Duke & Duke

Guides · For parents

How to limit your child’s screen time on iPhone and iPad.

Every iPhone and iPad already has free parental controls built in, under the name Screen Time. This guide walks through them in a sensible order: setting up Family Sharing, scheduling time off, capping apps, choosing who your child can talk to, and blocking purchases. It ends with an honest look at where an earn-it app like ours fits, and where it doesn’t. Published 4 October 2026 and checked against Apple’s current support pages, which are listed at the bottom.

What do I need before I start?

Two things, both free. First, Family Sharing: a family group that lets you manage your child’s device from your own iPhone or iPad. Second, a Child Account for your child, so they sign in with their own Apple Account rather than sharing yours. Apple says each family member needs their own Apple Account, and that a parent or guardian has to create the account for a child under 13 (the age varies by country or region).

  1. Set up Family Sharing. On your iPhone or iPad, open Settings, tap your name, tap Family, then tap Continue and follow the onscreen instructions.
  2. Create the Child Account. In Settings, tap Family, tap the Add Member button, tap Create Child Account, then tap Continue. Enter your child’s name and birthday (the birthday sets age-based defaults, so get it right) and follow the onscreen instructions.
  3. Already set up your child’s device without an account? If you set the iPhone or iPad up new and chose a child or teen age range, Apple says you can usually connect it later: on the child’s device, open Settings and tap Connect to Family, then follow the onscreen instructions, creating the Child Account as part of that. If the device was set up any other way, use step 2 to create the Child Account, or tap Add Member and Invite Others if your child already has one, so their account is in your family group.

Another adult in the group can be made a parent or guardian (Settings, Family, their name, Set as Parent/Guardian), so both of you can approve requests.

Why do the menus look different on my phone?

Because Apple reorganised Screen Time in iOS 27. If every device in your Family Sharing group is on iOS 27, iPadOS 27 or macOS 27 and you have updated the parental controls for the group, your child’s controls live under Settings › Family › your child’s name, and the child controls have new names: Screen Time Schedules and Time Allowances do the job that Downtime and App Limits used to, and Allowed Contacts covers who your child can talk to. If any device in the group is still on an earlier version, Apple says you keep the previous version of Screen Time, found under Settings › Screen Time, with the older names.

This guide gives both paths where they differ. MoveToPlay needs iOS 18 or later, so everything below covers iOS 18 through 27.

How do I turn on Screen Time for my child from my own phone?

  1. On iOS 27: open Settings, tap Family, tap your child’s name, tap Screen Time, then follow the onscreen instructions.
  2. On iOS 18 to 26: open Settings, tap Family, tap your child’s name, tap Screen Time, tap Continue, then follow the onscreen instructions. You can also reach the same settings from Settings › Screen Time by scrolling down to your child’s name under Family.
  3. Set a Screen Time passcode. This is a separate four-digit code that must be entered before Screen Time settings can be changed. Apple’s advice is firm: when you manage a child through Family Sharing, set the passcode on your device, not the child’s. On iOS 18 to 26: Settings › Screen Time, tap your child’s name under Family, tap Manage Screen Time, then tap Lock Screen Time Settings. Enter a four-digit passcode and enter it again to confirm.

If you forget the passcode you set for a child, you reset it on your own device: Settings › Screen Time, your child’s name, Manage Screen Time, Change Screen Time Passcode. For a passcode on your own device, add Screen Time Passcode Recovery when you create it, so you can reset it with your Apple Account later.

How do I keep the phone off at bedtime and during school?

This is Downtime on iOS 18 to 26 and a Screen Time Schedule on iOS 27. During downtime, Apple says only calls, messages and the apps you choose to allow are available, and a reminder is sent five minutes before it begins.

