The Complete Guide to Apple iOS Parental Controls
Updated for the most recent iOS – October 3, 2024
***NOTE – for about 18 months, Apple’s Screen Time has been dealing with a bug that causes parent and child accounts to disconnect. We’ve been told they’re working on it but this is extremely frustrating for many parents.
Related posts about iOS parental controls – don’t worry, a summary of these bulleted posts is included below if you don’t want to click around:
- iPhone Hacks Every Teen Knows (featured: Washington Post)
- What is Cyberflashing? (iOS AirDrop)
- How to make your iPhone more Private
What’s Better – Apple (iPhone) or Android Parental Controls?
- Android devices are cheaper.
- Apple devices are typically seen as “more cool” by kids.
- Android’s operating system makes it much easier for a solution like Bark to monitor Snapchat and Instagram’s direct messages (DMs), Instagram’s search (Explore) feature, and deleted text messages. All of these activities are either impossible or, in the case of deleted iMessages on an iPhone, more difficult and less accurate.
- Although both come with nice parental controls (Screen Time for iOS and Family Link for Android), the most recent version of Screen Time is so buggy that we now prefer Family Link [Related article: 12 iOS Screen Time Hacks, picked up by the Washington Post].
- Android’s Safe Mode is unfortunately a very effective parental control circumvention and only a few parental control solutions flag when it’s being used. We’ve been told that encrypting the Android phone might solve this issue by requiring a password.
Guard your iPhone with Layers
We believe multiple layers should be in place to adequately protect any internet-ready device.
We recommend 4 Layers of iPhone protection:
- Layer 1: Guard the location of the iOS device.
- Layer 2: Love your router (WiFi)!
- Layer 3: Use clean DNS on the iPhone or iPad.
- Layer 4: Use Apple’s Screen Time on the iOS device.
(Tap the image for more, free information)
Layer 1: Guard the Location of the iPhone or iPad.
Remember, where kids use technology often dictates how they use their technology. We have strong opinions about controlling where kids use their tech. For example, let’s keep all internet-ready devices out of bedrooms at night, where kids take more risks, and sleep is constantly interrupted.
Just know that the combination of boredom, bedrooms, and darkness (the Toxic Trio) can be tempting spots to make bad digital choices (whether you’re 14 or 40 years old!).
Related post: The 5 Worst Places for a Kid to be Online
Layer 2: Love your WiFi (router)!
The Router is the most important digital hardware in the house! And, it’s often the most ignored. We joke that routers are the social distance champions of technology. But, get this part of your internet safety plan correct! You are responsible for every digital click on your home’s network, so be sure to control the router.
Popular options for parents are:
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- Gryphon Advance Security & Parental Controls router. We have enjoyed the Gryphon. Top-notch set of parental controls. This is the router used by our CEO, Chris, with his four children. It gives you time control, YouTube Restricted Mode, and more. Easy set-up and a parent app that allows you to pause the internet with one touch.
- OR, if you love your current router, consider Bark Home. It acts as an accessory to your router, giving you stronger parental controls over your home’s network. It’s not a router, but connects to your router. Easy-to-use app for you to exert screen time and app control over your kid, but weak on content (porn) with a motivated kid.
Tap/click the image to head over to Gryphon. We’re affiliates because they’re great! You pay the same.
**Bonus content – we tested the best routers out there and here’s WHY we picked Gryphon.
Layer 3: Use Clean DNS on the iPhone or iPad.
Depending on what you decide in Layer 2, this next layer might be unnecessary.
- If you have a Bark Home or Circle attached to your existing router, then skip Layer 3 and go to Layer 4.
- If you purchased a Gryphon, then skip Layer 3 and go to Layer 4.
- If you don’t have Circle or a router with parental controls like Gryphon, then implement clean DNS below to help with iOS parental controls.
Note – this layer talks about DNS, which stands for the Domain Name System. Every time you use an internet-connected device, it connects to servers located all over the world to find the information you’re searching for. Using Clean DNS means that you can tell your internet-connected devices to only go looking for answers in CLEAN servers.
The two most popular clean DNS services are CleanBrowsing (our preferred service) and OpenDNS. Both are free.
If you would like a super-detailed explanation of how Clean DNS works, please read our popular post How to Block Porn on Any Devices for Free. But if you feel good about what you already know, please continue below!
Download the CleanBrowsing app to force porn blocking on every WiFi network the phone might use! It’s really handy.
But, what about when the device is using data instead of WiFi?
- If you have a Circle attached to your existing router, then Circle’s VPN service takes your home network settings and applies them to the data usage.
- If you purchased a Gryphon, then you’ll want to use their Homebound VPN service, which does the same thing as Circle, applying your home network’s controls to the data usage.
- If you don’t use Circle or Gryphon, then CleanBrowsing’s app will apply the clean DNS settings to both WiFi and data usage.
