Worried about what your kids are doing on the iPhone? Did you know you can activate parental controls on the iPhone to block them from accessing certain content? It’s easy to forget that with the Apple device connected to the internet it’s possible for little eyes to be seeing all the kind of inappropriate stuff that we worry about them coming across when they are using a computer.
The parental controls in the iPhone aren’t that obvious at first, but once you know where they are you’ll find the features very easy to use. To start, go to the Settings menu and click General, then Restrictions. You’ll be presented with the following screen:
Now click the big Enable Restrictions button and enter a four-digital passcode.
Now it’s a case of unchecking the iPhone features you don’t want your kids to access. Options include the ability to disable Safari, iTunes, App Store, and more.
Scroll down and you can be more specific about the kind of content you wish to block. For example, you can de-activate in-app purchases, prevent the download of explicit music and podcasts, and set age restrictions on the films, movies and TV shows that can be accessed.
Although these measures will help to prevent your little ones getting hold of stuff they shouldn’t, the iPhone’s parental controls aren’t completely foolproof. The internet restrictions only apply to the native Safari app, so make sure the device doesn’t have a third-party browser like Opera Mini installed, because these will be immune to the restrictions.