How to properly set up an iPhone for children

In this article, we’re going walk you through the steps you should take to set up an Apple device to your child. Depending on when you originally set up your child’s device, you may have completed some of these steps already during set up. Either way, we will walk you through each setting and help you verify that your child’s device is set up correctly.

Step 1: set up a child Apple account and Family Sharing

Adding a device to an Apple Family is an important first time to proper set up. During set up, there is an option for “Set Up for a Child in My Family.” You can create an iCloud email here or use an email you’ve already created (such as a Gmail account).

If you’ve already set up the device (such as a hand me down), you can do this in Settings. The first step is to add the account to your Apple family. You can do this on your own iPhone from Settings > Family. At the top right you can add a new child or add an account that you’ve already created.

Apple Family with two parents and one child account.

You should see your child listed in the Family section once you’ve added the account. You can also add a partner to your family here.

Step 2:  Set up Screen Time and a passcode

Go into Settings > Screen Time and turn on Screen Time if it’s not already on. You should see your child listed under ‘Family.’ If you click on their profile, you can set or change the screen time passcode. This passcode should not be shared with your child, it prevents them from making any changes to the settings and disabling controls.

To prevent changes such as logging out, go to Settings > Screen Time > Select child’s profile > Content & Privacy Restrictions and under “Allow Changes To” set Passcode & Face ID and Accounts to “Don’t Allow.” This will require inputting the screen time passcode you just set.

Step 3: Downtime

Under your child’s profile in Screen Time (Settings > Screen Time > Select child’s profile) you can set up Downtime which allows you to set up a schedule for when your child can use the phone.

Step 4: Customize communication limits

You can set up who your child is allowed to contact in Settings > Screen Time > Select child’s profile > Communication limits. If you want to restrict messaging to people that you know, you can manage your child’s contacts and limit their communication to contacts only. You can also specify exceptions to Downtime limits so that your child will always be able to contact you even when Downtime is on.

Step 5: Turn on communication safety

Settings > Screen Time > Select child’s profile > Communication safety. If you turn this on, Apple will try to automatically blur or hide sensitive photos (such as nudity) that they send or receive and provide age appropriate guidelines.

Step 6: Require parental approval for installing and uninstalling apps

Go to Settings > Family > Child's name > Ask to Buy and turn this on. This will require parental approval for any new apps your child wants to install or buy. It’s important to note that this does not apply to any apps they have already installed before this setting was turned on, even if you uninstall them. If you want to prevent app usage of an app that was already installed you need to set an App Limit.

Step 7: Parental control checklist

Go to Settings > Family > Family Checklist and set up parental controls for your child. This will try to limit content to age appropriate settings across various Apple apps as well as web content.

Step 8: Consider disabling Safari (and other browsers)

Web browsers are powerful tools but can also be used to access inappropriate content. While the previous step will attempt to limit access to adult websites, browsers like Safari or Chrome can get around the restrictions you set up for installing new apps. For younger children who recently got access to a smartphone, we recommend turning off or limiting access to web browsers.

Let’s say that you want to prevent your child from using Instagram. Turning on “Ask to Buy” in Step 6 will require your child to get approval to install the Instagram app. However, if Safari is enabled this does not stop them from just going to Instagram.com in Safari and creating their own account.

To set this up, go to Settings > Screen Time > Select child’s profile > Content & Privacy Restrictions > Store, Web, Siri & Game Center Content > Web Content and then select “Only Approved Websites.” There should be some default websites that Apple has added and you can add any websites that your child might need to access for homework etc. This will limit your child to only these websites, if they try to visit any other website it will be blocked and you can override it on their device with the Screen Time Passcode that you set up in Step 2.

Conclusion

Hopefully this walks you through the process of setting up your iPhone for your child for the first time. It’s important to discuss with them how they can use their phone and the impact of some of the things you set up (EG: they need permission to install new apps). If you find that this is too confusing or need help, feel free to use this link to schedule time with me and I’d be happy to walk you through it.