Unfortunately, there is still a way for a kid to toggle off the VPN on the iPhone, which disables Circle, Gryphon, and CleanBrowsing. Just so that you’re aware, it’s done by following: Settings -> General -> VPN -> the little “i” next to CleanBrowsing -> “Connect on Demand” turned to off. For now, there’s nothing we can do about this loophole other than making it very clear to kids that toggling off the VPN carries consequences. Eventually, they’ll get caught.
Layer 4: Use Apple’s Screen Time on the iOS Device.
Why would I use Screen Time if I’ve done the steps above?
That’s a super logical question.
- If you choose NOT to use either of the VPN services that come with Gryphon or Circle, then you would want something to control the device when it’s using data and not attached to WiFi at your home.
- Some parents might not fully trust their kids against toggling off the VPN for Gryphon or Circle.
- If you don’t have Gryphon or a filtered router and are using CleanBrowsing clean DNS on the iPhone, remember that CleanBrowsing only controls explicit content. It doesn’t help with App Store access, screen time, time of day controls, etc. Screen Time can do these things.
- Screen Time iOS parental control is just a good “double layer” in case something fails with Circle, Gryphon, or CleanBrowsing.
How do I set up Screen Time on an iPhone or iPad?
Screen Time Setup Phase 1 – Establish Family Sharing
*Note: if your child is already part of your Family Sharing, then skip down to (11) below.
Getting the most out of Screen Time iOS parental controls starts with understanding Apple’s Family Sharing feature. On a parent phone, you’ll want to establish a parent as the “Organizer,” for the family, who functions as the Administrator.
Step 1 – Select “Settings.” Step 2 – Click on your Apple ID on the top. Step 3 – Click “Family” and then follow steps 4-6 below.
Step 6 – **IMPORTANT** Apple pays close attention to the birthday attached to your child’s Apple ID, so make sure it’s correct.
For example: if you attempt to add someone as a “child” in Family Sharing, but you set the birthday to 20, Apple will classify them as an adult. You cannot exert any Screen Time controls over anyone ≥18 according to the birthday on their Apple ID.
Screen Time Setup Phase 2 – Set-up Screen Time Features
Click back into Settings and then Screen Time (Step 7). You should see the child you just added (Step 8) and then you’ll want to enable the various Screen Time for that child (Steps 9-10) by tapping through the options provided by Apple.
Now, when you tap on your child’s name in Screen Time on your phone (step 11), you can see each of the Screen Time options, which you can refine further (step 12):
**Special Note – I had one parent ask us this, “In Our Pact, I can just shut down my kid’s apps, which I love. Can I do that in Screen Time?”
The answer is, “YES!” You can now “turn on Downtime until scheduled.” It’s not as easy as the OurPact button, but it does the job.
As shown in step 13, Downtime, App Limits, Always Allowed, and Screen Distance can be refined. For example, you might want to “brick” the phone by setting Downtime at night. You might do the same thing during the school day, only allowing certain key communication apps in Always Allowed.
The steps shown in 14 below are key controls related to content – turning the App Store off and on, blocking adult content in Safari (the browser – looks like a compass), and even turning Safari off if you have a new iPhone user.
Communication Limits are aimed at curbing strangers (tricky people) from contacting kids.
In Communication Safety, you can block nudity in images attached to texts (iMessage).
If Communication Safety detects nudity, the Screen Time passcode must be entered on the child’s device to view it. Communication Safety will not proactively notify the Family Organizer (in Family Sharing) that a child attempted to view or send a sensitive image, but it will require that the Family Organizer enter the Screen Time passcode on the child’s device.
In step 15 below, we control CONTENT, which is very important.
In iTunes & App Store Purchases, we recommend either turning OFF the App Store or using these settings:
- Installing Apps – Allow (if you want kids to be able to search the App Store, which has some concerns)*
- Deleting Apps – Don’t Allow
- In-app Purchases – Don’t Allow
*If you allow “Installing Apps,” be sure to see the steps at the bottom in 17-19 where you can set it up so you approve any app before it’s downloaded.
Under Allowed Apps & Features, you might want to toggle off certain apps, like Safari (browsers) and AirDrop (due to cyber flashing concerns).
Under Store, Web, Siri & Game Center Content, Apple has crammed a ton of toggles that are important to parents. See steps 16-17 below for more information.
But, before you go to step 16, be sure to prevent account changes as shown in the image below! Changing the account means allowing a different Apple ID to be loaded onto the device, which circumvents everything you’ve set up. We don’t think this should even be an option on a device with an Apple ID that’s a minor, but Apple doesn’t make it easy.
After tapping Store, Web, Siri & Game Center Content, you open up a list of items you can control, as shown in step 16 below. You can control ratings for Music, Podcasts, Movies, Apps, and others. Make whatever selections you think work for your kid. Then, click “Web Content” in the middle. This is how you apply Apple’s explicit content filtering in Safari and in many (not all) hidden browsers.
