Setting up Screen Time on your child's iPhone or iPad

Before you start

Apple's tools work best through Family Sharing, a free family group that links your Apple Account to your child's. Once your child is in your group, you can manage their Screen Time from your own iPhone, iPad or Mac, and changes sync to their device.

Apple recommends updating every device in the family to the latest software before you begin, so the settings line up.

If your child doesn't have an Apple Account yet, you can create one from your iPhone: open Settings, then Family, then Add Member, then Create Child Account. Enter your child's name and birth date carefully. The birth date decides which protections apply, and it's hard to change later. Apple requires a Child Account for children under 13, and the exact age varies by country or region.

Setting it up, step by step

On your own iPhone:

1. Open Settings, scroll down and tap Screen Time.
2. Under Family, tap your child's name.
3. Follow the prompts. Apple walks you through age-appropriate settings, a Screen Time summary, and locking the settings.
4. Create a Screen Time passcode. Keep it to yourself, and don't reuse your child's phone code.

Once it's on, these are the settings most families look at:

• Downtime: a schedule when only the apps you choose work, such as overnight.
• App Limits: daily time limits for categories of apps, such as games or social media.
• Communication Limits: who your child can call, text or FaceTime, and when.
• Content & Privacy Restrictions: filters for websites, music, films and apps by age rating. In Screen Time, tap your child's name, then Content & Privacy Restrictions, and turn it on.
• Ask to Buy: your child needs your approval for purchases and free downloads. You'll find it in your Family settings.

Menus can move between versions of iOS. If something looks different, Apple's own help page linked below has the current wording.

What's already on by default

You don't start from zero. For children under 13 (the age varies by country or region), Apple turns on Communication Safety, which warns your child about photos and videos that may contain nudity, and Screen Distance, which reminds them to hold the screen farther from their eyes. The web content filter also blocks adult websites.

Since 2025, Apple also turns on age-appropriate protections from the start for teens 13 to 17, including web content filters and Communication Safety, whether their account was set up as a Child Account or not. The App Store now shows more detailed age ratings for teens, including 13+, 16+ and 18+.

Teens 13 to 17 with their own phone

If your teen already has their own Apple Account and you don't use Family Sharing, you can still set up Screen Time directly on their device: open Settings on their phone, then Screen Time, and turn on the controls there with a passcode.

For teens, many families choose fewer restrictions and more conversation. Downtime overnight and Ask to Buy are common places to start. You can loosen settings as trust builds, and it helps to say that out loud.

What Screen Time can't do

Screen Time is a useful seatbelt, not a guarantee.

• It doesn't show you what your child says or sees inside messages and apps. It reports time and sets limits.
• Filters miss things, and they can block things that are fine.
• It only covers devices signed in to your child's account. A friend's phone, a school laptop or a shared tablet is outside it.
• Anyone who knows the Screen Time passcode can change the settings.

Most kids who get around a setting aren't in danger. They're curious or want more time. Treat it as a reason to talk, not a betrayal.

Talk about it together

Set it up with your child next to you, not behind their back. Explain what each setting does and why you picked it. Kids accept limits more easily when they understand them and have some say.

Agree on when you'll review the settings together, such as at each birthday or school year. Make it clear that if something online upsets them, they can come to you and won't lose their phone for telling you. That promise protects them more than any filter.