How to Set Up Parental Controls on iPhone (Full Checklist)

To set up parental controls on an iPhone, open Settings → Screen Time on your child's phone (or on your own phone through Family Sharing), protect it with a passcode, then work through Downtime, App Limits, Content & Privacy Restrictions, App Store purchases, the web filter, Communication Limits and location sharing. Each takes a few minutes. This checklist walks through all of them in a sensible order and links to a detailed guide for each step.

Step 0: Decide where you'll manage the controls

There are two ways to run Screen Time, and it's worth choosing before you touch anything else.

• From your own iPhone with Family Sharing. Add your child in Settings → [your name] → Family. Afterwards, Settings → Screen Time on your phone shows your child's name, and you control everything from there. Requests for more time or new apps come to you. Our Family Sharing guide explains the setup and the trade-offs.
• Directly on your child's iPhone. Open Settings → Screen Time on their phone, turn it on, and say it's your child's iPhone when asked. Every change is then made on that device.

Either works. Family Sharing is more convenient day to day; managing on the child's phone avoids creating a child account.

The free checklist: built-in iPhone parental controls

1. Set a Screen Time passcode

Do this first. Without it, every other setting can be switched off in seconds.

1. In Screen Time, tap Use Screen Time Passcode (on some versions, Lock Screen Time Settings).
2. Choose a code that is different from the phone's unlock code and from your own phone's code.
3. Never type it where your child can see the screen.

2. Turn on Downtime for nights

Downtime blocks everything except the apps you choose during a schedule, typically overnight.

1. Tap Downtime and switch on Scheduled.
2. Set the hours, for example 8:30 pm to 7 am, with a different time at weekends if you like.
3. Open Always Allowed and keep only what's needed, such as Phone and Messages.

Full walkthrough: bedtime and Downtime on a child's iPhone.

3. Add App Limits

App Limits cap how long an app or category can be used each day.

1. Tap App Limits → Add Limit.
2. Pick a category (Social, Games) or individual apps.
3. Set a daily time and keep Block at End of Limit switched on.

For realistic limits by age, see how to set Screen Time limits. To block single apps outright, read how to block apps on a child's iPhone.

4. Switch on Content & Privacy Restrictions

1. Tap Content & Privacy Restrictions and turn it on.
2. Under App Store, Media, Web & Games, set age ratings for apps, films, TV and music.
3. Review the privacy section so apps can't change location, contacts or photo permissions without you.

5. Lock down App Store purchases

1. In Content & Privacy Restrictions, open App Store Purchases.
2. Set Installing Apps to Don't Allow if you want to approve every new app.
3. Set Deleting Apps to Don't Allow, so a limited app can't be deleted and reinstalled.
4. Set In-app Purchases to Don't Allow.

With Family Sharing, Ask to Buy is a softer alternative: your child can request apps and you approve them on your phone.

6. Turn on the web filter

1. Go to App Store, Media, Web & Games → Web Content.
2. Choose Limit Adult Websites.
3. Add specific sites to the never-allowed list if needed.

This filters Safari. More detail in how to block adult websites on iPhone.

7. Set Communication Limits

Communication Limits decides who your child can call, message and FaceTime, both during normal screen time and during Downtime. A common setup is contacts only, with family reachable at all times. Check that your child's contacts are synced so the list is accurate.

8. Set up location sharing

1. On your child's phone, open the Find My app and share location with you. Within Family Sharing, location can be shared with the whole family.
2. On your phone, you'll see them in Find My under People.
3. For arrivals, Messages has Check In (iOS 17 and later), which tells you when your child gets to where they said they were going.

Compare options in how to see where your child is on iPhone.

Common gaps in the built-in setup

Screen Time covers a lot, and for many families it is enough. These are the spots where parents most often get caught out:

• Requests get approved on autopilot. "One more minute" requests add up. Decide in advance when you'll say yes.
• The passcode leaks. If your child sees it once, every setting is open. Change it if you suspect that has happened.
• Settings sometimes stop applying. Some parents find limits reset after updates or a new device setup. See Screen Time not working: common fixes.
• Kids find workarounds. Changing time zones, using an app's browser or messaging from inside a game are typical. Our guide to how kids bypass Screen Time lists the usual tricks and fixes.
• It's spread across many screens. It's easy to set App Limits and forget the web filter or installs.

A simpler option: Skydo

Skydo is an iPhone parental-control app built on Apple's own Screen Time technology (Family Controls), so blocked apps genuinely don't open. iOS enforces the block itself; there's no VPN or profile to remove. It brings most of the checklist above into one place:

• Apps: block chosen apps or whole categories, such as all social media, in a tap.
• Time: a daily time limit, a bedtime, School Mode (apps blocked during school hours on school days, except the ones you allow) and Homework Mode (apps unlock for a set time once homework is done). You can also pause all apps for 30 minutes.
• Web: blocks adult websites in Safari and search, plus specific sites.
• Installs: prevents installing and deleting apps.
• Protection: changes need a parent PIN plus Face ID.
• Insight: a blocked-attempts count and a weekly report.
• Your phone: pair once with an 8-character code, no accounts. Change bedtime, limits and school hours or pause everything from your iPhone, and changes reach your child's phone in seconds. Which apps are blocked is chosen on the child's phone. See controlling your child's iPhone from your phone.
• Location: live location on your phone, with places like home and school and a notification when your child arrives or leaves. Location is end-to-end encrypted and switched on visibly on the child's phone.

What to know before choosing it

Skydo must be installed and set up on your child's iPhone, which needs iOS 26.5 or later. The download is free, but switching protection on needs a Skydo Premium subscription (monthly or yearly). One subscription bought on your phone also unlocks your child's phone. Skydo doesn't replace everything in Screen Time: age ratings for films and music, and Communication Limits, still live in Apple's settings.

Which approach suits your family?

• Stick with Screen Time if your child is younger, mostly follows the rules, and you're happy to check settings occasionally.
• Add Skydo if workarounds keep appearing, you'd rather block than time-limit, or you want school hours, homework time and location in one app on your phone.

If you're comparing tools more broadly, our best parental control app for iPhone guide lays out the options. And whatever you set up, talk it through with your child first; first phone rules for kids is a good starting point.