Click “Limit Adult Websites” as in step 17 above and now we provide the following list of websites that should be added to the “Never Allow” list because these sites contain tons of explicit content but aren’t filtered by Screen Time (for some reason).
- AOL.com (search engine)
- Qwant.com (search engine)
- Gibiru.com (search engine)
- Yandex.com, Yandex.ru, and Yandex.com.tr (Russian search engine)
- Dogpile.com (search engine)
- Deviantart.com (Art community with so much porn)
- DuckDuckGo (bad Safe Search)
- Startpage.com (search engine)
- Reddit.com (explicit forum)
- Quora.com (explicit forum)
- Instagram.com (full search from the web)
- VK.com (social media)
- Pinterest.com (if you’re super careful)
- Joyreactor.com (porn in memes)
- Archive.org (screenshots of the web)
- Pholder.com (porn in memes)
- Twitter.com (horrible content)
- Omegle.com (random adult cams)
- Chatroulette.com (random adult cams)
- Flickr.com (explicit photos)
- Tumblr.com (explicit photos)
- Thechive.com (explicit content)
- Toomics.com (anime explicit)
- https://www.youtube.com (if you want to completely limit YouTube access, even if someone sends a video link in an iMessage – text). You have to type it in exactly how it is here.
With “Limit Adult Websites” enabled, you cannot delete Safari’s search history. This means parents can inspect the types of websites and searches kids are attempting by clicking the Safari app -> then the Book icon in the bottom menu of Safari -> then the clock option at the top, right. You’ll notice the little “Clear” option in the lower right is greyed out, since “Limit Adult Websites” is enabled.
NOTE: If you want to toggle off Safari altogether, a super-safe, porn-blocking, free browser you might consider is the SPIN browser from Boomerang.
If you have allowed the App Store under step 15 in iTunes & App Store Purchases, then we want to ensure you are allowed to APPROVE apps before they’re downloaded. The App Store has mature apps. No porn or extreme violence is in the app listings. But some apps are suggestive. Nonetheless, if parents allow kids to browse the App Store, we still encourage parents to set it so they have to APPROVE any downloads. Here’s how:
- First, go back to Settings, and at the top, tap on Family under your Apple ID.
- Then tap on the name of the child you’re attempting to control.
- **IMPORTANT** Scroll down a bit until you see Ask To Buy. You want to enable this.
How to view your child’s app downloads remotely:
Most parents who have selected “Ask to Buy” will know what their kids have downloaded, but if you want to review the apps on your child’s phone, and you’ve added them to via Family Sharing above, then you can do that remotely from your iPhone following the steps below:
How to Control iMessages (Texting) on an iPhone
The biggest reasons kids ask for an iPod Touch are for texting with their friends and downloading and listening to their favorite music. Anyone with an iPod can iMessage (Apple’s word for text) anyone else with an Apple device while connected to WiFi. Unlimited and free! Here is an Apple article explaining how iMessage works. If you want to monitor your kid’s iMessage activity, here are two good articles with some savvy tips:
Bark, which we mentioned above, also monitors iMessages for inappropriate words and phrases and then alerts parents so that they can get involved at the right time. It’s pretty great!
Try Bark -> Free for 7 days! Follow this link.
How do I Guard my Privacy on an iPhone?
iPhones are fairly private devices but you can make them even more private by enabling a few important toggles.
Go to: Settings (gear) App -> Screen Time -> Content & Privacy Restrictions -> Location Services -> then ensure each app is how you want it. For any app where you allow “Ask, While Using, or Always” location tracking, there’s a toggle for Precise Location. Once you have everything how you want it, be sure to select Don’t Allow Changes at the top.
For a more comprehensive list of privacy settings, please read our in-depth post: iPhone Privacy
Do I need any other Parental Controls on my kid’s iPhone?
It depends on your situation. As you can see from above, if you get the router right and enable Screen Time, along with great conversations with your kids, that’s probably enough. If you think you need more, older kids might benefit from Covenant Eyes. Other kids might benefit from the stricter parental controls that Bark also offers.
Cell phone providers have their parental control services, too. Families using Circle or Gryphon sometimes prefer layering the cell service provider controls when the phone is using data since toggling off the VPN for Circle and Gryphon is easy. Here are links to each:
What if I have more questions? How can I stay up to date?
Two actions you can take!
- Subscribe to our tech trends newsletter, the PYE Download. About every 3 weeks, we’ll share what’s new, what the PYE team is up to, and a message from Chris.
- Ask your questions in our private parent community called The Table! It’s not another Facebook group. No ads, no algorithms, no asterisks. Just honest, critical conversations and deep learning! For parents who want to “go slow” together. Become a member today!
*There are affiliate links throughout this post because we’ve tested and trusted a small list of parental control solutions. Our work saves you time! If you decide that you agree with us, then we may earn a small commission, which does nothing to your price. Enjoy!