Apple Shares New Guide for Using iOS 27 Parental Controls

Apple today shared a guide meant to help parents use the child safety tools in iOS 27, iPadOS 27, and macOS Golden Gate. Apple says "Building Healthy Digital Habits: A Guide for Families" was developed in partnership with the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP).

The six-step guide covers balancing screen time with sleep, exercise, schoolwork, and time with friends and family. It has advice on getting kids on board with screen time limits and using the different parental control features. From Apple's announcement:

• Start a conversation about screen time, with tips for parents to approach the topic and establish expectations in a way that helps kids feel included in the plan.
• Create a Child Account, which enables age-based safeguards and gives parents access to parental controls to manage their child's experience.
• Set safety settings for websites and apps, including Ask to Buy and Ask to Browse, so families can review new apps and websites together.
• Make a schedule for device use, using Time Allowances and Schedules to balance time online with sleep, schoolwork, physical activity, and time with family and friends.
• Manage communications, with parents deciding who their child can communicate with and Communication Safety, on by default for all users under 18, helping protect kids from viewing or sharing sensitive content.
• Continue the conversation as kids grow, with guidance on adjusting the family's plan over time.

The guide includes the AAP's recommendations on screen time by age group, from infants to teens, along with strategies to help children develop healthy screen time habits.

Apple added new parental control options and an overhauled version of Screen Time in ‌iOS 27‌. Parents can choose which apps children can access, monitor and control website access, keep tabs on approved contacts, and set different screen time schedules based on time of day. Using the new version of Screen Time requires all devices in a Family Sharing group to be running ‌iOS 27‌, ‌iPadOS 27‌, macOS 27, watchOS 27, and visionOS 27.

The guide comes as Apple deals with regulatory pressure over child safety in countries like the UK, U.S., and Australia.