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How do I set up parental controls on a phone? Built-in tools suffice, the agreement is mandatory.

By Vincent Jungmann, owner of meinTechniker 6 minute read

In short

With the manufacturers' built-in tools: Screen Time and Family Sharing on iPhone, Google Family Link on Android. Both are free, limit times and apps, filter content, require your approval for purchases and show you what the child uses. The prerequisite is a separate child account, not your own. More important than the technology is the agreement with the child, or the lock becomes a daily fight.

First: a separate account for the child

The most common mistake: the child gets the phone with a parent's account. Then it sees your e-mails, buys with your card, and no parental control applies because the system sees an adult. Create a child account, at Apple via Family Sharing, at Google via Family Link. The date of birth is asked for, and from it the age limits for apps, films and content follow automatically.

iPhone: Screen Time and Family Sharing

On your iPhone under Settings, Family, add the child. It then appears under Screen Time on your device, and everything else you set remotely: a downtime in which only phone and allowed apps work (say 8 pm to 7 am), time limits per app category (games one hour, social networks half an hour), communication limits for contacts, and under Restrictions the age ratings, purchases with approval and the web filter. The Screen Time passcode must not be the child's unlock code and not the year of birth.

Android: Google Family Link

Install Family Link on your phone, create or link the child account, then set up the child's phone with this account. After that you control from your phone: daily time limit, bedtime, which apps may be installed (every installation comes to you as a request), filters for Play Store, Chrome and YouTube, and the location if wanted. Samsung phones additionally have their own Kids Mode for younger children that shows only selected apps.

What parental controls cannot do

They do not read messages in WhatsApp, Snapchat or TikTok, and they do not apply on a friend's phone. They filter websites, but not the content inside an app. For YouTube there is YouTube Kids or Restricted Mode, for search there is SafeSearch. For the home Wi-Fi most routers offer their own child profiles, on a FRITZ!Box they are called access profiles: with them, the internet for the child's phone ends at 9 pm even if something was changed on the phone itself.

The rule has to hold at home

A lock the child does not understand gets circumvented or fought. Better: agree on times and rules together, write them down, and use the technology only as a reminder. Independent guidance on age and usage time comes from klicksafe.de and schau-hin.info, both backed by public bodies. A media usage agreement that both sign sounds bureaucratic and works better than any app in many families.

When to call us

The technology is set up in an hour. The real question is which settings fit which age, and how the rule holds afterwards. If you are not sure which settings fit which age, or the child has already circumvented the lock twice, we set it up together with you: child account, times, filters, router profile, and we explain where you adjust things yourself later. At the customer's request and within the legal framework, see the legal notice.

Usually 1 hour, 85 EUR plus call-out

Send a free enquiry To the service page

Frequently asked questions

My child knows the code. What now?

Change the Screen Time passcode on the iPhone under Settings, Screen Time. With Family Link the parental approval is tied to your account, change the password there. New code: no years of birth, no repeat of the unlock code.

Can the child circumvent the lock?

With effort, yes, for example by resetting the phone. Family Link and Screen Time report this, however, and without your account the device cannot be set up again. No software gives complete security, which is why the agreement counts.

Can I read my child's messages?

Not with the built-in tools, and apps that promise this are on thin ice legally. What works: define who the child may be in contact with, and release apps with chat functions only from a certain age.

What does it cost if you set up parental controls?

Usually half an hour to an hour, so 50 to 85 EUR, plus call-out from 10 EUR. All prices include VAT.

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