How to use the parental controls on iOS 27

Extra layers of protection keep Apple devices age-appropriate for your kids.

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The iOS 27 update in September was headlined by Siri AI, but there are also a lot of little feature enhancements throughout the new OS. One that you might have missed is an overhaul of parental controls. For these changes, Apple worked alongside the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) to bring new safety tools. They also created a Building Healthy Digital Habits companion guide to aid parents in creating healthy digital habits for their kids, balancing screen usage with essentials like sleep, exercise, schoolwork and family time.

Among the new parental control features introduced are Time Allowances, Ask to Browse, Ask to Add Contacts, a Pause Device feature and expanded Communication Safety. The setup process has also been simplified, offering age-appropriate app recommendations for new child accounts, rather than dumping every default app onto a kid's home screen.

However, these features don't activate automatically when a device updates. Every device in a Family Sharing group (whether it's an iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch or Apple TV) needs to be running iOS 27, iPadOS 27, macOS 27, watchOS 27, or tvOS 27 before the new Screen Time system will function. Devices that can't be updated will continue using the older iOS 26 controls, which creates a gap for families with older hardware. If you haven't updated your devices yet, walk through the preparation steps for a major software update and install them all.

What's new in iOS 27's parental controls?

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The most notable shift is the replacement of App Limits with Time Allowances, which gives you more granular control over how your kids spend their screen time. For instance, if you allow your kids to spend three hours daily on their phones, you can decide how much of that time can go to social media, entertainment and gaming. There are also custom categories parents can create themselves, setting one allowance per category instead of managing dozens of individual app limits.

Ask to Browse gives parents oversight over Safari activity by requiring approval before a child visits an unapproved website. Approval requests arrive in Messages, so parents can review and approve links without digging through a separate app. The Communication Safety feature, which flags nudity in messages, AirDrop and FaceTime, now also detects and blurs graphic violence and gore. Ask to Add Contacts is also a new feature, making kids get parental approval before they can call or text a new phone number.

Finally, Pause Devices makes it easy for parents to instantly lock a child's device with a single tap — great for when your kid won't stop fiddling with their phone at dinner or during homework time. All together, these tweaks make setting up your child's iPad (or any other Apple device) an easier task.

How to set up and adjust parental controls

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Getting started requires a Child Account for each kid, if you don't have them created already. First, make sure you have a Family Sharing group set up, then head to Settings > Family on your iPhone. If any devices aren't updated yet, you'll see information about what needs the latest version here. To manage an existing child, tap their name to access their settings. Review iOS 27's additions to confirm they're set up as you like.

If you need to add a new child, you'll be able to take advantage of the new setup process: tap the Add button at the top-right, then follow the steps. The default settings vary by age. For instance, Ask to Browse, Limit Adult Websites and contact management features are on by default for kids under 13. Communication Safety is also enabled for everyone under 18. Most other restrictions fall to a parental decision once a child turns 13, as Ask to Browse and contact management no longer switch on automatically.

From there, parents can build separate weekday and weekend schedules, layer category-specific caps within an overall daily limit, and enable Ask to Buy for app purchases. The redesigned Screen Time dashboard gives you a quick overview of usage, so you spend less time fumbling through menus. Apple recommends revisiting settings periodically with the AAP's age-group guidance as children grow.