// PARENTS’ GUIDE · CHECKED 18 AUGUST 2026
Parental controls, app by app — the steps as they are today
Every app and console has parental controls. Almost nobody sets them up, because the menus move, the guides go stale, and it always seems like a job for a rainy Sunday. This is the guide we wish existed: one page per app, the exact menu names as they are right now, checked against the maker’s own instructions on the date shown, and honest about what a control does and doesn’t do. Dorset Police published an excellent guide to the social apps this week — we’ve linked it, and covered the things it doesn’t: YouTube, the games consoles, Minecraft, and the phone-level controls that do more than any single app. Rated 4.9 on Google.
- ● Checked 18 August 2026
- ● UK ages & law
- ● Family-run since 1995
/01 — START HERE
Which apps and devices does your child actually use?
Don’t read all of this. Tick what’s in your house and go straight to those pages — each one stands alone, and each one is short enough to do with the device in your other hand.
▶️ YouTube & YouTube Kids
Supervised accounts, the three content levels, the Kids app timer and passcode, and the new teen supervision. The app most under-13s use most.
🎮 Xbox
Family group, screen time, age limits, “ask a parent” spending, who can talk to them — console, app and web, in the right order.
🎮 PlayStation 5 & 4
Child accounts under a family manager, age level, monthly spend (default £0), play time, and locking the console so it can’t be undone.
🎮 Nintendo Switch & Switch 2
The Parental Controls app: play-time limit, bedtime, restriction level, and the Switch 2 GameChat gate for under-16s.
▣️ Minecraft
Why it’s really an Xbox-account setting even on a phone or PC: multiplayer, chat, Realms and Marketplace spending.
📱 iPhone / iPad & Android
Apple Screen Time and Google Family Link — the device-level controls that sit under every app. Set these first.
Dorset Police have covered the social apps in their own guide — the step-by-step for Instagram, Facebook, Messenger Kids, TikTok, X, Reddit, Discord, Snapchat, WhatsApp, Telegram, Fortnite and Roblox. It’s good and it’s official; read it here. This page covers what it doesn’t.
/02 — THE ORDER THAT WORKS
Do it in this order and it takes an evening, not a month
- The device first. Apple Screen Time or Google Family Link governs every app on the phone or tablet at once — downtime, app limits, web filtering, purchases, who can message. Ten minutes here does more than an hour inside individual apps. Start here.
- Then the console, if there is one. Xbox, PlayStation and Switch each have a proper family system with play-time limits and spending caps — and every one of them can be locked with a PIN so the settings stay set. Xbox · PlayStation · Switch.
- Then the two or three apps that matter most in your house — usually YouTube plus whatever they talk to friends on. Don’t try to do all twelve social apps in one go; do the ones they open every day.
- Then the conversation. Every control on these pages can be undone by a determined teenager, and that’s fine — the controls buy you time and remove the accidents; the conversation is what actually keeps them safe. Dorset Police’s guide is good on this, and the NSPCC’s online safety hub is the best plain-English resource we know for talking about it.
One honest thing before you start: none of this is a substitute for knowing what your child is doing. A control that’s set and never revisited is a control that stopped working the day the app updated. Set them, then look again every school holiday — that’s the whole trick.
/03 — UK AGES AND THE LAW
The age rules you’ll bump into (and the new age checks)
A few things trip parents up because they’re UK-specific and recent:
- Under 13. Apple (in the UK) and Google both say a child under 13 can’t hold an ordinary account: it has to be created by a parent and sit inside a family group (Apple Family Sharing / Google Family Link). That’s the door to every control on these pages, so it’s worth doing properly rather than letting a child fib about a birth year — a fake age turns all the child protections off.
- 13 to 17. Teens can hold their own accounts, and supervision changes: Google emails both of you at 13, and (as Google puts it) “children need parent approval to stop supervision until they turn 18”. YouTube now offers a specific supervised teen account both sides agree to. Apple lets you set Screen Time on a teen’s device from your own.
- Age checks since July 2025. Under the UK Online Safety Act, platforms now have to check ages for adult content, so adults are being asked to prove they’re over 18 — on Xbox (UK players started seeing prompts from July 2025), on Apple (a passport, driving licence, credit card or a PASS card such as CitizenCard), on YouTube (an age-estimation model, with ID or a selfie to prove otherwise). If your account gets prompted, that’s this law working as intended, not a scam — but do it on the platform’s own site or app, never from a link in a message.
- Games ratings. The UK uses PEGI (3, 7, 12, 16, 18). Console age limits work off it; set the limit to your child’s age and anything above needs your say-so.
/04 — WHEN IT’S ALREADY GONE WRONG
The people to call, in order
// IF SOMETHING HAS ALREADY GONE WRONG
- A child is in immediate danger: call 999. Otherwise Dorset Police on 101 or online at dorset.police.uk.
- Someone online is talking to your child in a sexual way, or asking for images: report to CEOP (the police’s child-protection command) at ceop.police.uk.
- A nude or sexual image of an under-18 is online: Childline’s Report Remove can get it taken down, confidentially.
- You want to talk it through with someone: the NSPCC helpline 0808 800 5000 for adults; Childline 0800 1111 for children and young people.
- Bullying, scams or a compromised account: screenshot everything before you delete anything, then use the platform’s report tool — and if the account is one we look after, ring us.
And us. We’re an IT firm, not a helpline — but if the problem is a device or an account (something installed, a login taken over, a child’s photos somewhere they shouldn’t be), that is our job, and we’ve done it gently for Dorset families since 1995. 01202 775566.
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// GOOD QUESTIONS
Frequently asked
Why did you write this when Dorset Police just published a guide?
Because theirs is good and ours is different. Dorset Police cover the twelve social and chat apps thoroughly, in a PDF. We’ve linked it and not repeated it. Ours covers what theirs doesn’t — YouTube, the games consoles, Minecraft, and the phone-level controls — on the web, one page per app, with the date each page was checked. Use both.
How do I know these steps are current?
Each page has a “checked against the maker’s own instructions” box with the date (18 August 2026 at launch) and links to the exact official help pages the steps came from. When an app changes, we update the page and the date. If you spot a step that no longer matches your screen, ring us and we’ll fix it that day.
My child is 15 and will just turn all this off. Is there any point?
Yes, but a different one. For a 15-year-old, controls are less about locking and more about defaults, visibility and a conversation: bedtime downtime that both of you agreed to, spending that asks first, and supervision they consented to (YouTube’s teen supervision, for instance, is designed to be agreed by both sides). Google’s own rule is that a supervised child needs parental approval to stop supervision until 18 — but the honest answer is that trust and talking do most of the work at that age.
Will you come and set this all up for us?
Yes — that’s a normal job for us. Remotely, or at home across Bournemouth, Poole, Christchurch and Dorset. We set the controls up on the actual devices, write down where they live and what the passcodes are (for you, not us), and show you how to change them. Free 15-minute phone chat first on 01202 775566.
Is any of this a substitute for talking to my child?
No, and we’d be lying if we said so. Controls remove accidents and buy time; the conversation is what keeps children safe. Dorset Police’s guide and the NSPCC’s online-safety pages are both good on how to have it.
Rather we set it up on the actual devices?
Call 01202 775566 or text 07520 615332, Mon–Fri 9–5. We’ll set the controls up properly on your child’s phone, tablet, console or PC — remotely, or at home across Bournemouth, Poole, Christchurch & Dorset — and show you where everything lives, so you’re in charge afterwards, not us. Free 15-minute phone chat first; no charge for advice.
01202 775566 · help@365techies.co.uk · MON–FRI 9AM–5PM