Apple's latest parental control updates make it easier than ever for parents to keep kids' online experiences safe and age-appropriate.
On Monday, Apple rolled out updated features for parental controls. The updates are available across iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, Apple Vision Pro, and Apple TV.
With this update, Apple has simplified the process of setting up a Child Account. The goal was to give parents a quick way to ensure a child has an age-appropriate experience online.
Some new tools build on existing options in Screen Time and the App Store. These new options help address complaints that the App Store age ratings weren't adequately protecting children.
The updates give parents more ways to manage device usage and app access for kids and teens. According to Apple, these expanded tools now include:
- The ability for parents to share their child's age range with apps in a privacy-preserving manner.
- Expanded default protections for teens ages 13 to 17.
- More granular age ratings on the App Store for adolescents (13+, 16+, and 18+).
- More detailed labeling for app capabilities that may affect content appropriateness, like advertising, user-generated content, or in-app controls like parental controls.
- Updates to Communication Limits, which give parents the ability to remotely approve new contacts for their children when using Apple apps.
The updates were initially previewed at WWDC 2025 in June. Apple had previously hinted at the changes to come as early as February, though.
We'll be discussing the new features in depth very soon.
