Smart Home & Tech · Privacy and security

How to set parental controls on devices bought for kids

Turn on the downtime and purchase approval already in the parent account, and tell the child. Do not install a bypass, change DNS to dodge a filter, or keep a stranger’s account.

Set parental controls from the parent account the device already expects, using the menus on the device or the family page you type yourself. Turn on the downtime and the purchase approval you can see. This page does not explain how to remove those controls, how to skip screen-time, or how to hide an app from the parent account. A device that is locked to someone else’s account goes back.

Step 1: Start from the parent account

1. Sign in as the parent, on the site or the settings page the device maker shows in the box. Type that address. Do not follow a “family setup” text.
2. Add the child’s device with the code the parent device displays. Read the code yourself. Do not read it to a caller.
3. If the device asks for an account you do not control, stop. A used tablet tied to a stranger is a return: used electronics.

Passwords for the parent account belong in the manager: password manager setup. Shopping links that are not the store are phishing after shopping.

Step 2: Use the switches the menu already has

Turn on downtime, app approval, and purchase approval if those rows exist. Leave them on. You do not need a third-party “unlock” app, and you should not install one. If a guide, a video, or the child asks for a bypass, the answer is the menu you already set, reviewed together. This page will not list steps that turn the controls off in secret.

Leave disk encryption on if the device has it. Leave the firewall on for any computer in the house. Do not change DNS to reach a site the filter blocked. A filter you chose stays until you change it on purpose, in the parent account, with the child if that is your household’s rule. Do not disable antivirus to install a game.

The Wi-Fi password is not the parent password. Guests get a guest network if you want them online: guest Wi-Fi. They do not get a card with the parent login.

Step 3: Purchases and photos stay in the family you named

Require the parent password for a purchase. Do not store the card on the child’s profile if the menu lets you keep it off. Do not photograph the card “for the kid’s account.” A serial number note is separate and private: serial numbers.

Cameras and shares: do not post the child’s face to a public product review. A doorbell or a tablet camera is not a way to watch them secretly. If a device is for a child, the child should know what it can do. Hidden monitoring is not a setup step.

Updates come from the device’s own menu: firmware updates. Do not sideload a store from a search ad. Do not jailbreak the device to add a control the maker did not include. If the control you need is not in the menu, choose a different device or skip the feature. Do not go looking for a workaround.

Step 4: Say what you turned on

Tell the child which hours the device will pause and that a purchase will ask you. Write nothing about a secret. A control the household does not understand will get “fixed” by a stranger’s video. If that video says to turn developer options on or to install a profile you did not create, close it.

The charger is a normal one for that device, watched the first time, not a heater and not an unknown brick: counterfeit chargers. When the setup is done, the parent device locks. The return window on the order still applies if the family menu never appeared.

Test the settings together

From the child profile, try one allowed app, one blocked app and a test purchase request. Check that the approval arrives on the parent device and that essential calling or emergency access works as intended. Review age ratings, web filters, location sharing and who can contact the child; controls differ by operating system, age and region. Filters can miss content, so revisit the settings with the child and keep an open way to report upsetting material.

What you should be able to point at

• Parent account signed in from a page you typed. Child device added with a code you did not read to a caller.
• Downtime and purchase approval on, if the menu has them. No bypass app. No jailbreak.
• Encryption, antivirus, and the firewall left on. DNS unchanged.
• Card not stored on the child’s profile if you can avoid it. No public post of the child.
• The child told what is on. A device with a stranger’s account returned.

Example: downtime on, the video closed

The tablet is new and asks for a family account. The parent types the maker’s family page, creates the parent login in the manager, and adds the tablet with the code on the parent phone. They turn on downtime for school nights and require a password for purchases. They tell the child both things. A video titled “remove this in one minute” is closed. They do not open developer options. They do not change DNS. The child’s profile has no card saved. The charger is the one from the box, on a normal outlet, and it stays cool. The parent phone locks when they leave the room. If the family page had never offered a control, they would have returned the tablet inside the printed window rather than install a profile from a forum. Nobody reads a sign-in code to a caller who claims to be support.

Related guides

• Password manager setup
• Phishing after shopping
• Used electronics
• Guest Wi-Fi
• Firmware updates

Last updated: October 29, 2026

Last reviewed October 22, 2026. Suggest a correction

Information on this site is for general educational purposes and is not professional advice.

Parent topic: Smart Home & Tech