touching your child’s phone, you’ll need to set up Family Sharing. Go to Settings > [Your Name] > Family Sharing on your own iPhone or iPad, add your child using their Apple ID, and designate yourself as the parent or guardian. Once that’s linked, you can view Screen Time reports and push limit changes remotely.
One important note: the birthday on your child’s Apple ID determines whether controls apply at all. If it shows them as 18 or over, Apple treats them as an adult and parental controls won’t work, regardless of what you set up. Double-check that in their account settings.
What Screen Time can’t do:
It’s worth being honest about the gaps. Screen Time won’t show you what your child searched for or watched inside the YouTube app. It can block YouTube entirely or redirect to YouTube Kids, but it has no visibility into viewing history within the app itself. There’s also no keyword monitoring in messages and no automated location alerts. Find My handles location sharing, but you have to open it manually to check.
Step 2: Android — Google Family Link
Google’s answer to Screen Time is Family Link, and it’s had a solid update in 2025 with a redesigned interface that makes things considerably easier to navigate.
Setting it up:
- Download the Google Family Link app on your own Android phone.
- Open it and tap Get Started, then follow the steps to add your child’s Google account. If they don’t have one, you can create a supervised account during setup.
- Once linked, you’ll land on the parent dashboard, which now has a dedicated Screen Time tab for managing daily limits and Downtime, and a Controls tab for content filters and app permissions.
Key settings to configure:
- App approvals: Under the Controls tab, set it so your child needs your approval before downloading anything from Google Play. Worth noting: app updates don’t require approval, so check in periodically to review any expanded permissions.
- Content filters: Restrict mature content on Google Play and set Safe Search on Google.
- Screen time limits: You can set daily limits and a bedtime schedule. Be aware that limits are per-device, not cumulative. If you set two hours and your child has both a phone and a tablet linked to their account, they get two hours on each.
- School Time: Rolled out in early 2025, this feature lets you lock down the phone during school hours to reduce distractions. Find it in the Screen Time tab.
- Contacts: Google has introduced the ability to approve contacts for calls and texts directly from Family Link. This applies to the standard Google Messages and dialler apps, but not third-party messaging apps, so it’s not a complete communication lock.
From August 2025, Android devices also have a Parental Controls option built directly into the main Settings menu, which makes it easier to find everything in one place without hunting through the Family Link app.
Step 3: Windows — Microsoft Family Safety
On Windows PCs, parental controls run through your Microsoft account and the Microsoft Family Safety app.
- Go to account.microsoft.com/family and sign in with your Microsoft account.
- Add your child’s Microsoft account to your family group. If they don’t have one, you can create a child account here.
- Once added, you can set screen time schedules, view activity reports (apps used, websites visited, search history on Edge), restrict content by age rating on Xbox and in the Microsoft Store, and set spending limits.
- For web filtering, Edge will enforce content restrictions, but Chrome and other browsers installed on the device won’t be automatically filtered. Either remove other browsers or use additional software if this is a concern.
Step 4: Xbox — Family Settings
Xbox has its own family controls, and they’re worth setting up separately even if you’ve already sorted Windows.
- On the Xbox, go to Settings > Account > Family Settings.
- Alternatively, use the Xbox Family Settings app on your phone for remote management, which is honestly the easier route.
- From the app, you can set content filters by age rating, limit screen time by day, require approval for purchases, and view what your child has been playing.
- Make sure your child is signed in to their own Microsoft account on the console, not a guest profile, or the restrictions won’t apply.
Step 5: PlayStation — PlayStation Family Management
For the PS5 (and PS4), parental controls are managed through your PlayStation Network account.
- Go to family.playstation.com and log in with your PSN account.
- Add your child as a family member and set them as a Child account.
- From the family management dashboard, you can set monthly spending limits, restrict content by age rating, limit playtime by day of the week, and control who your child can communicate with online.
- On the console itself, a System Restrictions passcode (separate from your account password) prevents your child from changing these settings locally.
Step 6: Streaming Services
The big streaming services all have parental controls, though they vary in how useful they actually are.
- Netflix: Go to Account > Profile & Parental Controls, select your child’s profile, and set a maturity rating and a profile lock PIN.
- Disney+: Go to Edit Profiles on your child’s profile and set a content rating and a profile PIN.
- Amazon Prime Video: Go to Account & Settings > Parental Controls and set a PIN for purchases and a content restriction level. You can also restrict specific titles.
- YouTube: The safest option for younger kids is to switch them to the YouTube Kids app entirely, which has its own content filter settings. On the main YouTube app, Restricted Mode can be turned on, but it’s not foolproof.
- Spotify: For younger children, Spotify has a kids’ playlist mode, but there’s no robust parental lock on the main app. Consider whether they need access to the full library or just family-friendly playlists.
If It’s Still Not Working
Screen Time limits are being bypassed: Almost always because the Screen Time passcode wasn’t set, or the child knows it. Change the passcode in Settings > Screen Time > Change Screen Time Passcode.
Family Link controls aren’t applying on Android: Check the child’s account is properly linked and that the device is actively supervised. Go into Family Link, tap the child’s name, and confirm device supervision is shown as active.
Xbox restrictions are being ignored: The child is probably signed in as a guest or on a different profile. Make sure they only have access to their own supervised account on the console, and consider adding a sign-in PIN to lock other profiles.
Wrapping Up
Once you’ve gone through this, you should have solid baseline controls across every device in the house. It takes a bit of time the first time around, but once it’s set up, remote management from the Family Link and Xbox Family Settings apps makes ongoing tweaks much easier. As kids get older, some of these settings will need loosening, which is a much nicer problem to have than the alternative. If something isn’t working as expected, drop me a message or post in the newsletter community where there are plenty of other parents who’ve hit the same walls.
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