When you hand a child an iPhone, you naturally worry about inappropriate content, runaway in-app purchases, and excessive screen use. Apple's built-in Screen Time features, combined with Family Sharing, give you fine-grained control over usage time, app and Web restrictions, age-based content filtering, and purchase approvals — without installing any third-party app. This guide walks through setting it all up, organized by what you want to control.
Table of Contents
- What iPhone Parental Controls Can Do
- Prerequisite: Set Up Family Sharing
- Setting Up Screen Time on Your Child's iPhone
- Content & Privacy Restrictions
- Sharing Location to See Where Your Child Is
- Day-to-Day Tips and Troubleshooting
- Wrap-Up
What iPhone Parental Controls Can Do
With Apple's built-in features alone, you can manage your child's iPhone usage from multiple angles. The main controls are:
- Usage time management: total daily usage, bedtime hours, and per-app time limits
- Content restrictions: blocking adult sites and age-rating movies and music
- Purchase restrictions: blocking in-app purchases, app downloads, and paid content
- Communication limits: blocking calls and messages from non-contacts
- Privacy restrictions: limiting which apps can access location, photos, contacts, and more
- Location sharing: viewing your child's current location from your iPhone
All of this is unified under Screen Time, and when combined with Family Sharing, you can manage your child's iPhone remotely from your own — which is the most important feature for daily use.
Prerequisite: Set Up Family Sharing
To manage Screen Time remotely, both you and your child must be in the same Family Sharing group.
Creating a Family Group
- On your iPhone, open the Settings app
- Tap your name at the top
- Choose Family Sharing
- Follow the on-screen steps to create the group
- Invite each family member by their Apple ID
A family group can include up to 6 members and can share paid plans like Apple One or iCloud+.
Creating a Child Apple ID
For children under 13, you can create a child Apple ID as a parent from within Family Sharing.
- From the Family Sharing screen, tap Add Member and choose Create an Account for a Child
- Enter your child's name and date of birth
- Confirm parental consent with a credit card
- The child's Apple ID is created, and you sign in on the child's iPhone
Child Apple IDs automatically enable Ask to Buy: whenever your child tries to download or purchase an app, an approval request is sent to your iPhone.
Setting Up Screen Time on Your Child's iPhone
You can configure Screen Time directly on the child's iPhone, or remotely from your own iPhone via Family Sharing. Remote management is strongly recommended so the child cannot tamper with the settings on their device.
Setting the Screen Time Passcode
Changing Screen Time settings requires a dedicated passcode. Pick a 4-digit code your child cannot guess.
- On the child's iPhone, open Settings → Screen Time
- Tap Turn On Screen Time
- Choose This is My Child's iPhone
- Set a passcode that is different from the iPhone unlock passcode
Only you should know this passcode. Linking it to your Apple ID lets you recover it if forgotten.
Downtime (Hours When the iPhone Is Off-Limits)
Block the iPhone during specific hours, such as 10 PM to 7 AM.
- Go to Settings → Screen Time → Downtime
- Set a schedule for Every Day or Customize Days
- Choose the start and end times
During downtime, only the apps you allow (typically Phone and Messages) stay accessible on the Home Screen; everything else is dimmed and unusable.
App Limits
Limit specific apps or categories to a daily total.
- Go to Settings → Screen Time → App Limits
- Tap Add Limit
- Choose categories such as Social, Games, or Entertainment
- Set the daily time allowance
When the limit is reached, the app is locked and cannot be reopened without the Screen Time passcode.
Content & Privacy Restrictions
Under Content & Privacy Restrictions, you can fine-tune age-based browsing, purchase, and communication rules.
Restricting iTunes & App Store Purchases
Prevent your child from buying apps or making in-app purchases without permission.
- Settings → Screen Time → Content & Privacy Restrictions → turn on
- Tap iTunes & App Store Purchases
- Set Installing Apps, Deleting Apps, and In-app Purchases to Don't Allow
- Optionally set Require Password to Always Require
With this in place, app downloads, deletions, and purchases all require the passcode.
Web Content Age Restrictions
Filter what websites Safari and other browsers can show.
- Content & Privacy Restrictions → Content Restrictions → Web Content
- Choose Limit Adult Websites or Allowed Websites Only
- Optionally edit the Always Allow / Never Allow lists
Limit Adult Websites uses automatic filtering; Allowed Websites Only is a strict allowlist — a much tighter restriction.
Siri, Game Center, and Communication Limits
- Siri: block explicit search results and disable web search
- Game Center: restrict multiplayer, friend adding, and screen recording
- Communication Limits: block calls and messages from contacts not in the address book
The Communication Limits option is especially important for safety, since it stops unknown numbers from reaching your child.
Sharing Location to See Where Your Child Is
When you share location among Family Sharing members, your child's current location appears in the Find My app on your iPhone.
- On the child's iPhone, go to Settings → [their name] → Find My
- Turn on Share My Location
- Share location with the family group
Open Find My on your iPhone and you'll see your child's current position on the map — useful for tracking the trip home from school or cram school.
It also helps locate the iPhone if it's lost or left behind, so it's worth enabling for everyone in the family.
Day-to-Day Tips and Troubleshooting
When You Forget the Screen Time Passcode
To recover a forgotten Screen Time passcode:
- Go to Settings → Screen Time → Change Screen Time Passcode
- Tap Forgot Passcode?
- Enter your Apple ID and password to set a new passcode
If the passcode was never linked to an Apple ID, you may have to erase the iPhone. Always link the passcode to an Apple ID during setup.
Keeping Settings Tamper-Proof
As your child gets more comfortable with the iPhone, they may try to disable Screen Time. Combine these defenses:
- Use a Screen Time passcode different from any code your child knows
- Manage remotely from your iPhone via Family Sharing
- Use Content & Privacy Restrictions to block Passcode Changes themselves
With these layers, nothing your child does in Settings can disable the limits.
Loosening Restrictions as Your Child Grows
Parental controls don't need to stay at the same strength forever. Consider phased loosening as your child grows up:
- Middle school: relax downtime, keep social-app time limits
- High school: relax age ratings, gradually lift Ask to Buy
- College: keep only Family Sharing, let Screen Time become self-managed
Loosening the controls in dialogue with your child helps them build self-regulation skills.
Wrap-Up
iPhone parental controls come down to the combination of Apple's built-in Screen Time and Family Sharing. The key takeaways:
- Set up Family Sharing and link parent and child Apple IDs
- Create a child Apple ID for children under 13
- Pick a Screen Time passcode that is different from anything your child knows
- Combine Downtime, App Limits, purchase restrictions, and Web restrictions by purpose
- Use location sharing to know where your child is
- Loosen restrictions step by step as your child grows
Remote Screen Time management and Ask to Buy approvals all happen on your iPhone, so the whole system runs without third-party monitoring apps. Before reaching for a paid monitoring app, the built-in features go a long way.
If your child's iPhone starts draining battery unusually fast, also see How to fix iPhone battery drain and How to speed up a slow iPhone.
