How to Set Up Parental Controls on Your Kid’s iPhone (Screen Time Guide)

You don’t need a paid app to control what your kid does on an iPhone. Apple’s Screen Time covers app approvals, website filtering, daily limits, bedtime schedules and who your child can contact. In iOS 27 Apple redesigned these controls, so older guides may show different menus. These steps follow Apple’s support documentation. More guides are in our iPhone section.

Before you start: Family Sharing and a Child Account

Apple says Screen Time parental controls work best when three things are true:

• Family Sharing is set up on your iPhone, with you as the organizer or a parent/guardian.
• Your child has their own Child Account. Apple stresses that a child shouldn’t share an Apple Account with anyone else.
• Every device in the family is up to date. To get the new iOS 27 controls, Apple says every device in the Family Sharing group needs iOS 27 (or the matching iPadOS, macOS or watchOS version). If one device can’t update, you can keep using the previous version of Screen Time.

Apple also suggests adding the family organizer or another parent to your child’s contacts so their requests for approval reach you. If you’re handing over a brand-new iPhone, the setup screens ask whether it’s for you or a child. Choosing the child option is the easiest start.

How to set up parental controls on iPhone

1. On your own iPhone, open Settings.
2. Tap Family, then tap your child’s name.
3. Tap Screen Time and follow the onscreen instructions.
4. Go through each section below and choose settings that fit your child’s age.

Some of Apple’s pages start from Settings → Screen Time and have you pick your child under Family. Both routes lead to the same controls.

Lock it with a Screen Time passcode

Without a passcode, a determined kid can simply change the settings back. Apple says the parent must set this passcode on their own device, not the child’s.

1. Go to Settings → Family and tap your child’s name.
2. Tap Manage Screen Time, then Lock Screen Time Settings.
3. Enter a four-digit passcode twice. Don’t reuse the child’s phone passcode or anything they could guess, like a birthday.
4. Follow the prompts to set up passcode recovery with your Apple Account so you can reset it if you forget.

Your child can still see their Screen Time activity, but they can’t change anything without the code.

Control apps, purchases and websites

These live under Settings → Family → [child’s name] → Apps & Websites.

• Ask to Buy: tap Restrictions → Ask to Buy → Require Purchase Approval. Your child sends you a request before buying or downloading eligible apps, and you approve it from your phone.
• App Store: tap App Store and choose settings such as whether your child can install apps.
• Ask to Browse: tap Restrictions → Filtering → Approved Websites Only so new websites need your approval. Apple says Ask to Browse is on by default for children under 13.
• Adult websites: Apple says Limit Adult Websites is on by default for children under 18.
• Block a specific app or site: select it in Apps & Websites and choose to block it.

Age ratings and privacy settings

In Content & Privacy Restrictions, you can set age ratings for movies, TV, music, books and apps: Don’t Allow, Unrated, Allow All or a specific rating. You can also decide whether your child can change settings like Share My Location, and allow or block Siri features such as Writing Assistance and Image Creation. Game Center options, including Connect with Friends and Private Messaging, are under Apps & Websites → Restrictions.

Set time limits and a bedtime schedule

• Time Allowances: go to Settings → Family → [child’s name] → Time Allowances and tap Add. Apple describes setting a daily budget across categories like games, entertainment and social media, then fine-tuning each category.
• Screen Time Schedule: in the same place, turn on Schedule and tap Add Schedule. You choose which apps are available before school, during school and after school, with different routines for weekdays and weekends.
• Quick changes: Apple says you can pause device use, allow unlimited use or change the schedule for the day from the Screen Time settings.

Control who your child can contact

• Allowed Contacts: go to Settings → Family → [child’s name] → Allowed Contacts. Choose who your child can reach in Messages, FaceTime and Phone during Screen Time, and turn on Manage Contacts to control their contact list.
• New contacts need approval: Apple says if your child gets a message from someone new, they can’t see it until a parent in the family group approves.
• Communication Safety: turn it on under your child’s settings. Apple says it detects photos and videos containing nudity, gore or violence, including on live FaceTime calls, and gives your child age-appropriate guidance. Apple doesn’t get access to the photos or videos.

Strangers and scammers target kids through texts and calls too. Our guides to stopping spam texts and blocking spam calls cover the settings on your child’s phone.

If parental controls aren’t working

• New settings don’t appear: update every device in the family to the latest iOS, then update your parental controls for the family group as Apple describes.
• Settings don’t sync to your child’s phone: check that your child is signed in with their own Child Account, not yours, and that the account is in your Family Sharing group.
• Your child keeps getting around the limits: make sure a Screen Time passcode is set, and that they don’t know it.
• You forgot the Screen Time passcode: on your own iPhone, go to Settings → Screen Time, tap the child under Family, then Manage Screen Time → Change Screen Time Passcode. Apple says to do this from the parent’s device.
• Ask to Buy requests don’t arrive: add yourself to your child’s contacts, as Apple recommends.

Related guide: How to Set Up Google Family Link on Your Kid’s Android Phone.

FAQ

Sources

• Set up parental controls to manage your child's iPhone or iPad (Apple Support)
• Use Screen Time to manage your child's iPhone or iPad (Apple Support)
• Set, change, and manage a Screen Time passcode on your child’s device (Apple Support)
• If you forgot the Screen Time passcode for an iPhone or iPad (Apple Support)