How to set parental controls on any phone or tablet

Protecting Your Devices from Little Hands: A Guide to Kid-Proofing Phones and Tablets

Kids love tablets and smartphones as much as adults do, leading to frequent borrowing (or requests for their own devices). This guide outlines how to safeguard your devices from inappropriate content, unauthorized purchases, and more, covering both Android and iOS systems.

Securing Android Devices

For quick access control when lending your phone, use App Pinning. Enable it in Settings > Security, then launch the desired app and pin it using the circular icon in the app carousel. To unpin, swipe up and enter your phone's unlock method. Remember, while App Pinning restricts access to a single app, that app might still open others.

For more comprehensive control, create a dedicated user account via System > Advanced > Multiple users. This isolates the child's apps and settings. Switch users via the Quick Settings menu's user icon.

While Android's "restricted" mode is largely replaced by Family Link, offering remote control capabilities, Google's new Kids Space (initially for Lenovo Smart Tab M10 HD Gen 2, but expanding) provides a built-in safe mode with automatic parental controls and age-appropriate content from YouTube and Google Play.

Parental controls within the Google Play Store app (Settings > Parental controls) allow setting age limits for various content types. YouTube Kids offers a separate, safer viewing experience, while the main YouTube app now features Supervised Accounts (rolling out soon) with content blocking and viewing history monitoring through Family Link.

Third-party apps like Kids Place, Kids Zone, and AppLock offer additional layers of protection, while MMGuardian provides remote monitoring and control of app usage and content filtering.

Safeguarding iPhones and iPads

iOS offers Guided Access (Settings > Accessibility), similar to Android's App Pinning, preventing app switching without a PIN. Enable it, set a passcode, and choose the app. Triple-tap the side/Home button to activate/deactivate. You can also disable screen areas, lock volume, and set time limits.

Apple's primary parental controls reside in Screen Time > Content & Privacy Restrictions. Enable this, set a Screen Time passcode, and control web browsing, camera use, App Store purchases, and more. This allows blocking Siri, FaceTime, and app installation/deletion, and creating approved website lists. Simply toggle the switch off to disable restrictions.

While iOS offers fewer third-party parental control apps than Android, options like Norton Family provide alternative web browsers with enhanced filtering and monitoring. However, Apple's built-in features are generally sufficient.

Both Android and iOS offer robust kid-proofing options. Remember to supplement technical controls with educating children about online safety and responsible internet use.

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