  1. On iOS 18 to 26, from your own device: go to Settings › Screen Time, scroll down and tap your child’s name under Family. (On the child’s own device, go to Settings › Screen Time.) Tap App & Website Activity and turn it on if you haven’t already. Tap Downtime, then tap Scheduled. Choose Every Day or Customize Days and set the start and end times. “Turn On Downtime Until Tomorrow” is there for a one-off evening.
  2. On iOS 27: open Settings, tap Family, tap your child’s name, tap Screen Time Schedule and turn on Schedule. Scroll down, tap Add Schedule and select the days it applies to. Each schedule is made of time windows, for example before school, school and evening, and you can set different routines for weekdays and weekends. Apple says you can also quickly pause device use, allow unlimited use, or change the schedule for the day from the same settings.

A practical tip: name the windows after what your family actually does (homework, dinner, lights out) rather than after the clock, so the rule is easy to say out loud.

How do I cap games or video to an hour a day?

This is App Limits on iOS 18 to 26 and Time Allowances on iOS 27. Both can cap a whole category, such as Games, or a single app.

  1. On iOS 18 to 26, from your own device: go to Settings › Screen Time, scroll down and tap your child’s name under Family, then tap App Limits and tap Add Limit. (On the child’s own device, go to Settings › Screen Time › App Limits.) Select one or more categories, or tap a category name to pick individual apps inside it. Tap Next, set the amount of time allowed, use Customize Days if weekends should differ, then tap Add. If you select several categories or apps, Apple notes the one limit applies to all of them together.
  2. On iOS 27, from your own device: open Settings, tap Family, tap your child’s name, tap Time Allowances, tap the Add button and follow the onscreen instructions. Apple describes this as a daily time budget across categories such as entertainment, games and social media, which you can fine-tune per category. Apps can be used within a category until they hit either the category’s allowance or the daily total.

Which apps should always stay available?

Phone, Messages and anything your child needs for safety or accessibility. Always Allowed is the list of apps and people that work regardless of downtime, schedules or limits. Apple’s own warning is worth repeating: if Messages isn’t always allowed, your child may not be able to send or receive messages, including to emergency numbers and contacts, during downtime or after an app limit has run out.

  1. On iOS 18 to 26, from your own device: go to Settings › Screen Time, scroll down and tap your child’s name under Family, then tap Always Allowed. (On the child’s own device, go to Settings › Screen Time › Always Allowed.) Tap Contacts to choose who can get through, and add apps under Allowed Apps.
  2. On iOS 27, from your own device: open Settings, tap Family, tap your child’s name, then tap Always Allowed. Tap Add Apps, Add People or Specific Contacts and follow the onscreen instructions. Apple says Phone, Messages, FaceTime and Maps are always available by default so your child can reach you.

Can I control who my child calls and messages?

Yes. On iOS 18 to 26 this is Communication Limits; on iOS 27 it is Allowed Contacts. It covers Phone, FaceTime and Messages, and it needs Contacts turned on in iCloud.

  1. On iOS 18 to 26, from your own device: go to Settings › Screen Time, scroll down and tap your child’s name under Family. (On the child’s own device, go to Settings › Screen Time.) Tap Communication Limits, tap During Screen Time, then choose Contacts Only, Contacts & Groups with at Least One Contact, or Everyone. Tap Back, then tap During Downtime to narrow it further, for example to Specific Contacts. To manage the contact list itself, tap Communication Limits and turn on Manage [child’s name]’s contacts; your child approves that request on their device.
  2. On iOS 27, from your own device: open Settings, tap Family, tap your child’s name, tap Allowed Contacts, then During Screen Time, and choose Contacts Only, Contacts & Groups with at Least One Contact, or Everyone. Turn on Manage Contacts to approve who is in the list. Apple says that if your child receives a message from someone new, they can’t see it until a parent or guardian approves.

Separately, Communication Safety warns a child and blurs photos or videos that appear to contain nudity, in Messages, AirDrop, FaceTime and some other apps. From iOS 27 it can also detect gore or violence, but Apple says that detection is available only in FaceTime video messages, not in live calls. Apple says it is on by default for children under 18 once Screen Time is set up, with the age varying by region, and that the analysis happens on the device, so Apple doesn’t see the images.

