At this year’s WWDC, Apple dedicated a significant amount of time to child safety and parental controls, highlighting ways that parents can help kids develop healthier habits when using its devices. As The Verge (and Reddit users) points out, though, most of the features highlighted aren’t altogether new.
Screen Time is getting a redesign
Screen Time will have an upgraded interface, with an at-a-glance view of a child’s device usage, including daily averages and most used apps. There’s also a quick access button for pausing or allowing device use and changing app schedules.
Ask to Browse lets parents monitor website use
Ask to Buy is an existing parental control that allows kids to send requests for App Store purchases, which you can approve or deny. The new Ask to Browse feature works similarly: Parents can require kids and teens to ask permission to visit new websites on Safari. These requests come though Messages on the parent’s device. Ask to Browse is enabled by default for users under age 13 and can also be added to teens’ accounts. This feature may help prevent teens from using their browser to access restricted apps (e.g., social media platforms).
Time Allowances for apps now come with expert recommendations
Parents already have the ability to set some limits around when and for how long kids can use specific apps. In iOS 27, Time Allowances will show suggestions informed by child development experts, such as the American Academy of Pediatrics. When you select a time allowance, the slider will show whether the limit is “within general guidance” for your child’s age. Parents can enable time limits for app categories—including Entertainment, Games, and Social Media—and use the expanded Screen Time Schedules feature to set availability for app categories during certain time periods, such as school hours, after school, and on specific days of the week or weekend. Apps will be assigned to Time Allowances categories based on developer inputs. One thing that appears to be missing is the ability to get more granular with customized categories, which would allow parents to separate certain social or entertainment apps out from others and assign different limits.
What do you think so far?
Other child safety updates coming to iOS 27
Apple’s existing Communication Safety feature, which is on by default for users under 18, blurs nudity in Messages and FaceTime calls. With iOS 27, it will also block violent content and gore detected in shared images and videos. Parents will also get more control over approving new contacts for Messages (including group chats), FaceTime, and Phone.
