How to set up Screen Time

Buying a smartphone for your kid is just the beginning… now what? In a perfect world, we’d hand them over and let it go, but the reality is there’s a lot of content on these phones that they now have access to… stuff that’s way more than they should be handling.

The good news is that there is help available for parents who want to keep their kids safe as they go through life in a digital age.

Below we’ve given you the steps you need to take… whether you want to block access to certain kinds of content, restrict screen time, place limits on apps, or more. We encourage you to sit down with your kids and talk through their tech use and figure out which limits are best for your family, and then use these following steps to make sure the safeguards are in place for you and your family.

The steps below are great for adults as well, to help keep us in check!

Step 1: Setup Family Sharing on your devices

Family Sharing allows you to control screen time settings on your children’s devices, as well as allows you to share purchases, such as apps and music.

On the parent’s device:

  • Tap the Settings icon.
  • Tap your Apple ID.
  • Tap Set Up Family Sharing (this is the option you’ll see if you don’t have a family group set up already).
  • Tap Add Member, and then tap Create an Account for a Child. Then follow the prompts to create the account and read the privacy agreement.
  • Go back to the Family Sharing page, tap Screen Time, and then tap Add Child.
  • Enter your kid’s Apple ID and a password. Note: This is their Apple ID password, not the one you’ll use to control Screen Time.

On your kid’s device, make sure to enter the Apple ID you’ve created.

Step 2: Use Screen Time on your device to set various limitations on your child’s device.

After you have set up your Family Sharing, you can now control a variety of restrictions on your child’s device, from your device. Below is a list of different types of restrictions you can choose to enable, and a guide on how to enable each restriction.

Ask to Buy

This feature requires your permission for any app your child wants to download or purchase. (Note: By default, kids under 13 have to ask to buy or download if they’re part of Family Sharing. Parents have the option to set up Ask to Buy for kids under 18.)

On the parent’s device:

  • Tap Settings.
  • Tap your Apple ID.
  • Tap Family Sharing.
  • Tap your kid’s name.
  • Tap Ask to Buy.

Downtime

This feature allows you to determine when your child’s device is blocked. This is usually applied during bedtime.

On the parent’s device:

  • Tap Settings.
  • Tap Screen Time.
  • Tap your kid’s name.
  • Tap Downtime.
  • Set a start and end time. Your kid will get a reminder five minute before Downtime starts.
  • Toggle on Block at Downtime.

App Limits

This feature allows you to limit access to “types” of apps (e.g. games) or individual apps (e.g. Instagram).

On the parent’s device:

  • Tap Settings.
  • Tap Screen Time.
  • Tap your kid’s name.
  • Tap App Limits.
  • Tap Add Limit.
  • Tap the circle next to the app categories you want to limit or tap All Apps & Categories.
  • For a specific app, tap a category to access a drop-down menu of specific apps and websites that fall into that category.
  • Tap Next.
  • Set a time, and Customize Days will appear.
  • Tap Customize Days to set specific limits for certain days.
  • Tap the name of the category or app to go back one page.
  • Toggle on Block at End of Limit if you’re setting up Screen Time on your kid’s device.

Communication Limits

This feature allows you to control your child’s contact list. It also allows you to determine who they can contact during Downtime and prevent them from making changes. This will not prevent them from friending people on social media apps, but it will limit the people they can communicate with via phone, Message, AirDrop, and FaceTime.

On the parent’s device:

  • Tap Settings.
  • Tap Screen Time.
  • Tap your kid’s name.
  • Tap Communication Limits.
  • Toggle off Allow Contact Editing if you don’t want your kid to make changes.
  • Tap During Screen Time to limit the people your kid can communicate with during their allowed Screen Time.
  • Make your selections (Contacts Only, Contacts & Groups, or Everyone).
  • On the Communications Limits page, tap During Downtime.
  • Tap Specific Contacts to limit who your kid can call during Downtime.
  • Tap Add Contacts.
  • Tap Choose From Your Contacts and make selections.

Content and Privacy Restrictions

This feature allows you to limit content such as websites, music, videos, apps and in app purchases. This will not prevent your child from ever seeing or hearing anything objectionable, but it will limit their direct access on their own device.

On the parent’s device:

  • Tap Settings.
  • Tap Screen Time.
  • Tap your kid’s name.
  • Tap Content & Privacy Restrictions.
  • Tap Content Restrictions.
  • Choose your settings for the level of mature content your kid can see in music, movies, apps, podcasts, news, and more.
  • On the Content Restrictions screen, tap Web Content to choose settings limiting access to adult websites or to create a list of websites you’ll allow.
  • Tap on Web Search Content and Explicit Language to control the search results Siri delivers.
  • Tap Multiplayer Games if you want to control access to them.

Passcode Changes

This feature blocks your child’s ability to change their password that unlocks their device.

On the parent’s device:

  • Tap Settings.
  • Tap Screen Time.
  • Tap your kid’s name.
  • Tap Content & Privacy Restrictions.
  • Scroll down to Allow Changes.
  • Tap Passcode Changes.
  • Tap Don’t Allow.
  • Explore the other settings to see if there are other settings you want to lock.

Location Services

On the child’s device:

  • Tap Settings.
  • Tap Screen Time.
  • Tap Content & Privacy Restrictions.
  • Tap Location Services and make sure it’s toggled on (green).
  • Tap Share My Location and toggle it on if you want to see your kid’s location.
  • Tap Don’t Allow Changes if you don’t want your kid to be able to change these settings.
  • Tap other app titles to control whether or not those apps can access your kid’s location.
  • Tap the Find My.
  • Tap Allow While Using App.
  • Go back to the home screen and tap the Find My app. Tap People or Devices to see their locations.

Always Allowed

This feature allows you to choose what apps are still able to be used during Downtime.

On the parent’s device:

  • Tap Settings.
  • Tap Screen Time.
  • Tap your kid’s name.
  • Tap Always Allowed.
  • Tap the green plus sign next to the apps you want your kids to be able to access during Downtime.