How do I stop purchases, downloads and grown-up content?

Two tools. Ask to Buy sends you a request whenever your child wants to download an app, buy an in-app purchase or make another eligible purchase. If you approve, the item downloads to their device; if you decline, nothing happens. Apple says Ask to Buy is on by default for children under 13, and in some regions it can’t be turned off for anyone under 18. Requests arrive as a notification and in Messages; if you don’t approve within 24 hours, your child has to send the request again.

  1. Turn on Ask to Buy, iOS 27, from your own device: open Settings, tap Family, tap your child’s name, tap Apps & Websites, tap Restrictions, tap Ask to Buy, then turn on Require Purchase Approval.
  2. Turn on Ask to Buy, iOS 18, from your own device: go to Settings › Family, tap your child’s name, tap Ask To Buy, then tap Turn on Ask to Buy.

Content & Privacy Restrictions set age ratings for apps, films, TV, music and books, hide built-in apps, and filter the web. Apple notes that a blocked or turned-off app isn’t deleted; it is hidden or dimmed until you allow it again.

  1. On iOS 18 to 26, on your child’s device: go to Settings › Screen Time, tap Content & Privacy Restrictions and turn it on. (Apple’s guide gives these steps on the child’s own device; from your device, the web, app and media ratings are also offered when you first set up Screen Time for the child under Settings › Family.) Tap iTunes & App Store Purchases to restrict store purchases and redownloads; tap Allowed Apps & Features to hide built-in apps; tap App Store, Media, Web, & Games to set ratings and, under Web Content, choose Limit Adult Websites or add sites under Never Allow.
  2. On iOS 27, from your own device: open Settings, tap Family, tap your child’s name. Tap Content & Privacy Restrictions and pick a rating for each type of content. For the web, tap Apps & Websites, tap Restrictions, tap Filtering under Websites, then choose Approved Websites Only, Limit Adult Websites or Unrestricted. Approved Websites Only is the setting that turns on Ask to Browse, where your child requests any new website and you approve it. Apple says Approved Websites Only is on by default for children under 13 and Limit Adult Websites for children under 18, with ages varying by region.

What happens when the time runs out?

Your child sees that the limit has been reached. Apple says they can tap One More Minute, or send you a request for more time. You can approve or decline the request in Messages or in Settings › Screen Time. This can be the hardest moment, because a limit on its own is a “no” with nothing on the other side of it. A few things help:

Where does an earn-it app like MoveToPlay fit?

Screen Time sets ceilings: when the phone switches off, how long games can run, what can be bought. It is very good at that, and it is free, so set it up first. What it doesn’t do is give a child a reason to want to do anything else. That is the gap an earn-it approach tries to fill.

MoveToPlay is a screen time app for kids on iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch. Children earn screen time by exercising and doing chores you approve. Minutes go into a bank that never expires, and on an iPhone or iPad you can lock the apps you choose until that time has been earned. It does not replace Screen Time. The optional app lock works alongside Apple’s Screen Time, using Apple’s Family Controls on your child’s iPhone or iPad.

Some honest limits. Locking is optional: Family Controls is only needed if you want MoveToPlay to lock the apps you choose on your child’s iPhone or iPad. If you leave locking off, minutes are still earned, banked and spent with a visible countdown, on the honour system. Apple Watch and Mac cannot lock apps. There is no Android version. It needs iOS 18 or later. And it is not free to use: free to download, and setup is free, but to use the app a parent starts the Annual or Monthly Family subscription (new subscribers get a 2-week free trial, then it renews unless cancelled in Settings) or buys Lifetime once for $19.99 (US price).

Read how MoveToPlay works and the questions parents ask, or download it on the App Store. The other guides cover chores for screen time and earning screen time with exercise, with or without an app.