Apple already built the controls. Screen Time carries them across iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch. We walk you through every one, screen by screen, on real iOS screenshots we re-verify each release. Pick your child's age to start.
Create your free account Try the first three screens ↓We'll walk you through every setting, step by step, screen by screen, on real iOS screenshots.
Research increasingly shows that unrestricted smartphone access impacts children's wellbeing. Whatever age you decide is right for your child to have a phone, this guided walkthrough helps you configure it securely, putting you in control of what they can access.
No account needed for the first three screens. Nothing is saved until you create one.
A full setup runs up to 30 settings deep, and they move every iOS release. Miss one and a kid can bypass what you just turned on. The account keeps your place, remembers each kid's device, and flags when Apple moves a setting you already configured.
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settings in a complete setup, from Family Sharing to Find My. Most parents stop after the first five.
apps installed on your child's devices. Everything is built into iOS, behind a passcode only you know.
screenshots re-captured and re-verified against the current iOS, and dated, so you know.
for the account and every guide on the site. No ads. Your data isn't the product.
Everything below is already built into your child's devices: nothing to download. Most of it carries to their Apple Watch automatically; we tag where each control lives. Tap any card to create your account and get the full walkthrough.
Daily time caps for games, social, or any single app, enforced by the device itself.
Scheduled hours when their devices go quiet, with only the apps and people you allow.
Block adult websites and explicit content at the system level, across Safari and apps.
Blurs nude photos and videos before your kid sees them, in Messages, AirDrop, and FaceTime. Analyzed on the device; nothing leaves it.
Approved contacts only in Phone, Messages, and FaceTime, during school hours or always. Third-party chat apps get handled by age ratings and app limits.
New apps and in-app purchases go to your phone for approval before they go through. Ask to Buy is built in. No surprise charges.
Enforce age ratings for apps, movies, music, and web content automatically.
A separate Screen Time passcode, set by you and known only to you, is required to change any rule.
Rules follow your child's Apple Account: set them once and they apply on every device they sign into: iPhone, iPad, and Mac, with their Apple Watch managed right alongside.
No app for your child to find, resent, or work around. No company scanning their texts on a server. Nothing to uninstall or hide. The rules are part of the operating system, behind a passcode only you know.
Create your free accountEvery walkthrough uses real, current-iOS screens, re-captured and re-verified each release, and dated, so you know.
We don't replace Screen Time. We make it usable. When Apple improves it, so do we.
No ads. We don't sell data, ours or yours. That's the whole point of us.
The account is free to create, and every guide and walkthrough on this site is free with it, and that doesn't change. This winter we're launching a companion iOS app as a monthly subscription, with features that go beyond the website, like tracking setup progress across each of your kids' devices and alerts when an iOS update moves a setting. The app is optional; the site stays free.
The account is what makes the guides usable instead of just readable: it saves your place mid-walkthrough, remembers which of your kids' devices you've finished, and lets us flag when an iOS update moves a setting you've already configured. No account, no memory. That's the whole trade.
No. We take a different approach from parental control apps: nothing gets installed on your child's devices: not their iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, or Mac. You'll configure the controls Apple already built in, which is safer (there's no third-party app to bypass or uninstall) and more private, since no outside company ever sees your child's activity. Just keep the walkthrough open in the browser on your own phone beside you.
Kids trade workarounds. That's real, and anyone who promises otherwise is selling something. The honest answer: a correct setup closes the well-known loopholes, and our walkthroughs cover exactly those steps most parents miss. When a new bypass appears with an iOS release, updating the guidance is literally our job.
Apple moves settings around every year. That's exactly why we exist. We re-verify every walkthrough against each iOS release and date-stamp what you're reading.
This guide is Apple-only: Screen Time doesn't exist on Android. Nothing on this page will help you, and we'd rather tell you that now than waste your evening.
No, and that's deliberate. These are visible, honest limits you set together, not covert monitoring. We don't sell surveillance, and we'd rather you didn't buy it elsewhere either.
Pick an age profile, follow the screens, done. Guided, verified against the iOS your family actually runs, and free with your account.
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