Keeping your kids off of their iPhones can be difficult, sometimes impossible. In this day and age, every other kid is seen glued to their smartphones, spending time on social media or watching their favourite movies and TV shows online.
iPhones are becoming an addiction for most kids and they are also marketed in a way that they can attract more kids. Because iPhones have stirred an unusual addiction among the youngest users, Apple has been asked to make the devices more safe and secure for the kids.
Apart from parents devising ways to keep their kids safe online and learning how to hack an iPhone, Apple, as a major tech company, should also take responsibility to ensure kids’ safety on its devices.
When Apple was asked to address the iPhone addiction among the young users, the company, in response, came forward and vowed to launch new parental controls and added Screen Time with iOS 12.
By using these parental controls, parents can set time limits for individual apps, establish a downtime period when kids’ iPhones are locked and set restrictions to protect kids’ privacy on the internet and limit their access to inappropriate content. Let’s discuss the parental controls offered by Apple in detail.
Establish Screen Time Limits
There’s no harm in learning how to hack an iPhone of your kid with the help of parental control apps. Before you can use them, it’s better to derive the benefit from the default parental controls present in the iOS devices.
To establish screen time limits on your kid’s iPhone, you must add them to Family Sharing first. Once that is done, you can set screen time limits. To do that, you need to head to Settings, open Screen Time and set some rules for your kid’s iPhone usage.
From sections like Downtime to App Limits and Content & Privacy Restrictions, you can set rules on each section on how you want your kid to use the iPhone. Every week you will receive a report highlighting how many times your kid has picked up the iPhone every day and how many hours they have spent on each app.
You can also monitor their daily or weekly usage on your own iPhone from Screen Time in Settings. After setting up Downtime and App Limits, you’ll come to the Content & Privacy Restrictions section. There is a lot that needs to be done here while setting up parental controls on your kid’s iPhone. Let’s break into sections and first talk about the Allowed apps.
Disable Certain Apps
As soon as you toggle on Content & Privacy Restrictions, you will find an Allowed Apps section that allows you to disable certain apps you do not want your kid to use. For instance, if you do not want your kid to use Safari or use the camera to FaceTime, you can disable those apps on their iPhone.
What’s more, you can also make your kid not install or delete apps or make in-app purchases in the iTunes & App Store Purchases section.
Enable Content Restrictions
Just below the Allowed Apps section, you will find Content Restrictions. Here you can prevent your kid from purchasing R-rated movies and TV shows rated TV-MA. Moreover, you can also choose content ratings for music, books, apps, and podcasts.
To restrict websites, you can select Limit Adult Content. Or, if your kids are small, you can select Specific Website Only by making selections from the list and adding your own. Keep in mind that in case you do not know how to enable all these parental controls on your kid’s iPhone, you can perform the iPhone activation lock hack and sneak inside their device to make the changes in its settings.
Enable Privacy Settings
In the Privacy section, you can prevent your kid from turning off Location Services, Share My Location and other settings. If you are keen on keeping tabs on your kid’s whereabouts, you can keep both location services enabled.
It is also suggested to check the Photos line to see which apps can access your kid’s photos. Apps like Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest might be okay to keep but if you come across any unfamiliar app accessing your kid’s photos, you should ask your kid why they have allowed those apps to access their photos and how photos cannot be deleted once they are uploaded on the internet.
Prevent Your Kid from Making Changes
In the Allowed Changes section, you can prevent your kid from making changes to other settings including data plan and passcode. Be sure to enable the last item listed in this area, Do Not Disturb While Driving. This should not be changed for any iPhone user of driving age.
Ask to Buy
Once you are finished setting up the Screen Time settings on your kid’s iPhone, you need to grab your iPhone and open its Settings. Now, head to Family Sharing. Next to your kid’s name which is listed on it, make sure the option of Ask to Buy has been toggled on. If this option is enabled, you will receive a notification on your iPhone to approve or disapprove App Store purchases made in the future.
Location Sharing
While you are at it, you need to check Location Sharing in the Shared Features section in the Family Sharing and make sure it is enabled. This setting will let you know that you can use the Find My Friends app to see where your kid is, especially when you cannot reach them through a call or text message.
Besides enabling the Screen Time settings on your kid’s iPhone, you can also set up third-party parental control apps on their device and carry out the typical iPhone hack process. Parental control apps will add an additional layer of protection on your kid’s iPhone, ensuring they stay safe in the digital world.
