Parental Controls – iPhone

Time to talk about parental controls iPhone style! In this article we will explain to you how you can set up parental controls for your iOS smartphone, and what these settings can do to protect your child whilst he or she is online.

 

Using iOS Restrictions

Unlike some smartphones, your iPhone already comes with some pre-built parental control options that can be accessed for free from within the settings menu.

To access the parental control settings on iOS 8, you must first go into the settings app, then head into the general menu.

Once in general, look for the restrictions option, and tap it – from here you can now enable restrictions to set up your parental control settings for this iPhone.

Whilst there are certain limitations to what you can restrict within these settings, you can restrict a variety of different Apple apps including Safari, Camera, FaceTime, iTunes Store, the iBooks Store, AirDrop and even stop any apps from being installed or deleted from the device.

You can also restrict any changes to certain settings such as location settings or connection settings to stop your child from switching to mobile data.

There are certain other app restrictions and features that are available within the built-in iOS 8 settings menu, and you can learn more about these by heading to the corresponding Apple support page.

Unfortunately, the Apple parental controls are quite limited, but there are other options out there that may be worth considering.

 

Using an Alternative for Parental Control

Whilst the iOS parental controls offer a nice free approach to various control options that can restrict your child’s usage when using your iPhone, there are a lot of limitations, and you are only given the option to completely block a certain app or type of content, instead of limiting it.

If you would rather have more control over what your child can and can’t do, you may want to look into a standalone parental control software – there are lots out there and they all offer all sorts of different types of parental control and restriction options.

Some apps can restrict what websites a child can visit, whilst others can provide detailed stats on what your child is doing on the web, what they are downloading, and who they are talking to.

Many parental control programs come with various tracking and data tools so that you can keep an eye on your child’s location as well, which  means that they can back up as a safety and security tool, as well as a utility to block or restrict certain content on your iPhone.

There are a lot of different third-party parental control apps to choose from, so you will have to do a bit of research to find out which one may be more suitable for you.

We have provided a detailed table that lists 7 of our favorite parental control solutions. If you are interested in that, you can take a look here and have a read.