Raising safe, smart digital kids.

A Child Account links your child’s Apple ID to yours so you can manage Screen Time, approve purchases and share location. Children under 13 must use a Child Account.

Manage it from your own iPhone, or on their device choose “This is My Child’s iPhone”. Use a Screen Time passcode that is different from the device passcode so settings can’t be changed.

Downtime blocks everything except calls and apps you allow — perfect for bedtime and homework. App Limits cap daily time on categories like Games or Social.

Choose age ratings for apps, films, TV and books. Under Web Content pick “Limit Adult Websites” or “Allowed Websites Only” for younger kids.

Every download — including free apps — sends a request to your phone, so nothing gets installed without you seeing it first.

Limit calls, Messages and FaceTime to contacts only, and decide whether your child can edit their own contacts.

Detects and blurs nude images in Messages, AirDrop and FaceTime before your child sees them and offers ways to get help. On by default for Child Accounts under 13 — make sure it stays on for teens too.

Set AirDrop to “Contacts Only” or “Receiving Off” so strangers can’t send images. In Game Center, restrict multiplayer and private messaging to friends only.

Set Passcode Changes and Account Changes to “Don’t Allow” so your rules stay in place.

Turn off “Allow Apps to Request to Track”, switch off Precise Location for apps that don’t need it, and share location with family only via Find My.

Create a Google Account for children under 13 (supervision is required), or add supervision to an existing teen account — teens must agree, which is a great conversation opener.

Set app, game, film and book ratings by age and choose “Require approval” for all content so new apps need your OK.

Pick a daily allowance and a downtime window. School time silences distractions during lessons while still allowing calls to you.

Give a single app a time cap, mark essentials (like Phone or Maps) as “Always allowed”, or block an app completely.

Choose “Try to block explicit sites” or “Only allow approved sites”. SafeSearch is on by default for supervised accounts.

Use YouTube Kids for younger children, or a supervised YouTube experience (Explore, Explore More, or Most of YouTube) as they grow.

Review which apps can use the camera, microphone, contacts and location — and switch off anything that doesn’t need it.

Supervised accounts can’t sideload apps from outside the Play Store. Confirm Play Protect scanning is on to catch harmful apps.

See your child’s device on a map and get arrival/departure notifications for places like school.

Many phones (e.g. Samsung, Pixel) add extras like Focus modes or a dedicated kids’ space. Use them alongside Family Link, not instead of it.

Teens under 18 are placed into Teen Accounts: private by default, stricter messaging and the most limited sensitive-content settings. Under-16s need a parent’s permission to loosen these.

Either of you can send the invite. Once accepted, you can see who they follow and who follows them, who they’ve messaged in the last 7 days (not the messages themselves), set daily time limits and approve setting changes.

Only approved followers see posts, Stories and Reels. Encourage your teen to only accept people they know in real life.

Teen Accounts limit messages to people they follow or are already connected to. Review message requests together and keep this setting tight.

Make sure live location sharing on the Map is off and talk about not tagging locations (school, home, gym) in posts or Stories.

Automatically hides offensive comments and message requests. Add custom words (nicknames, insults) that are used to target your child.

Only allow tags and mentions from people they follow, and turn on manual approval for tags.

Set a daily limit and scheduled breaks. Sleep mode (10 pm – 7 am by default) mutes notifications overnight.

Turn on 2FA with an authenticator app and teach your teen never to share login codes — “vote for me” and “verify your account” DMs are common hijack scams.

Restrict quietly limits a bully without them knowing. Block stops all contact. Report sends it to Instagram for review — screenshot first.

A guided tour of who can see their posts, profile info and contact details. Do it side by side — it’s a natural way to talk about privacy.

See your teen’s friend list and time spent, set time limits and scheduled breaks, and get notified about changes to key settings. Messenger supervision is managed from the same place.

Set “Who can see your future posts?” to Friends and use “Limit past posts” to hide anything previously public.

Friend requests: Friends of friends. Look-up by email or phone: Only me. Turn off search engines linking to their profile.

Remove school, hometown, birth year, phone number and relationship info from public view. These are exactly what groomers and scammers look for.

Turn on review for posts they’re tagged in before they appear on their profile.

Send messages from people they don’t know to Message Requests (or don’t receive them at all). Teen Accounts already restrict who can message them.

Switch off location history and avoid check-ins. Make sure live location in Messenger isn’t shared with anyone outside the family.

Turn on two-factor authentication and login alerts, and check “Where you’re logged in” for unfamiliar devices.

Public groups expose teens to adults they don’t know. Review which groups they’ve joined and talk about buy/sell scams on Marketplace.

Choose “My Contacts” or “My Contacts Except…”. Unknown group invites are a major source of scams, spam and inappropriate content.

Calls from numbers not in their contacts are silenced automatically but still show in the call list.

Set Last Seen & Online, Profile Photo, About and Status to “My Contacts” (or “Nobody”). Consider turning Read Receipts off to reduce pressure to reply instantly.

Make sure they aren’t sharing live location in any chat. Agree that location is shared with family only.

Prevents unwanted images or videos from landing in your child’s camera roll (and cloud backups) without them choosing to save them.

Disappearing messages can erase evidence of bullying or grooming. Keep the default timer off and explain why screenshots matter.

Set a 6-digit PIN. Teach your child: never share the 6-digit SMS code — “I sent you my code by mistake” is a classic takeover scam.

Turn on “Protect IP address in calls” and consider disabling link previews. Run Privacy Checkup for a guided review.

Channels broadcast content from people your child doesn’t know. Look at what they follow together and unfollow anything unsuitable.

Reporting sends recent messages to WhatsApp for review. Screenshot first, then block. Leaving a group quietly is always allowed.